Thanks to all for your suggestions. So my pump just stopped working yesterday (that's something beyond my capabilities) so I called my local pool guy. Luckily, it's a type that he can just remove the motor and replace it instead of having to put a whole new pump on. Anyway, I mentioned the filter situation to him, and he doesn't recommend trying to replace the 'innards" with another cartridge system, like the Pentair clean and clear. Just his opinion I guess.
If I were working for you, I wouldn't recommend it, either. From the service guy's legitimate point of view, a repair like that has a higher than normal chance of failure, and thus a higher than usual chance of getting blamed by the customer . . . for doing what the customer liked.
Experienced service guys in any trade get requests like that. For THEM, the smart thing is to just say, "No, thank you!", and recommend a more expensive solution (new filter) that is less likely to fail and more likely to please, once you've gotten past the bill.
For you, it's more complicated. If you DIY, it might be a good idea. If you can talk your guy into doing it for you, good for you, but bad for him. For his sake, if it doesn't work out, remember that YOU asked for it.
PoolDoc / Ben
To clarify, no one has suggested just replacing the innards of your Jacuzzi filter with the innards of a Pentair or Sta-Rite. That is NOT a good idea. The mod kit for your filter was a Jacuzzi mod (OEM) and not aftermarket. Jacuzzi changed the shape of the filter carts and that required a new Jacuzzi manifold and 3 new round Jacuzzi supports (I believe this happened about the time Cantar owned Jacuzzi.) The new, round style carts had a greater filtering area than the older (Jacuzzi Brothers) triangular shaped carts and they were less expensive.
Once again, Jacuzzi originally used three triangular shaped carts in the tri clops series of filters and then later switched over to a less expensive round cart with greater filtering area. If you have the old style triangular cart unit then you have to replace the internals with the newer Jacuzzi internals to use the new round carts. OR you can replace the cartridge internals with the Jacuzzi Earthworks DE filter internals and convert the cart filter into a DE filter. You cannot use Sta-rite or Pentair internals, only these specific Jacuzzi ones!
My suggestion was to replace your ENTIRE FILTER with a Pentair Cean and Clear 150 or larger. You quoted over $700 for the Jacuzzi mod kit while a new Clean and Clear (the entire filter) is around $500! This is a case where the entire new filter is the more cost effective solution.
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
Okay - got it! I admit I mis-read your post and thought that was what you were suggesting. Thank you for taking the time to clarify for me!
In the replacing the motor on the pump process, I spoke directly to the serviceman who did the replacement. He indicated he would look for a solution to the filter thing, and, as Pool Doc indicated in his post - was pushing a whole filter change, instead of what I thought could be done. So, I'm thinking that at the end of this season - I might have to go with that. It is just reassuring to hear from objective perspectives so that I can measure that against what my local service people are saying to be sure I'm not getting ripped off! Thanks again to both of you for your help!
Bookmarks