DE Filter Grids

Hey everyone...got a question about DE Filter grids. I have been real busy so I had the company that built my pool (Pulliam Pools) come out and clean my filter grids and take care of a few other warranty type items this week. Pulliam does an outstanding job and I have complete faith in their judgement. My pool is 2 years old and I backwash normally when I should. When they took apart my filter they indicated I needed to replace the grids as they were starting to get holes in them. I was somewhat surprised since the grids are only two years old. With that said, we had a very bad dust storm, which is rare for North Central Texas, about 6 weeks ago which deposited a lot of dirt in my pool. Of course I backwashed a few times after the storm as the pressure was going up (but only about 3 or 4 psi) till the pool was clean. Anyway, how long should the grids last? It cost me a few hundred bucks to replace them. Do you think the dust storm caused the damage? I have never let my pressure get more than 6 or 7 psi higher than normal since we built the pool. I guess I was hoping to get longer usage of the grids.

Grids are somewhat fragile and subject to tearing. That being said, two years is an awfully short time for them to hold up. You should not expect to have to pay a couple of hundred dollars every other year for replacement grids. No one would buy de filters if this was the case. Mine have been in the filter for five years now, with no problem. If there are just a couple of small holes, the grids can be repaired, although I have never done it.