Cleaning A D.e. Filter

[seligman]

I've had people tell me I shouldn't attempt to clean a D.E. filter on my own.

The trouble is, I'm used to doing maintenance on everything else around the house, so it's hard not to.

Our spa was put in 2 years ago, but the filter has never been cleaned. For one thing, we've barely used the spa. Second, there has never been much debris in the spa (no leaves). Third, the pressure gauge reads the same as it did 2 years ago, 26 PSI with the filter pump, 34 PSI with the booster pump on.

Does the filter need to be cleaned? By the way, it's a Pentair FNS Plus.

[jackgit]

I have a Hayward I remove my filter & power wash it @ every closing

I am going on 5 years now No issues. I believe filter is working like new due to this.

The amount of D. E. that is left in the filter can fill a bucket. Its worth the cleaning

[gulfstreampool]

I've had people tell me I shouldn't attempt to clean a D.E. filter on my own.

The trouble is, I'm used to doing maintenance on everything else around the house, so it's hard not to.

Our spa was put in 2 years ago, but the filter has never been cleaned. For one thing, we've barely used the spa. Second, there has never been much debris in the spa (no leaves). Third, the pressure gauge reads the same as it did 2 years ago, 26 PSI with the filter pump, 34 PSI with the booster pump on.

Does the filter need to be cleaned? By the way, it's a Pentair FNS Plus.

YES, clean it. Dont let the gauge be your sole indicator. DE filters should be backwashed about every eight weeks and broken down once a year and cleaned good and then recoated with DE. Oh, you can go to Pentairs website and pull up a drawing of the FNS for cleaning purposes. It's easy.

[poolyeti]

I've had people tell me I shouldn't attempt to clean a D.E. filter on my own.

The trouble is, I'm used to doing maintenance on everything else around the house, so it's hard not to.

Our spa was put in 2 years ago, but the filter has never been cleaned. For one thing, we've barely used the spa. Second, there has never been much debris in the spa (no leaves). Third, the pressure gauge reads the same as it did 2 years ago, 26 PSI with the filter pump, 34 PSI with the booster pump on.

Does the filter need to be cleaned? By the way, it's a Pentair FNS Plus.

YES, clean it. Dont let the gauge be your sole indicator. DE filters should be backwashed about every eight weeks and broken down once a year and cleaned good and then recoated with DE. Oh, you can go to Pentairs website and pull up a drawing of the FNS for cleaning purposes. It's easy.

The people who are telling you not to clean a DE filter by yourself are the guys who want to charge you an arm and a leg to do it for you. It doesn't really matter how much debris has gotten into the spa, if it hasn't been cleaned in 2 years, then it's going to be in fairly dire need of a bath. As said above, the pressure gauge should not be your sole inidcator of when to backwash. If you let the same batch of DE sit in there for a long period, then you're gonna have a science project growing in there pretty soon.

The major things you want to look out for with this filter is the placement of the element grids and then getting the clamp ring back on properly. Depending on how dirty the filter is, you may have to disassemble it in order to get into all the nooks and crannies. As you're taking it apart, pay close attention to how the filter grids are placed. There is only one correct way for that assembly to go together.

Once you have the filter grids back in the housing and you're ready to put the lid back on, make sure that the gasked is seated well and evenly all the way around. You can have an 800-pound gorilla come tighten that thing for you and it still won't seal if the gasket isn't placed properly.

Depending on just how grimy the fiter is, you might want to consider using some sort of filter cleansing product that uses a detergent and an acid. The detergent takes care of the oils that have built up, and the acid removes the mineral deposits.