How Big Of Sand Filter Do I Need

What Size Pool Filter Do I Need?

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The size of the puddle filter that you lot demand will depend on the type of pool you have, the size of your pool equally well every bit the type of filter y'all are ownership. To a higher place ground pools take smaller plumbing systems for the most part than inground puddle installations all the same the selection and sizing process for a new filter looks pretty much the aforementioned for both with just one notable exception. When people talk about a "cartridge filter" for a pool they are ordinarily talking nigh a robust, expensive filter organisation that represents 1 of the all-time filter choices for whatever pool.

With above basis pools, and peculiarly entry level higher up ground pools, a when someone is talking near a cartridge filter they are not significant a large pressure vessel tank with 200, 300 or 400 foursquare feet of filter media inside, they are usually talking well-nigh unmarried paper filter element that is perhaps 25 or 50 square feet of media. This is a bespeak of confusion for some people since you can end up reading that cartridge filters are the best filter option y'all can get for a pool, while also reading about how cartridge filters are useless and you demand to upgrade to a sand filter. Let's only go alee and articulate up this confusion once and for all.

Cartridge filters for above ground pools - While cartridge filters can be the best option for pool filtration systems the ones that typically come with above ground pools are usually very small. The smaller a paper filter is the less debris it can handle before it begins to restrict flow from the pump. Likewise the smaller the surface area of the filter paper, the less overall catamenia the filter volition be able to handle. Oftentimes above ground pool owners look to upgrade to a sand filter when in reality a sand filter is the lower finish option of the two filters. Only in this instance y'all are upgrading from a toy paper filter essentially, to an actual pressure level vessel filter tank filled with silica sand. This is a good upgrade to make for many entry level pool owners, but even better would exist to upgrade from a tiny, toy-like newspaper cartridge filter to a cartridge filter pressure vessel tank. In the end it all comes down to flow rate potential and the amount of surface surface area of the filter media.

Why are pool cartridge filters so much meliorate than sand filters? This comes downwards to menstruum rate potential and how fine the filter media is. When sized properly for a pool system, unlike the toy filters that come up with cheap pools, a cartridge filter is going to remove material up to three times finer from the water than a sand filter tin can. In addition to being able to filter finer particulate, the cartridge filter as well has a improve, more efficient hydraulic design. The multiport valve on a sand filter, which controls the part and flow of water through the head and body of the filter, is a huge restriction to flow. This makes sand filters able to handle a lot less water flow than suitably sized cartridge filter units.

1) Maximum design flow rate

ii) Expected pump output period rate

3) Volume of the pool

iv) Desired turnover rate

5) Hours per solar day yous run your pool pump

These five steps are needed for every swimming pool possessor in order to determine which size of filter you should exist getting for your pool. This is not everything that you need to know, just the get-go calculation that you need to practise for every type and size of pool filter to beginning answering your initial question "What size pool filter do I demand?" If you tin can reply these questions then you lot are almost all of the way there to making an informed decision for your next filter buy.

What Size Sand Filter Do I Need?

If a sand filter is what you are wanting for your pool so yous will see that they are sized by both physical size, like a 22" filter or a 24" filter, but you will too see them designated by weight as in a 200 lb filter, or a 300 lb filter. All of this information is useful merely not the get-go thing y'all need to look at deciding what size of pool filter you need. We need to look at that list above to start narrowing down on the filter selection.

If we assume the maximum blueprint flow charge per unit for a sand filter y'all are looking at is 50 GPM, which would represent a small to medium sized sand filter value, which would correspond to perhaps 150 to 250 lbs of sand (and probably a 1.5" multiport valve). This is a published figure from the manufacturer for every filter, and yous can even find this value printed right on the label on your sand filter.

Adjacent nosotros need to gauge the flow value from the pump (or use a period meter of you have one. Every pump on the market has a published flow curve available for it. Y'all might not be able to get the maximum value out of a flow curve, just yous tin can definitely brand some educated guesses for flow rate based on what you encounter. The flow curve volition have menstruation charge per unit on one axis, and the other axis will be resistance to period measure if feet of head.

Caput resistance - A puddle with almost no resistance to flow would be ten or 20 feet of head. Medium head would be 25 to 35 ft of head, and a puddle with a lot going on like waterfalls, floor cleaners, solar heaters or lots of twists, turns and distance in the pipage runs might take 40, fifty or 60 foot pounds of caput resistance. You can utilize these numbers to gauge how much flow your exact pump might put out for a low, medium, or high head pool which you should be able to estimate for yourself. Having a flow meter takes out all of this guesswork for pump flow, simply without ane this is the all-time estimation that yous can do. In one case you know your pump model and size in horsepower, yous await up the pump bend online and compare your estimated head resistance to the flow charge per unit that you can expect your specific pump to deliver.

We were working with the example of a sand filter that had a maximum designed flow rate of fifty GPM. If the pump we had was a Hayward Super 2 pump, 1.v horsepower, and we assumed a medium corporeality of head resistance at 30, then the approximated flow rate co-ordinate to the data posted past Hayward is the pump will evangelize a whopping 126 gallons per infinitesimal approximately. That is two and a one-half times the maximum catamenia rate that the filter nosotros are looking at can handle! The reason why is that the Super 2 pump from Hayward is non merely "twice as skilful" as the Superpump. They are made for different applications. If you needed to button confronting threescore or even eighty ft pounds of resistance then the Super 2 would work well where the Superpump would struggle to motion any water at all.

When we switch and await at the flow curve for the Hayward Superpump 1.5 horsepower instead we see that at xxx ft lbs of head resistance the pump will probable deliver effectually 73 GPM. What a difference! This is why pool owners who replace their super pump with a Super 2 are nigh surely overdriving their filters. The Super ii is an application specific pump for high head applications. All the same, as you can see in this case, even the Superpump is as well powerful at 73 GPM. The one horsepower Superpump model still would have 65 GPM expected output, and so dropping downwardly to the 3/4 horsepower model the expected flow charge per unit is around 52 GPM. As you can see when pool owners shop by horsepower they are virtually certainly overdriving their filters, especially if they have a sand filter.

We now have a sand filter that is rated for 50 GPM and a three/4 horsepower superpump which will move about 52 GPM on a arrangement with 30 feet of head. Adjacent we need to wait at the volume of the pool and the expected turnover charge per unit. You should turn over the water in your pool three times every 24 hours as the industry standard to accomplish 95% of all of the water in your pool being filtered at to the lowest degree in one case. Assuming a xx,000 gallon pool, which is about a xvi x 32' pool with a 3.5' shallow terminate and 6' deep end. At twenty,000 gallons in volume we need to aim for 60,000 gallons daily for filtration totals. So adjacent, how many hours per twenty-four hours exercise yous run your pool pump?

24 hours @ 60,000 gallons = 41.half-dozen GPM

12 hours @ lx,000 gallons = 83.33 GPM

8 hours @ 60,000 gallons = 125 GPM

What the heck these numbers don't add up at all! If you only ran your pump one-half of the day you would demand 83.33 GPM in gild to filter enough h2o. That is more than the filter tin can handle and more than than the three/4 superpump we chose tin can put out. Even worse is viii hours of running time a twenty-four hour period needing 125 GPM to attain the total filtration volume. So what is the disconnect hither? The disconnect is that largely puddle systems are not built efficiently, pool filtration equipment is not sized properly, and pool owners do non understand filtration volume amounts or puddle turnover properly. Actually a breakup in every footstep of the process. No wonder pool owners accept and then much trouble getting an respond to such every bit "simple" question as what size pool filter do I demand?

What we have learned in the above example is that if the minimum turnover charge per unit of iii per twenty-four hour period is going to be met, 60,000 gallons per day, the pump is going to have to run almost 24/vii to become in that location. At least one good thing to say here is that at least the pump no longer doubles the maximum flow the filter can handle, but as the owner of this puddle you might not want to take to run your pump almost 24 hours per 24-hour interval. This is noisy and expensive for electrical consumption. This is why many pool owners simply ignore the recommended filtration volumes and instead undershoot these values significantly. Information technology is non a good idea, but information technology is the respond to why these numbers are so unlike than what you take been doing to your pool, or how other people run their filtration system.

Sizing a pool sand filter - When picking a sand filter for your pool information technology is important to empathise that your maximum menstruation rate will be an issue. Unless you are besides ownership your pump now and tin can size it to the filter, then you must pick a filter than tin work with the pump that you have at present. It would exist a mistake to assume the last person who picked your pump and filter had whatever understanding of this filter sizing process you lot are learning about now. You should try to get the largest (highest) maximum design flow rate y'all tin find in your sand filter, and this will normally be from filters with a 2" multiport valve instead of the 1.5" multiport valve filters. Equally a loose guide, call up forth the lines of 150 pounds of sand filter media per 10,000 gallons of h2o. A 20,000 gallon pool would need 300 pounds of sand...but remember that maximum designed flow rate and turnover rate for your pool volume are both more important than how many pounds of sand yous have.

Testing for caput pressure - If yous want to judge as niggling as possible with your system and then you do non need to judge your resistance to flow. If you put a vacuum gauge into the suction side of your pump and a pressure approximate into the force per unit area side of your pump then you perform the following calculation to learn see a snapshot of your full dynamic caput resistance to period. With the pump running multiply the PSI on the force per unit area judge by 2.31 and and then perform a similar adding on the suction side of the pump. The vacuum guess reads in inches of mercury. With the pump still running yous would multiply your vacuum reading past 1.13. Add both the suction side and pressure level side numbers together, and the effect is your resistance to menstruum in feet of head.

What Size Cartridge Filter Do I Demand?

Just as with the sand filter case above when you lot are sizing a cartridge filter for your pool you will demand to wait at the same information. Y'all need to look first at the maximum designed flow rate for the filter you are because. Dissimilar sand filters however y'all volition discover that cartridge filters have vastly higher maximum designed flow rates. This is primarily because cartridge filters do not have a multiport valve which ways they take a lot less restriction to flow. Fifty-fifty small cartridge filter have as much or more flow potential than even large pool sand filters.

In the sand filter instance the pump had to be downsized to avoid sending far too much water through the filter. Since cartridge filters have such a high designed flow charge per unit, our case filter will be able to handle 120 GPM fifty-fifty though it is only a medium sized filter at best. Next nosotros have the same 20,000 gallon pool, which needs the aforementioned lx,000 gallons of flow through the filtration organization every day. In this case we do not need to downsize the pump for the sake of protecting the filter, so the original i.five HP superpump at 73 GPM would work fine. Even the Super 2 high head pump from the first example at 126 GPM could probably fifty-fifty match up with this medium sized cartridge filter. This would give you lot a lot more than filter options than with the sand filter which is going to need to run almost 24 hours per 24-hour interval. With the one.5 HP superpump here are the 8, 12 and 24 hour turnover values:

24 hours @ 73 GPM = 105,120 Gallons

12 hours @ 73 GPM = 52,560 Gallons

viii hours @ 73 GPM = 35,040 Gallons

Wow, do you see how much of a divergence the filter makes when choosing between sand and cartridge? With the sand filter we had to run a much smaller pump 24 hours per solar day virtually to reach out 3x turnover goal of 60,000 gallons each day. With the 1.5 HP superpump instead of the three/four HP, and with a cartridge filter that tin can handle higher menstruation, you can now run into your total daily turnover a piddling over 12 hours. That is an improvement yet this is only scratching the surface of how to make a filtration organisation more than functional, and especially more economical, which you tin learn more about in this article near how much electricity a pool pump uses. What if yous had a huge pool book and you needed more filtering than the Superpump can provide? What about the i.5 HP Super 2 that we were looking at that was rated for 126 GPM? If y'all were to run that with the 120 GPM cartridge filter:

24 hours @ 126 GPM = 181,440 Gallons

12 hours @ 126 GPM = 90,720 Gallons

eight hours @ 126 GPM = 60,480 Gallons

Holy bananas look at how much h2o volume that is! On a 24 hour schedule that is plenty water to turnover a lx,000 gallon pool three times. That is a xxx x 50' puddle with an average depthjust over 5' deep. It is incredible to remember that you could actually plough over a pool that large with something equally small as a 150 st cartridge filter like this new model from Hayward, the C150S which has a 120 GPM maximum designed flow charge per unit. However y'all would not want to filter a xxx 10 50' pool with a single 150 sf cartridge chemical element even if it can handle an impressively high maximum period rate. You demand to consider the constructive filration area when sizing a pool cartridge filter. This volition determine how long you will exist able to become in between needing to open and clean your filter elements.

Sizing a puddle cartridge filter - Since both a small cartridge filter and a large cartridge filter both have impressively high maximum flow rates so technically you could utilise either one on a given pool size. The only factor that would alter betwixt a smaller filter versus a larger filter is simply the corporeality of time you go between cleanings. When your filter pressure rises vii to 10 PSI then information technology is time to clean your filter elements. If you have a 300 sf cartridge filter instead of a 150 sf cartridge filter then you will be able to get twice as long in betwixt filter cleanings. When sized appropriately for the pool a cartridge filter should be able to go months in between needing to exist cleaned, assuming the h2o was make clean when you started the clock.

With all of these calculations and variables I am certain you are starting to see how dynamic the question really is, and request what size filter you need is going to become you a lot of information merely not necessarily a lot of answers. For the established commercial standards for swimming puddle filtration and filter sizing we would use multipliers called FMR - Filter Media Rate. These established standards are applied to the filter media to make up one's mind how much (in square footage) you need for your pool filtration system. In order to calculate the actual expanse of filter media you would use the equation FA (filter expanse) = FR (period rate) / FMR (filter media rate).

You can calculate the area for your specific filter, but this information is already provided on the manufacturers label, probably right adjacent to where the maximum design flow rate was printed. If your filter provides a maximum blueprint commercial filtration charge per unit, that is the FA = FR / FMR calculation mentioned higher up. For residential pools instead of ultra-conservative FMR calculations it is accepted indusrty practice to use 150 square feet of surface area for cartridge filters per 10,000 gallons of water. A twenty,000 gallon puddle would utilize a 300 sf cartridge filter. Remember that cartridge filters are very capable, both minor and large, and the only appreciable number you are irresolute is how long you volition be able to go in betwixt filter cleanings.

Too long, didn't read (TLDR) - In order to know what size filter you demand for your pool you need to know your pool book and then determine if you will follow the industry standard of three turnover of your pool volume daily. Decide on the total volume you want to filter in 24 hours (or the number of hours you want to run your pump daily) and take your filtration total in gallons and so divide past the hours your pump runs, and divide that number ny 60 to give you lot your GPM (gallons per minute) needed to exist handled past your filter. Check the maximum designed flow rate for your filter and make sure your flow rate will non exceed this value. Check your pump flow bend and estimate (or calculate) your total dynamic head resistance (measured in feet of caput) to run into how much menstruation your pump will output on your arrangement and make certain this matches up with your maximum design flow rate on the filter. For sand filters sizing is usually around 150 pounds of sand per x,000 gallons of water where for cartridge filters it is normally around 150 square feet per 10,000 gallons of water.

In that location is another way that is much easier, much more unproblematic, removes a lot of these hard limitations and really ends up filtering your puddle amend for way less money and that is to become a variable speed pool pump. It will exist police force July 2021 that all pools must use a variable speed pump (or similar efficiency threshold) and this will let you lot to set period rates to whatever maximum or minimum value that you need for your pool or your specific pool filter...assuming you have a period meter and know how much water your arrangement is moving.

Match a variable speed pump with a suitably sized cartridge filter (150sf / 10,000 gallons) and you accept a monster combination of energy efficiency also as huge potential maximum flow volumes. If you desire to filter your water efficiently, effectively and for as little money (and confusing calculations) as possible, that is the best yous are going to do. A variable speed pump, a large cartridge filter and a flow meter so you can dial in your 3x turnover based on a 24 hour running schedule. It does non get any better than that when it comes to pool filtration.

A notation on DE filters - I do not endorse DE filters (diatomaceous earth) as pool grade DE is not safety like food grade DE is for humans. Pool form DE is toxic, is an airborne irritant, tin can cause silicosis since DE is not purged from the torso and repeated doses tin can accumulate, which has been shown to cause nonmalignant respiratory diseases as well equally lung cancer. Yeah DE filters are fifty-fifty more than effective than cartridge filters at removing find debris from the water, and yes DE filters likewise typically have high maximum blueprint flow rates similar to cartridge filters, however I do not use or endorse DE filters for pools when cartridge filters are a perfectly acceptable and effective option without the abiding use and exposure to things toxic to humans.

Want to come across the maximum design flow rates for every brand, brand, model and size of puddle sand filters and cartridge filters? Pool Filter Catamenia Rates This buyers guide that I put together lists the maximum design menstruation rates and filtration area for every filter you should be looking at with the exception of the new Hayward C150S that I mentioned.

Pool filter reviews

More info on pool filter sizing

How much ability does a puddle pump use?

How much tin you save with a variable speed pump?

Flow rates for mutual pool pipage sizes

Variable speed pool pump reviews

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How Big Of Sand Filter Do I Need,

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