What about using caustic soda to clean them.

So then next question is How much money do you make per hour and is it worth your time to go through this process - Filter cost / (hourly wage x cleaning time + chemical cost) = benefit, pulling your filters and rinsing them is probably worth it and should be done every 3 to 6 months, the rest probably not so much. filtering power actually goes down when you clean a filter, you have to balance flow rate with filter efficiency, Franky for pool sand filters are the best and cheapest alternative for flow / filter efficiency / vrs labor. Sand filter just needs to be back washed periodically and sand changed every 5 years. Granted they don't filter as fine, but it's a swimming pool no a chemistry lab. Having said that you have the filter you have.... Frankly I think these filters are sold to people to milk them of cash every year or two, because this level of filtration isn't necessary in a swinging pool, the chorine kills everything and circulation keeps the water clear.

So purchase a sand filter instead...got it.

I think this a great cleaning process if you have two sets of filter cartridges. At least, for those of us in the South, this creates less down time for the pool. Unfortunately I have too much wildlife in my area to leave the cleaning solutions out overnight so I would have to do the different cleaning phases over a couple of days. Thank you for sharing.

just spray hose it weekly to prevent sediment from accumulating. i never let my filters get that soiled... you can just keep an eye on your filter pressure gauge to let you know how dirty it gets.

I know it's $300, but the Cyclone Filter Cleaner system makes this whole process SO much easier. My time is worth more than this.

Thanks for taking the time for the video and I can tell you're very serious about this, sounds like it's been beating you up a bit. I have the Pentair 200 sqft Cartridge Filter and it's at least five years old, here since I bought the house. Once every few weeks I remove the filter and use a garden hose with a regular multi position spray nozzle set on a spray/fan not jet setting, takes about 20ish minutes taking my time. My filter, depending on the weather, storms etc, could get totally disgusting and still look like new when finished, no exaggeration. I'm not sure how long you're waiting to clean those filters, but if you're replacing them because you can't get them clean enough, maybe you should step up the cleaning a bit. No chemicals, clean it while it's wet, put it back together, purge the air and you're done. Like one other person mentioned, if I had to go through everything you're going through, I'd either hire a pool company or fill it in with dirt and be done with it...

"TSP" used to be an acronym for trisodium phosphate (Na3PO4), which when dissolved in water, creates an alkaline (pH >7) solution. Trisodium phosphate is an efficient degreaser, solubilizing organic compounds (sunblock, lotion, skin and hair cells). I'd use it first, especially before an acid soak. Your pool filters contain plenty of skin and hair cells, among other biologic contaminants (Think: kids, rude adults). Muriatic acid is just another name for Hydrochloric Acid (HCl).

Thank you

Hi. We have pool filters that may fit your pool. We're happy to offer you the product completely free of charge in exchange for a video review. Are you interested?

@christ6370 is correct my friends.....a proper filter element cleaning ALWAYS involves a mild degreaser/detergent before the quick soak in hydrogen chloride. I have found that Dawn Platinum or Heavy Duty Dish Soap, (not the Dawn HD purple degreaser) full strength, horizontal zig zag pattern with 1" spacing from top to bottom, let gravity pull the detergent down a bit, then get this guys wand, but with the flat spray tip. The Dawn might be a little more costly than TSP, but its better for your hands, your backyard, and your stormwater holding ponds/creeks/rivers and the like. You must rinse until ALL SUDS ARE GONE, then rinse it again, or as already mentioned, you can end up with permentantly clogged REEMAY and the entire process becomes a huge waste of time and a significant waste of money. Plain water is not enough for multi-element filter units that allow for long duration cycles between cleanings if your wife runs around with aerosol sunscreen constatly glazing the kids, or your fill water has more than 14 grains per gallon. If you oversized your multi-element cartridge filter for your pool.....which is desirable....you can also feed 0.5 lb of diatamaceous earth per 100 sq. ft. of effective filtration area your filter is rated with into a skimmer to improve filtration effeciency and grab smaller particles of contaminents, but only do this if your pool is squeaky clean, your water chemistry is balanced, and you have zero turbidity. I run about a 40-50 ppm concentration of boron in my water via ant and roach killer after the initial super chlorination by the salt system at the beginning of the season, the boric acid balances out the ph spike from the chloride changing to chlorite. Sorry......TMI......but it works so well with minimal inputs after that.....and that is what we are looking for!

Safest way to clean cartridge filters is with a regular straight shooter nozzle head for the end of the hose. Don't ever use anything with pressure. Only use your garden hose. RELEASE ALL PRESSURE IN SYSTEM. TAKE BOTTOM DRAIN PLUG OUT AND OPEN THE AIR RELIEF VALVE. THEN START THIS PROCESS. 1. Clean filters 2. Soak in 1-2 bottles of mauritic acid/WATER MIX (in a trash barrel or something big enough to hold water and filters at the same time without holes) or spray degreaser and let sit ( follow directions on bottle) VERY IMPORTANT NOTE::::: THIS STUFF WILL KILL YOUR GRASS AND ANY FOLIAGE IF YOU EMPTY OR SPRAY DEGREASER AROUND. PREFERABLY DO IT IN A AREA WITH ROCKS OR AREA THAT HAS DEAD GRASS AND FOLIAGE THAT WON'T KILL YOUR LAWN OR ANYTHING GREEN!!! 3. Hose down filters again after 24-48 hrs of soaking in acid/water mix. 4. Put filter back together clean the inside and top of filter. Also VERY IMPORTANT: THE SEATING AREA FOR FILTER GASKET AND WHERE THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE FILTER MEET THAT AREA HAS TO BE CLEANED AND GASKET RINSED OFF. NOTE IF YOU DON'T CLEAN THE BELLY BAND AREA AND GASKET YOUR FILTER WILL LEAK. I PROMISE YOU. JUST CLEAN IT PERFECTLY AND YOU WON'T HAVE NO LEAKS. I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE SOMEDAY!!!

I've been a pool man in south Florida for 25 years and we clean filters once a month no exceptions if you do this your pool runs more efficiently and they never get that bad. And they last twice as long

A made a wand from some plumbing parts i bought a Lowes. When i hooked it to my water hose. I was able to clean all four filters quickly in 45 minutes. I sprayed a cartridge cleaner on all four filters first. Then cleaned them off. Did not need acid and they came out clean and the looked almost new. The filters are about three years old😀

I use a regular garden hose and aqua comb pool cartridge filter cleaning tool. Cleaning after only 10psi increase in backpressure and my filters never look this bad either :D

You basically spent 12 minutes telling people to soak and power wash...

I use a cheap multi-jet nozzle on the garden hose and set it to 'Flat' for cleaning my 100 sq ft cartridge filter. If I neglect the pool for a couple of weeks, it is sometimes as bad as the 'before' condition shown in the video but it only takes me about 10 -15 minutes to get it looking like the 'after' condition. Admittedly, my filter is not quite as tall but that time includes a second pass with the filter turned upside down then sometimes a third quick pass to clear any remaining debris. The secret is to use the nozzle about 6-inches approx. from the cartridge, using an up and down sweep. There's no way that you can EVENLY clean a whole filter using the narrow power jet and that is very obvious by the streaky finish after the 30-minute marathon session. I've never found any need to do any further filter cleaning so my pool is back up and running in about 20 minutes. Sorry to be a bit negative but I think you are wasting a lot of time and money (water, acid and TCP) when in less than 30 minutes you could achieve the same result.

For cleaning I have also thought about using a 4x broad diameter pvc pipe to be the soaking containers for these cartridges, but not sure if PVC pipe comes in 8" diametere. (filters are 7"), and not sure if PVC would be acid / TSP safe.

This is waaaay too drawn out. My wife does ours with a amazon sprayer on the garden hose and she gets in between each pleat and they look like new each time. These still look pretty dirty in between the pleats and the process took for ever. Theres no way to cheat the labor involved in cleaning the filters well. Take your time and do a good job and your pool will thank you.

That's tight work.

I just buy a new set each year and throw the used filters away.

Maybe you should look into getting a sand filter. Much easier to take care.

For your trashcan bath add a valve at the bottom so you don’t have to tip it over

Also before you go to put them back into the pool canister let them dry so the fins go back to normal

Man I literally just cleaned mine the other day and took forever and I literally was just thinking before your video if my car wand would work

are those cloth gloves..?

I use my water with the acid to clean my filters all summer long! You do not have to put in clean and acid every time just use 2 garbage cans for the 2 different processes and save some cash using the same water and cleaner and acid over and over again and use a hose end attachment with a wider fan spray instead of a pin point to save some water and time.

Takes waaaaay too long and uses way too many chemicals. Not productive at all. Between the water used, chemicals and TIME, I'd get new filters. It's worth $200. Unless you have nothing better to do and you don't care about the chemicals you put in the ground or sewage system. Just sayin'

Year …sorry…not ur…

More like a ur between cleanings…sad…

The pool filter flosser attachment is a helpful tool to clean the cartridge. The nozzle he used packs more punch but I also worry about the damage to an aging filter

Tell people not to put sunscreen or oils on before swimming in your pool. It's odd to put sunscreen on before swimming (actual swimming). Except for babies and children, because their skin can burn easier in the Florida sun. Clean filter with a more fan in the spray. I dont use acids, but make sure to protect the ground waters of Florida (really everywhere).

Use a tip that has a fan shape spray pattern. I’ve been doing this for years and it works out great

Overkill would be an understatement here. Just hose them off. Ten years of owning a pool and I change my filters once every 2 years and have never soaked them or had any problems. All of that extra effort, chemicals to dispose of, and quite frankly risk is so silly. Next...

What the!

So ., what is the problem with dirty filter? What symptoms we see that requires cleaning the filter. Or is just for fun? Thanks

Interesting. Thought I was going to learn something new. I've been cleaning my 4 huge filters for years with a garden hose set on jet. Same process but no special tools. Somehow, I figured it out along with a million other pool owners (who do exactly that) by thinking about it for 30 seconds. Save the money. Clean as needed with what you have in your yard.

I use a very similar process. For the acid, neutralize it with baking soda (buy a big bag at sam's or a pool supply place) before dumping it out . Baking soda turns the HCl into saltwater. Just add it until it stops fizzing. I use a pressure washer and then a regular garden hose sprayer attachment. The pressure washer gets the initial surface gunk. The TSP PF is new to me, I'll give that a try.

I know lots of people are saying to just do it more often and I know that would be easier(and my plan for the future). But this was the video that worked for me to get *really dirty* filters back to looking good. Thanks for doing a video for those of us who aren't dealing with the ideal conditions I saw in so many other videos.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but I'm always trying to find out a better way to do this task that has to be done at least 3 times a year. To be honest with you, that looks terrible. I use an Orbit Max 8-Pattern Nozzle, part number 26700 that you can find at Lowes that puts our far more water and likely pressure in a "Jet" than your tool. I HIGHLY recommend this nozzle. Additionally, my hose bibs are Arrowhead Arrow-breaker hose bibs (because I swapped them out) that supposedly put out more water than traditional hose bibs with added vacuum breakers. I did make my own filter holder using part of a broom handle, a toilet plunger, and weighted base for a table sun umbrella. I'm on a well with my pressure set to be within 40-60 PSI, but with my cycle stop valve I'm probably running at around 55 psi. The amount of water and likely pressure compared to yours is way over and beyond.

Have you thought about doing the acid bath before the first rinse and then just do the one rinse after the acid bath?

Those are disgusting. Why so much algae on them.

TSP is an irritant to skin and eyes... Not sure I'd want that residue on my filters. There are other filter cleaners that might be less irritating...

Man thanks for showing us. Many won’t wash this way buy yours worked

Thank you but HOW DO I REMOVE THE ACTUAL FILTER?? That's what I need to do !!

Is there a special tool to lift the lid on a pentair 200sqft cartridge pool filter? I always have difficulty lifting it off due to rubber ring

Add baking soda to neutralize acid before dumping

Have you tried just starting with the acid bath, and then rinsing pleat by pleat?

Pin this to the top please. WARNING: Always Degrease/TSP filters before acid soak. The acid will make the oils/lotions sticky and absorb into the filters possibly permanently. Recommend starting acid dilution is 20:1, really only need to soak till no more bubbles are coming up. After soak add baking soda slowly to neutralize acid mix. Acid will whitewash/etch concrete. Should use separate trash can for initial quick rinse. A great nozzle I use is the pulsating Melnor Mpact. Please thumbs up 👍 this comment to keep it at the top.

muriatic acid is extremely strong and dangerous!!! also this will not get rid of body oils - it will set them into the element. you need tibuse 1 cup of laundrybdetergent per 5 gallons of water. let that soak for 24 hours and thoroughly rinse. then, if you have hard water deposits you can do your acid bath using alot of caution.