Sand Or Cartridge, which is better?

Sand or Cartridge, which is better and when is the time to repair or replace?

Filtration in your pool or spa is an essential part of the circulation system as a whole to remove bacteria and pathogens from the pool water and to ensure the water remains safe to swim in.Without this essential part of the pool equipment you will soon find that the pool will turn cloudy or green no matter how often you treat the pool chemically or the length of time you circulate the water.Which one do you choose, Sand or Cartridge as these are the two most popular forms of filtration.Most pool owners aren’t given this choice as the pool builder will design and fit the filtration system to suit the pool size and the space they have available around the area where the pool equipment is to be installed. In a spa they will only install cartridge filtration unless it’s a larger commercial applicationWhich is better, Sand or Cartridge.That depends on your willingness to get out there and do the required daily, weekly, monthly maintenance or employ a qualified service technician to do this for you.In part, cartridge filtration offers better and finer filtration than sand media but requires more maintenance. A cartridge element will need to be removed regularly and washed through to remove the debris collected in between the pleats, which can be time consuming and back breaking standing over a cartridge to service it properly. You also need to be confident in disassembling and reassembling components associated with the filter. If you have been shown how to do this correctly you will possibly get a good 3-4 years out of the cartridge element but it will depend on the environment and the bather load.Sand media has been around for a while now and although not as fine as a cartridge element will still remove all the bacteria and pathogens found within pool water to a large degree, Sand media does degrade over time and actually rounds off so the water passes through the filter at a quicker rate and begins to return some of that debris back into the pool. On average sand media lasts around 5 years before it requires a change although a lot of pools out there don’t do this because the water looks clear but just because the water looks clear certainly doesn’t mean it’s safe to swim in.The maintenance on a sand filter is a lot less weekly and monthly as you have a larger cross sectional area for filtration and only requires a simple backwash and rinse to remove the collected debris within the filter bed. You just need to consider the position of a backwash line to remove the wasted water when going through the backwash cycle. A large soakwell or unused sandy area is great for this. Just remember the water removed needs to be on your property and not on adjoining property or council land.Then we have recycled glass media in the mix now, which when put inside a sand filter offers the same or better filtration especially when hydraulically set with a variable speed pump. Glass media uses less water to backwash and lasts the life of the tank.This could be up to 8 -10 years. The only consideration is disposal when the filtration system requires changing down the track No one option fits all and certainly requires some thought when installing a filter to the pool initially or as a replacement later on when the existing one finally has had it;s day.We offer free advice over the phone and can point you in the right direction if it all seems a little confusing or you feel you are being sold an expensive piece of equipment that you’re not sure of. You just need to make the call !