What works to clean a cartridge filter?

[ePoolUser]

What works to clean a cartridge filter? and how often to you have to clean it?
TIA!

[CarlD]

You clean it when your pressure goes up.

There are lots of wayss to clean them--I'm not the expert. There's now a special brush that attaches to a hose designed to get right in the folds. Also soaking in automatic dishwasher detergent is very effective for cleaning them.

[waterbear]

basics would be a short, high pressure, non adjustable brass nozzle on your garden hose. They cost about $3 at most hardware stores. Aim the water stream at about 45 degrees from top to bottom to flush out all the stuff from beteeen the pleats. A cleaning wand made for the purpose makes the job easier and the plastic ones are pretty cheap and do have the brush attachment in addtion to a high pressure nozzle. They do tend to break if you have your water turned up too high. Metal cleaning wands are more durable but much more expensive. The $3 nozzle is just as effective but not quite as easy. Dont use a pressure washer since it can damage the polyester filter material.
Once or twice a year after you hose off the cart soak it overnight in a solution of automatic dishwasher detergent powder like Cascade or Electrosol or TSP (trisodium phosphate--the real stuff, not the substitute that is the only thing available in many locations because of the ban on phosphates. If you can't get real TSP use the dishwasher detergent.) Use one cup of detergent or TSP to every 5 gallons of water in a plastic contiainer big enough to completely submerge the cart. A garbage pail works well, or you could use one of those plastic storage boxes like the RubberMaid ones and lay the cart on it's side, as long as it's completely submerged. After soaking rinse it off and inspect it for scale deposits. IF and only IF you see any then soak the cart in a mild acid solution (one part acid to each 20 parts water) for about 15 to 30 minutes or until all the bubbling stops. Don't acid wash a cart if it has no scale deposits because acid washing will shorten it's useful life (and NEVER acid wash a cart that has not been soaked in a degreaser like TSP or automatic dishwasher detergent first or the oils and organics will harden into a cement like mass and plug up the polyester filter material. This will ruin the cart and you will see your filter pressure rise very quickly when you try and use it.)
You can also use a proprietary filter cleaner from the pool store. Many of them use organic acids and detergents and can combine the acid wash and soak in one step but they are a lot more expensive to use and really not any more effective.)
It's a good idea to have 2 carts and rotate them. That way you can take out the dirty one, put in the clean one, hose off (and soak if needed) the dirty one and let it dry to be ready for next cleaning. Even if your pressure does not rise 8 psi it's a good idea to clean the carts about once a month because it goes much faster than if you wait until the pressure rises 8 psi. If you need to clean your carts more than once a month then your filter is undersized for your pool. Unfortunately, many cartridge filters are and that is why they have a bad reputation as being a lot of work. If you have a pop up pool you have an undersized filter and probably need to clean it about every week. Also older pool builds with carts are often undersized and might need more frequent cleaning. If you have one of those 4 cart monsters they are a pain to clean but you don't have to clean every cart each time. Mark them and clean them in rotation. You might only need to clean one or two carts each time. These units are really only necesary on really large pools but I have seen them installed on pools as small as 10000 gallons! The rational is that you can probably go a whole year before you need to clean them but when it comes time you will be spending a good part of the day doing it! More frequent cleanings of one or two carts in rotation is really much easier. Having a spare set of carts (or at least one spare cart) is also a good idea since your pool can still be operational while you are cleaning. Take out a dirty cart, put in the clean one, clean the dirty cart and store it until the next time when you take out the next dirty cart in rotation and replace it with the one you previously cleaned.
Hope this is helpful.

[DennyB65]

Waterbear, Just to let you know I read this post some time ago and incorporated all of your suggestions for cart cleaning. Needless to say, I have had great success! I used to throw away a 100.00 cart once a year. My oldest cart is now 2 years old and going strong! Thanks for the solid advice, it is always appreciated.

[waterbear]

Good to hear! Validation is always nice to get!

[kc101]

Great cleaning tips. Thanks for the info.

I've read that a cart will usually last 2-3 years. Will these cleaning tips extend the life of the cart or can I plan on replacing them in 2-3 years.