What Size Filter For My Pool

What Size Pool Filter Do I Demand?

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The size of the pool filter that you need will depend on the type of pool you have, the size of your pool as well as the type of filter you are ownership. To a higher place basis pools have smaller plumbing systems for the most role than inground pool installations however the option and sizing process for a new filter looks pretty much the same for both with only i notable exception. When people talk about a "cartridge filter" for a pool they are usually talking near a robust, expensive filter organization that represents one of the best filter choices for whatsoever pool.

With above ground pools, and especially entry level higher up footing pools, a when someone is talking about a cartridge filter they are not meaning a large pressure vessel tank with 200, 300 or 400 square feet of filter media inside, they are ordinarily talking near single paper filter element that is mayhap 25 or l foursquare feet of media. This is a signal of defoliation for some people since you tin can end upwardly reading that cartridge filters are the best filter option you can go for a pool, while also reading virtually how cartridge filters are useless and y'all need to upgrade to a sand filter. Let's merely go ahead and clear up this defoliation once and for all.

Cartridge filters for above ground pools - While cartridge filters can be the all-time pick for pool filtration systems the ones that typically come with above footing pools are commonly very small. The smaller a paper filter is the less debris it can handle before it begins to restrict flow from the pump. Besides the smaller the surface area of the filter paper, the less overall menses the filter will be able to handle. Oftentimes in a higher place footing pool owners wait to upgrade to a sand filter when in reality a sand filter is the lower end option of the two filters. Simply in this instance y'all are upgrading from a toy paper filter substantially, to an bodily force per unit area vessel filter tank filled with silica sand. This is a good upgrade to brand for many entry level puddle owners, but even ameliorate would be to upgrade from a tiny, toy-like paper cartridge filter to a cartridge filter force per unit area vessel tank. In the cease information technology all comes downwardly to period 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 downward to menstruation rate potential and how fine the filter media is. When sized properly for a pool system, unlike the toy filters that come with cheap pools, a cartridge filter is going to remove cloth upwards to iii times finer from the h2o than a sand filter tin can. In addition to beingness able to filter finer particulate, the cartridge filter also has a better, more than 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 menstruum. This makes sand filters able to handle a lot less water menstruum than suitably sized cartridge filter units.

ane) Maximum pattern flow rate

2) Expected pump output catamenia charge per unit

iii) Volume of the pool

iv) Desired turnover rate

v) Hours per day y'all run your puddle pump

These five steps are needed for every pond pool owner in order to make up one's mind which size of filter yous should exist getting for your pool. This is not everything that you demand to know, just the beginning calculation that yous need to do for every type and size of pool filter to start answering your initial question "What size pool filter do I need?" If you tin can reply these questions and so you lot are almost all of the manner there to making an informed decision for your next filter purchase.

What Size Sand Filter Practise I Need?

If a sand filter is what you lot are wanting for your puddle so y'all volition see that they are sized by both physical size, similar a 22" filter or a 24" filter, just y'all volition as well see them designated by weight equally in a 200 lb filter, or a 300 lb filter. All of this information is useful just non the kickoff thing you need to look at deciding what size of pool filter you lot need. We need to look at that list above to first narrowing down on the filter choice.

If we assume the maximum design menses rate for a sand filter you lot 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 ane.5" multiport valve). This is a published figure from the manufacturer for every filter, and you lot can fifty-fifty detect this value printed correct on the label on your sand filter.

Next we need to estimate the period value from the pump (or utilise a flow meter of you have one. Every pump on the market place has a published menstruum curve available for it. You might not exist able to get the maximum value out of a flow curve, just you tin can definitely make some educated guesses for flow rate based on what you see. The flow curve will have flow charge per unit on one axis, and the other centrality will exist resistance to flow measure out if feet of head.

Caput resistance - A pool with most no resistance to flow would be x or xx feet of head. Medium head would exist 25 to 35 ft of head, and a pool with a lot going on similar waterfalls, flooring cleaners, solar heaters or lots of twists, turns and distance in the piping runs might have 40, 50 or 60 human foot pounds of head resistance. You tin use these numbers to approximate 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, just without ane this is the best estimation that you can exercise. Once you know your pump model and size in horsepower, yous look upward the pump curve online and compare your estimated head resistance to the flow rate that you tin can wait 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, 1.5 horsepower, and we assumed a medium amount of head resistance at 30, then the approximated flow rate co-ordinate to the data posted by Hayward is the pump will deliver a whopping 126 gallons per minute approximately. That is two and a half times the maximum catamenia rate that the filter we are looking at can handle! The reason why is that the Super 2 pump from Hayward is not just "twice every bit adept" as the Superpump. They are fabricated for different applications. If you needed to push against 60 or even eighty ft pounds of resistance then the Super 2 would work well where the Superpump would struggle to movement any h2o at all.

When we switch and look at the menstruum curve for the Hayward Superpump 1.5 horsepower instead we come across that at 30 ft lbs of head resistance the pump will probable deliver around 73 GPM. What a difference! This is why pool owners who replace their super pump with a Super 2 are almost surely overdriving their filters. The Super ii is an application specific pump for loftier head applications. However, every bit you can see in this example, even the Superpump is too powerful at 73 GPM. The 1 horsepower Superpump model still would accept 65 GPM expected output, then dropping down to the 3/iv horsepower model the expected flow rate is around 52 GPM. As yous tin can come across when pool owners shop by horsepower they are almost certainly overdriving their filters, peculiarly if they have a sand filter.

We now take a sand filter that is rated for fifty GPM and a 3/4 horsepower superpump which will motion near 52 GPM on a system with xxx feet of caput. Next we demand to look at the volume of the pool and the expected turnover rate. Y'all should turn over the water in your pool iii times every 24 hours as the industry standard to achieve 95% of all of the water in your pool being filtered at least one time. Bold a 20,000 gallon pool, which is about a xvi x 32' pool with a three.v' shallow end and half dozen' deep terminate. At twenty,000 gallons in book we need to aim for threescore,000 gallons daily for filtration totals. So adjacent, how many hours per day practise y'all run your pool pump?

24 hours @ sixty,000 gallons = 41.6 GPM

12 hours @ 60,000 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 need 83.33 GPM in order to filter plenty water. That is more than than the filter can handle and more the 3/iv superpump nosotros chose can put out. Even worse is 8 hours of running fourth dimension a day needing 125 GPM to achieve the full filtration book. So what is the disconnect here? The disconnect is that largely pool systems are non congenital efficiently, pool filtration equipment is not sized properly, and puddle owners do not understand filtration volume amounts or puddle turnover properly. Really a breakdown in every footstep of the process. No wonder puddle owners have so much problem getting an answer to such as "simple" question as what size puddle filter do I need?

What we accept learned in the in a higher place example is that if the minimum turnover rate of three per mean solar day is going to be met, 60,000 gallons per twenty-four hours, the pump is going to have to run almost 24/seven to get at that place. At least one good thing to say hither is that at to the lowest degree the pump no longer doubles the maximum flow the filter tin can handle, but as the owner of this pool you lot might non desire to accept to run your pump nigh 24 hours per solar day. This is noisy and expensive for electrical consumption. This is why many puddle owners simply ignore the recommended filtration volumes and instead undershoot these values significantly. It is non a good idea, but information technology is the respond to why these numbers are and so unlike than what you have been doing to your pool, or how other people run their filtration organization.

Sizing a pool sand filter - When picking a sand filter for your puddle information technology is important to understand that your maximum catamenia rate will exist an issue. Unless yous are likewise buying your pump now and tin size it to the filter, then you must pick a filter than tin work with the pump that you have at present. It would be a mistake to assume the concluding person who picked your pump and filter had any agreement of this filter sizing procedure you are learning nigh at present. Y'all should endeavour to go the largest (highest) maximum design period rate you can detect in your sand filter, and this volition ordinarily be from filters with a 2" multiport valve instead of the 1.5" multiport valve filters. As a loose guide, think along the lines of 150 pounds of sand filter media per x,000 gallons of water. A 20,000 gallon pool would need 300 pounds of sand...merely remember that maximum designed flow rate and turnover charge per unit for your pool volume are both more of import than how many pounds of sand you have.

Testing for head pressure - If you want to guess equally piffling as possible with your arrangement then y'all do not need to estimate your resistance to flow. If you put a vacuum gauge into the suction side of your pump and a pressure judge into the pressure side of your pump then you lot perform the following calculation to learn see a snapshot of your total dynamic head resistance to flow. With the pump running multiply the PSI on the pressure gauge by 2.31 and then perform a like calculation on the suction side of the pump. The vacuum estimate reads in inches of mercury. With the pump still running you lot would multiply your vacuum reading by 1.13. Add together both the suction side and pressure side numbers together, and the outcome is your resistance to menstruation in feet of caput.

What Size Cartridge Filter Do I Demand?

Just as with the sand filter case above when you are sizing a cartridge filter for your pool yous will need to expect at the same data. You demand to expect first at the maximum designed flow rate for the filter y'all are considering. Unlike sand filters however you lot volition find that cartridge filters have vastly higher maximum designed menstruum rates. This is primarily because cartridge filters do not take a multiport valve which means they accept a lot less restriction to flow. Even small cartridge filter have as much or more than flow potential than even large pool sand filters.

In the sand filter example the pump had to be downsized to avert sending far too much water through the filter. Since cartridge filters accept such a high designed flow rate, our instance filter will be able to handle 120 GPM fifty-fifty though information technology is only a medium sized filter at best. Adjacent we have the same 20,000 gallon pool, which needs the same 60,000 gallons of flow through the filtration system every twenty-four hour period. In this instance we practise not demand to downsize the pump for the sake of protecting the filter, so the original one.5 HP superpump at 73 GPM would work fine. Even the Super 2 high head pump from the first example at 126 GPM could probably even match up with this medium sized cartridge filter. This would requite you a lot more filter options than with the sand filter which is going to demand to run well-nigh 24 hours per solar day. With the 1.5 HP superpump here are the eight, 12 and 24 hour turnover values:

24 hours @ 73 GPM = 105,120 Gallons

12 hours @ 73 GPM = 52,560 Gallons

eight hours @ 73 GPM = 35,040 Gallons

Wow, exercise you lot see how much of a difference the filter makes when choosing between sand and cartridge? With the sand filter nosotros had to run a much smaller pump 24 hours per day virtually to attain out 3x turnover goal of lx,000 gallons each day. With the 1.5 HP superpump instead of the 3/4 HP, and with a cartridge filter that can handle higher period, you tin can now meet your full daily turnover a little over 12 hours. That is an improvement even so this is only scratching the surface of how to make a filtration organization more functional, and especially more than economical, which you tin can learn more than about in this article about how much electricity a puddle pump uses. What if you lot had a huge pool volume and you lot needed more filtering than the Superpump can provide? What well-nigh the ane.five HP Super 2 that we were looking at that was rated for 126 GPM? If you were to run that with the 120 GPM cartridge filter:

24 hours @ 126 GPM = 181,440 Gallons

12 hours @ 126 GPM = 90,720 Gallons

8 hours @ 126 GPM = 60,480 Gallons

Holy bananas await at how much water volume that is! On a 24 hour schedule that is enough water to turnover a threescore,000 gallon puddle three times. That is a thirty 10 50' pool with an boilerplate depthjust over 5' deep. It is incredible to think that you could actually plow over a pool that large with something as small-scale as a 150 st cartridge filter like this new model from Hayward, the C150S which has a 120 GPM maximum designed catamenia charge per unit. Nonetheless you would non want to filter a 30 x 50' puddle with a unmarried 150 sf cartridge chemical element even if it can handle an impressively high maximum menses rate. You need to consider the effective filration area when sizing a puddle cartridge filter. This will determine how long you will be able to go in betwixt needing to open up and clean your filter elements.

Sizing a pool cartridge filter - Since both a modest cartridge filter and a big cartridge filter both have impressively high maximum flow rates then technically you could utilise either ane on a given puddle size. The only factor that would alter betwixt a smaller filter versus a larger filter is but the amount of time yous become between cleanings. When your filter force per unit area rises vii to 10 PSI then it is time to clean your filter elements. If you have a 300 sf cartridge filter instead of a 150 sf cartridge filter so yous volition be able to go twice as long in between filter cleanings. When sized appropriately for the pool a cartridge filter should be able to become months in between needing to exist cleaned, assuming the water was clean when you started the clock.

With all of these calculations and variables I am sure you are starting to come across how dynamic the question really is, and request what size filter you demand is going to go you a lot of information but not necessarily a lot of answers. For the established commercial standards for swimming pool filtration and filter sizing we would use multipliers chosen FMR - Filter Media Rate. These established standards are applied to the filter media to determine how much (in square footage) you need for your pool filtration system. In order to calculate the actual surface surface area of filter media you would use the equation FA (filter area) = FR (catamenia rate) / FMR (filter media rate).

Yous can calculate the surface area for your specific filter, but this information is already provided on the manufacturers label, probably correct next to where the maximum design flow rate was printed. If your filter provides a maximum pattern commercial filtration rate, that is the FA = FR / FMR adding mentioned in a higher place. For residential pools instead of ultra-conservative FMR calculations it is accustomed indusrty practice to use 150 square anxiety of surface expanse for cartridge filters per 10,000 gallons of h2o. A 20,000 gallon puddle would use a 300 sf cartridge filter. Call up that cartridge filters are very capable, both pocket-size and large, and the merely observable number you are changing is how long you will be able to go in between filter cleanings.

Too long, didn't read (TLDR) - In order to know what size filter you need for your puddle yous need to know your pool volume and then decide if you will follow the industry standard of 3 turnover of your puddle book daily. Decide on the total volume you lot desire to filter in 24 hours (or the number of hours you want to run your pump daily) and accept your filtration total in gallons and so dissever by the hours your pump runs, and split that number ny 60 to requite you your GPM (gallons per minute) needed to be handled by your filter. Check the maximum designed flow charge per unit for your filter and make sure your flow rate will not exceed this value. Check your pump flow curve and estimate (or calculate) your total dynamic head resistance (measured in feet of head) to come across how much flow your pump will output on your system and make sure this matches up with your maximum design menstruation charge per unit on the filter. For sand filters sizing is commonly around 150 pounds of sand per 10,000 gallons of water where for cartridge filters it is usually around 150 square feet per 10,000 gallons of water.

There is another fashion that is much easier, much more simple, removes a lot of these hard limitations and actually ends upwardly filtering your pool amend for fashion less money and that is to get a variable speed pool pump. Information technology volition be constabulary July 2021 that all pools must use a variable speed pump (or similar efficiency threshold) and this will allow you to set up flow rates to whatever maximum or minimum value that you demand for your pool or your specific pool filter...assuming you take a menstruum meter and know how much water your organization is moving.

Match a variable speed pump with a suitably sized cartridge filter (150sf / x,000 gallons) and you have a monster combination of energy efficiency as well as huge potential maximum menses volumes. If you want to filter your h2o efficiently, finer and for as little coin (and confusing calculations) as possible, that is the all-time you are going to do. A variable speed pump, a large cartridge filter and a flow meter so yous tin can punch in your 3x turnover based on a 24 hour running schedule. It does non get any better than that when information technology comes to pool filtration.

A note on DE filters - I practise not endorse DE filters (diatomaceous earth) equally puddle class DE is non safe similar nutrient form DE is for humans. Pool grade DE is toxic, is an airborne irritant, can cause silicosis since DE is not purged from the body and repeated doses can accumulate, which has been shown to cause nonmalignant respiratory diseases every bit well as lung cancer. Yeah DE filters are fifty-fifty more than effective than cartridge filters at removing find debris from the water, and yep DE filters also typically have high maximum blueprint catamenia rates similar to cartridge filters, nevertheless I exercise non utilize or endorse DE filters for pools when cartridge filters are a perfectly adequate and effective selection without the constant use and exposure to things toxic to humans.

Desire to run across the maximum pattern period rates for every brand, make, model and size of pool sand filters and cartridge filters? Pool Filter Flow Rates This buyers guide that I put together lists the maximum blueprint flow rates and filtration expanse for every filter you should exist looking at with the exception of the new Hayward C150S that I mentioned.

Pool filter reviews

More than info on puddle filter sizing

How much power does a pool pump use?

How much tin you relieve with a variable speed pump?

Menstruum rates for common pool pipe sizes

Variable speed pool pump reviews

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