Wednesday, April 25, 2012

long life filters


The first summer we had this pool
we spent a ton of money on filters.
We weren't quite prepared for that;
in Fort Smith, we had a nicer pool, with a real sand filter.

It's not the greatest to look at, no,
but it sure has provided us with plenty of cool fun, exercise 
and even relaxation.
I have no complaints whatsoever about the 'ghetto' pool.
Except.
Except the stupid (mostly paper) filters cost $5 each
and you use like one a week.
Swimming season is May - early Sept.
Do the math.

Over the next two summers, 
we perfected our method of extending the life of our filters.
We started by rinsing the filters daily
and re-using them.
which doubled their life.
Then we began rotating filters.

Last summer, we used only 5 filters.
(which we bought on clearance at the end of the previous summer :-)
Two of those, we carried over to this summer.

How'd we do it?
Easy!
Every day,
we pull out the filter that's in the pump and replace it 
with the filter that was in it 2 days ago.
We wash the filter,
by spraying each 'fold' with the hose
and then set it to dry, moving yesterday's filter forward
to be used next.
Some days, if the pool has gotten gunky,
we may swap filters out 2 or even 3 times.
The key is to not stick the same filter 
immediately back in.
Allowing the filters to dry between uses seems to really be beneficial.

3 filters used in rotation, changed and cleaned daily


1 comment:

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