Which Is Better....

[lisagrayva]

We have a 18' round above ground pool. It gets alot of use in season; lots of kids. The junk Intex filter/pump that came with it is not adequate. We were having to change the filter at least once a week, sometimes twice. The pump is so undersized that it literally took a couple hours to vacuum the bottom.

We would like to replace both the pump and filter. I notice that there are serveral manufacturers that offer a combination unit. But I also noticed that they are significantly less expensive then if we to buy a seperate pump and filter. Are these combo units junk?

Also, our local pool company recommended a sand filter, but husband is leaning toward another cartridge filter system (he likes the ease of maintenance)...what are your thoughts?

Thanks so much for your responses.

[agbkyle]

We have a 18' round above ground pool. It gets alot of use in season; lots of kids. The junk Intex filter/pump that came with it is not adequate. We were having to change the filter at least once a week, sometimes twice. The pump is so undersized that it literally took a couple hours to vacuum the bottom.

We would like to replace both the pump and filter. I notice that there are serveral manufacturers that offer a combination unit. But I also noticed that they are significantly less expensive then if we to buy a seperate pump and filter. Are these combo units junk?

Also, our local pool company recommended a sand filter, but husband is leaning toward another cartridge filter system (he likes the ease of maintenance)...what are your thoughts?

Thanks so much for your responses.

My thought is there is nothing more (ease of maintenance) then a sand filter. I've had a sand filter as long as I've had a pool (7 years now) and this is the easiest by far.

2 and 1/2 bags of sand put in at start of season and that's it. Just backwash every couple of weeks and put new sand in every season. That's it. Simple. Much easier than changing filters every week or 2. Pretty much maintanance free.

[jdskycaster]

We have a 18' round above ground pool. It gets alot of use in season; lots of kids. The junk Intex filter/pump that came with it is not adequate. We were having to change the filter at least once a week, sometimes twice. The pump is so undersized that it literally took a couple hours to vacuum the bottom.

We would like to replace both the pump and filter. I notice that there are serveral manufacturers that offer a combination unit. But I also noticed that they are significantly less expensive then if we to buy a seperate pump and filter. Are these combo units junk?

Also, our local pool company recommended a sand filter, but husband is leaning toward another cartridge filter system (he likes the ease of maintenance)...what are your thoughts?

Thanks so much for your responses.

I do not know much about your pump but the reduced flow could be caused by dirty filters. You say you are changing them once or twice a week. Are these new filters or are you cleaning them and reusing? The pump should have no effect on the actual life of the filters. If you are cleaning and reusing them then they are just not getting cleaned well enough. I found out with my inground filters that they had to be soaked in filter cleaning solution or TSP regularly to remove all of the junk that builds up in them. The bottom line is after owning my first pool and maintaining it with a sand filter for nine years switching to a cartridge filter system in my new pool and then struggling with the cartridges for 3 years was enough to make me return to sand.

JD