Filter cleaning

[iceno9]

Hi All,

How often should you use a filter cleaner on your tub filters?
I tend to take mine out once a week/2 weeks and hose is down with clean water and it tends to go from an 'off white/brownish' colour to a bright white colour....so i think its clean. However i dont soak it in a filter cleaner...
Thoughts?

Whats the recommendations on type/brand of filter cleaner?

Is it best to have 2 filters....i.e. a clean one to put in the tub whilst the dirty one soaks for a days in filter cleaner?

Thanks

[Kev B]

 Depending on the amount of use. Just remember that the cleaner you and family are, the less oil and debris the filters will ingest. Using a good jet nozzle on them once a week is the best routine, coupled of course with proper chemistry. Sounds like you are doing a great job.

[buba]

If you only have one filter there are a number of instant filter cleaners that only require a 5-10 min. spray & soak time, Leisure Time and EcoSpray are a couple. If you continue the weekly water rinse then perhaps add a monthly instant cleaner spray & soak into your routine.

I have a spare filter and swap them out monthly. I use an overnight soaking cleaner sold by SpaDepot called Power Soak that works well and is cost effective. My spare filter is the house brand from SpaDepot. I have also heard good things about Pleatco, Filbur and Unicel

[girlinhotwater]

I use TSP (Trisodium phosphate) that I buy at Home Depot or the like. I use 1 cup tsp mixed with 5 gallons of water in a bucket, let is soak over night, then rinse and soak in clean water the next night. Because my HS spa has five filters, I have a 6th filter for soaking and have them on a rotation schedule. In the winter I can't easily hose them all out at once, so I take the filter from the main circulation pipe because that's the one working all the time. I just keep shifting them in a circle so that they all wear about the same. So far so good and I find it much more manageable than cleaning them all at once in the winter. Now summer is another story, I still rotate the clean soak, but I can easily spray them all out every couple weeks. My year and 1/2 old filters look brand new with the exception of the bottom and top plastic that has faded.

[wmccall]

Sounds like you are doing well.  In my opinion, the point where you think you need to use filter cleaner is a good time to get a 2nd filter.  The only problem with the filter cleaners is if you don't rinse it out completely it can cause your water to foam up. When I do use it, I rinse it out thoroughly, then rinse it again and put it away, then rinse it off again when I go to actually use it.

[iceno9]

Interestingly no one has said that a filter cleaner is a 'must'.
Like i say - i rinse the only filter my spa has once per week and it does look like new after a rinse....i also intend to change the filter once per year....but i dont understand what a filter cleaner does above rinsing them?


thanks for the comment so far

[chem geek]

The filter has oils and other water insoluble chemicals adhere to it.  Rinsing with water will not remove the thinnest layers of this material that adhere to the filter material.  It requires use of surfactants (think "soap") to remove such oils to make them water soluble so that they can rinse away.  Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is high in pH and will saponify greases and oils -- similar to how soap is made from fats + lye.  Filter cleaner products usually have a combination of a chemical that raises the pH (though not usually TSP due to wanting to keep phosphates out of the waste stream) and surfactants.

The post How to clean a cartridge filter contains instructions which basically say you can use (1) a commercial filter cleaner; or (2) one cup trisodium phosphate (TSP) to five gallons water; or (3) one cup dishwasher detergent to five gallons of water.