Best way to clean a CARTRIDGE FILTER?

[waterbear]

best way to clean a cartidge filter is to hose it off once a month BEFORE the pressure gauge climbs up. That way you might only need to soak it maybe yearly (if that!). Run the hose on stream from the top to the bottom between the pleats.
A little preventive maintenance goes a long way!

When I owned my portable spa the dealer told me to put the filter in the dishwasher but not to put any detergent in with it. his advice was generally good. That filter would fit (barely!)...my pool filter won't..never tried it so I don't know if it works.

Most automatic dishwasher deterents are very low or non foaming and many have a lot of TSP or one of the non phospahte replacements for it in their ingredients. once again, don't know if this is a good idea. TSP is probably cheaper at the hardware store.

What I DO know from living with cartridge filters in a pool, portable hot tub, and MANY large aquariums is that hosing them off BEFORE they need it is the best way to keep them running at peak and makes cleaning a 10 minute job. (IF you think a pool filter gets dirty you should see what an aquarium does to a cartridge!)

One last thing...as far as acid washing a cartridge. using just acid and water is not a good idea . Oils and organics on the filter can harden in the fabric and make it useless. The cartridge will not let water through afterward. (Is Hayward trying to $ell replacement cartridge$ here?) Clean the cartridge first with a cartridge degreaser/cleaner (usually TSP is a main indgredient...check it out!), inspect it to see if there are any calcium deposits and if there are use the acid bath to remove them; or you can one step it and soak it in a mixutre of TSP and muriatic acid for about an hour. Use one cup of TSP and one cup of acid for every 5 gallons of water in a large plastic garbage can. Afterward clean it off with fresh water and hose it off well! (learned this one from someone I knew who serviced swimming pools in Ft. Lauderdale, it's what he did with all his customers with cartridge filters)

Every time you clean or hose off your filter inspect the pleats to make sure there are no tears.
(btw, with my aquariums I "heavy" cleaned my cartridges by first hosing them, then soaking them in bleach and water (1 part bleach, 2-3 parts water) for a few hours to burn off the organics, hosing them off again and then soaking in diluted acid to remove the calcium (calcium deposits are a BIG problem in salt water aquariums) and then a final hose down. Don't know if the bleach method would work on a pool filter but I don't see why it wouldn't. I think the strong bleach solution might shorten the cartridge life but that is just my opinion. TSP is just not something you want to indroduce into an aquarium and chlorine residual is easy to remove...not an issue with a pool!)