Discount Above Ground Pool Heaters

Pool filters are an integral piece of equipment to maintain a clean and healthy environment in above ground swimming pools. They are relatively simple pieces of mechanical equipment with no moving parts. They perform the same function in removing solid particulate matter from the water, but there are different types of media that are available to actually filter the water.

There are three common technologies that are available in above ground pool filters. They are the diatomaceous earth filter, the sand filter and the cartridge filter. The design and manufacturer of these filters will generally have a similar appearance, but they are distinguished from each other by the internal media that actually performs the job of filtering the water.

Diatomaceous earth filters, or DE filters, utilize a set of filter elements that are coated with diatomaceous earth. The grids are the supporting structures that hold the media that actually performs the filtering process. Diatomaceous earth particles are extremely small and have the ability to remove microscopic impurities from the pool water. These types of filters are cleaned by either removing the filter elements and removing the impurities or by reversing the water flow through them and forcing the dirty particles off, in a process called back washing. These filtering units are sized by the area of the grids.

As the name implies, sand filters use sand as the filtering media. Sand filters are typically installed in a round housing, and are sized by both the surface area of the sand bed and the engineered flow rate of water that they can handle. Sand filters are an old and trusted technology and are found in many water and wastewater treatment plants. Water is introduced into the top of the sand filter and is sprayed over the sand bed where the cleaning process takes place. The top layer of the sand and the trapped impurities perform the bulk of the filtering process while the level of sand below the top performs the secondary and polishing stages of cleaning. Sand filters are usually clean by back washing them.

Cartridge filters use filter elements to clean the pool water in the same manner that your heating or air conditioning system uses filters to clean the air within your house. These units contain filtering elements that are cylindrical, and they may contain one or more elements within their housing. They are sized by the surface area of the filter cartridge, and since they are pleated they will provide a much greater surface area than the actual diameter of the cartridge would imply.

In order for swimming pool filters to effectively clean the pool water, they will require a turnover ratio of 6 to 8 hours. All pool filters will need to be cleaned periodically, and this frequency can be lessened by purchasing a filter with a higher rating. Diatomaceous earth filters will remove the finest particles from the pool water, followed by cartridge filters and then lastly by sand filters. However, the finer filtering media will offer more resistance (indicated by the pressure drop across the filtering unit) and will require more frequent cleaning to maintain their operation or a higher rated pump. Most owners select a sand filter as their above groun pool filter since they do not require the extra fine removal capabilites of DE and cartride filters, because they have a lower pressure drop across them and because sand is the most economical filtering media.

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