Pool Supplies

Swimming pool filters are essential parts of swimming pool equipment. Pool filters act as a screen between the pump and the water and ensures that the pool water stays free of contamination and debris. These pool filters come in handy as they rigorously filter out all kind of debris like leaves, sand and other unidentified pieces of debris. Pool filters skim debris and keeps the pool water clean and the pumping station from getting choked. In order to ensure long life and maximum filtration capacity the pool filters should be properly maintained otherwise they would loose there functionality. In order to keep the filtration system working up to the mark you need to have proper knowledge of the different pool filters available.

Types of Pool Filters

In order to find the best pool filters that suit your needs it is vital that you have enough knowledge of the different pool filters available in the market.

Sand filters – Sand is the prime filtration medium used in these filters. Water that enters from the top of filter tank moves down going through beds of sand. Sharp sand particles stop any impurities and debris while allowing clean water to flow out from the bottom of the filter into the pool.

However the filtration process at one stage slows down because the constant filtration results in the accumulation of dirt particles in the pool filter. At this point the pool filter needs cleaning. This pool filter can be cleaned by letting water enter from the bottom and exit from the top. This process is known as the backwashing process. The dirt particles that have accumulated amongst the sand beds get washed away through backwashing process. But there is catch to sand pool filters. Sand filters are only able to remove dirt particles that are 20 to 25 micron in terms of size. Debris that is smaller is not stopped by sand filters and is allowed to enter the pool water.

Cartridge filters – Cartridge filters contain cylinder shapes filtering devices that are made out of polyester and other materials. These filters do there job effectively and as water passes through them impurities and debris is caught and removed. These filters also require maintenance. The maintenance of cartridge filters is easy. You can clean these filters using a water hose or soak these filters in detergent solution and after rinsing with clean water you can put them back in the pool. Cartridge filters are a bit more expensive than sand filters because of there ability to filters sand impurities as miniature as 5 microns in terms of size.

Diatomaceous earth filters – Effective, efficient, expensive. Diatomaceous earth filters use diatomaceous earth as there filtration medium. These are the fossilize   exoskeletons of miniature diatoms. The water tank is coated with this material and than water is allowed to pass through the filtration tank. This filter skims even the smallest particles of impurities and debris that are ignored by other pool filters. These filters can be conveniently cleaned by the backwashing technique.