Filters Part 3: When a Filter Clean Stops Working
Part 3 of our filters series: when a filter clean stops working. A good clean should keep your pressure low for months, and when it does not, the cartridges are telling you something.
Tell one: the baseline never resets. The gauge drops to its clean starting point, then climbs back to dirty within a few days.
Tell two: look at the pleats. Healthy pleats stand crisp and even. Torn, frayed, or flattened ones let water slip through the gaps it should be straining.
Tell three: the end caps and bands. Cracked caps and snapped bands cannot hold their shape, so dirt finds its way around the edges.
Tell four: the rinse test. A spent cartridge stays gray under the hose no matter how long you spray, while a healthy one comes back white. The fabric itself is loaded past saving.
Cartridges Are Wear Parts
Cartridges are wear parts, like tires. Most live about three years, depending on how hard your pool works them. A fresh set makes the whole system act younger, and the gauge tells the truth the very same day.
When in doubt, trust the trend: a month of pressure readings beats any single number on the dial.
Key Takeaways
- A good filter clean should keep pressure low for months; pressure that climbs back to dirty within a few days means the baseline never reset and the cartridges are spent.
- Torn, frayed, or flattened pleats let water slip through the gaps it should be straining.
- Cracked end caps and snapped bands cannot hold their shape, so dirt finds its way around the edges.
- In the rinse test, a spent cartridge stays gray under the hose no matter how long you spray, while a healthy one comes back white.
- Cartridges are wear parts that live about three years on average; a fresh set makes the whole system act younger, and a month of pressure readings beats any single number on the dial.
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