On swimming pool cartridge filters and how they work, how to clean them and really what they do to keep your pool nice and crystal clear. Some of the parts of a swimming pool cartridge filters are; A, you have got your upper knob and your clamp assembly. That is usually the upper part of the filter. You have got your tank head. That is the part that covers the top part of your cartridge. You have got the tank. That is the part that the cartridge fits down into, the air release valve that is the unit on top of the filter that you use to let the air pressure and the air out of the tank.
You have got your pressure gauge. Normally most pressure gauges reads zero to 60. It tells you when the cartridge is dirty. We will go over that in just a second. You got the element that actually collects the dirt and the debris from the pool. That unit can be cleaned many, many times, usually made up of reinforced polyester, it has molded end caps. Then you have got your inlet and your outlet boards where your pipes go in and out of the filter. Those can be either slipped or threaded depending on the model and the brand. And then you have got your lower, lower drain plug which you can use to empty the water out of your filter if you are going to get all the water out when you clean it or maybe you are going to winterize your cartridge filter.
One of the questions that were always asked is how should a cartridge be cleaned and serviced? Well, the number one thing to always remember before you start to service your cartridge filter or any filter for that matter is to make sure that your pump, your swimming pool pump is turned off. Make sure that there is no chance that it will come on and it is off when you are going to be working on it.
Number two. You can always kind of want to release the air from the tank by opening up that air release valve that we talked about just moments ago. You want to make sure that all the air is out the tank before you try to loosen up either the top knob or a clamp that take the top of the filter to get it off. After we do that, we are going to want to take the element out of the filter, take it and set it on a good solid base. Get yourself a good garden hose and make sure that you have a good nozzle. We want a good nozzle that has a good pencil streamed point to it because we do not want to get in between all those plates in that cartridge to get all that dirt and debris out. If you do not, it will really going to cost problems later on.
So, we want to make sure that we take enough time when we are washing it to get everything out of it, get it nice and clean. After we are done with that, we want to make sure that we get the filter cartridge back into the tank correctly. We are going to put the top of the filter back on. We are going to retighten the knob, make sure everything sits real well. You may need to lubricate your O-rings, get some good water lube and make sure that your O-rings are not dry. Make sure that lid goes on nice and easy, tighten everything up. Throw your system back on, leave the air out of the tank again. Once that pump is running, we are going to be pushing water into the tank and it is going to force the air out of the tank until the tank is full of water. We do not have to have a tank full of water and air. We want to make sure that tank is full of water.
All right, check your system for leaks after that. Make sure that you have gotten everything put back together, that you do not have any leaking. And the important step at the end is making note of the pressure on your pressure gauge. You should have a pressure gauge that works all the time. Pressure gauge really tells you when the cartridge is either clean or dirty. So, once we have cleaned the filter, we want to make sure that we know what the starting pressure is. Make note of that and we are going to learn in just a second on how to know that that cartridge needs to be cleaned and that it is time to do that.
How can you really ensure that you clean your—that your filter is going to last quite a while. A cartridge filter should last sev
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