Improve your pool filtration to make your pool water sparkling clean and save your time and money.
Pool owners run into problems with filtration when the pump and filter are not correctly sized for the volume of water in the pool. A pump and filter that is too large may cause issues just like when the pump and filter is too small.
Even when your filter is new, correctly sized for your pool, and you’ve never had an issue, you can still improve the efficiency of your pool filtration system. The outcome will be cleaner, more sparkling pool water.
Table of Contents
The Filtration System
One of the most important aspects to keeping pool water clean is circulate the water around the pool. If the water is left stagnant it will quickly become a breeding ground for algae and bacteria.
The filtration system draws water from the pool and pumps it through a number of appliances to clean and process the water. The pump and filter must run long enough to process all the pool water each day. That is, the pump must turnover all the water in the pool on a daily basis to ensure the pool water is clean. Normally, a pump is chosen for your pool with the capacity to filter all the water every 8 hours.
The water is pumped through the following appliances:
Skimmer Basket
The skimmer basket captures all leaves, insects and prevents larger items from being sucked into the plumbing. You don’t want floating toys or other objects blocking the plumbing.
Pump Basket
All pool pumps have a built-in pump basket to capture small-sized items of debris from the water before it’s drawn through the pump and into the filter. This prevents the pump and filter clogging quickly with items of debris.
Filter
There are two main types of filter – cartridge or sand.
It doesn’t matter which filter you have as each have advantages and disadvantages over each other. The important thing is the filter has the capacity to clean all the water in your pool every 8 hours. The filter must be regularly cleaned and maintained to ensure the correct operation of the filter.
Chlorinator
If you have a salt water pool the last process is to pump the water through a saltwater chlorinator. The chlorinator must be installed last after all other appliances. The chlorinator is a clear electrolytic cell where a very low voltage but high electric current is passed through the saline water to produce chlorine. The free chlorine immediately binds and destroys algae, bacteria, viruses and other contaminants. The chlorine reverts back to dissolved salt completing the cycle. The destroyed contaminants are trapped in the filter making your pool safe, clean and clear.
Choose the Right Size Pump
If you have the right size pump for your pool it should filter all the water every 8 hours. This is the turnover rate of the pump.
Turnover Rate
The capacity of most pumps is rated by gallons (litres) per minute.
Assume we want to run the pump for 8 hours per day.
Divide the pool’s volume by 8 to get gallons (litres) per hour
Then divide by 60 to get gallons (litres) per minute.
Capacity (GPM or LPM) = pool volume / (8 x 60)
Example:
Pool volume = 50,000 litres
Capacity = 50000 / (8 x 60) = 104 litres per minute (LPM)
Now select a pump with at least the capacity to turn over all the water in your pool in 8 hours.
Note: Most new swimming pool pumps will easily turn over all the water in a backyard pool within 8 hours so there’s really no need to worry too much about the technical specifications. The new pumps are very powerful, quiet and energy efficient.
Choose the Right Size Filter
The filter must match the size of your pool so the larger the volume of water the larger the filter required. That was easy but that’s not the entire story.
The real driver for most existing pool filtration systems is the size of the plumbing pipes. If you have narrow pipes matched with a small filter and pump motor you cannot replace the pump with a huge motor that is too powerful for the size of your plumbing and filter. The water pressure may damage the filter and plumbing.
Add Pool Chemicals at Night
Always add pool chemicals at night to avoid the burn off by the heat and ultraviolet light from the sun. Pool chemicals last longer at night and you will find you need less chemicals which saves money.
Sunlight, especially UV light, easily destroys and renders Chlorine ineffective especially if your cyanuric acid (stabilizer) level is low.
I recommend that pool owners run the pump twice or three times a day. Once early morning to prepare the pool for the day, midday and once late evening for a few hours to clean the pool after usage. In a salt-water pool, running the pump twice or three times a day helps to produce chlorine more evenly throughout the day and eliminate a daily spike of chlorine production.
If you run the pump several times a day, including some time at night, you will need to run the pump less time overall saving money.
Run the Filter at Night to Improve Your Pool Filtration
Add pool chemicals at night and run the pump to mix the chemicals through the water. A new pump installation has the capacity to turn over the entire contents of the pool in 8 hours. Running the pump for at least 4 hours to mix up the water enough to fully dissolve the chemicals.
Another good reason to run the pump at night is to save on your power bills. Ask an electrical contractor to connect the pump to the off-peak electricity supply because it is cheaper than the daytime rate. There will be substantial electricity savings.
Install a Pool Cover to Improve Your Pool Filtration
A pool cover has many benefits for reducing costs and to improve your pool filtration.
Obviously, the cover will keep the pool cleaner by preventing leaves, dirt and other debris from entering the water. This will save your filter, keeping it cleaner and reduce the pump running time.
A cover will dramatically reduce water evaporation from the pool preserving your expensive pool chemicals and reduce the need to top up the pool with tap water.
If you heat your pool a cover will retain heat overnight cutting your daily heating costs.
If you are worried about pool safety you can install a person proof cover to prevent people falling into the pool.
Install a New Energy-Efficient Pump
Pump technology has vastly improved over the years. The new pumps are smaller, more powerful, more energy efficient, quieter and have variable speed operation to match the required usage.
By installing a new pump you will run the pump at lower rpm, save electricity and reduce the noise level around your home. But most importantly your pool will have clean, sparkling water again.
Replace the Water to Improve Your Pool Filtration
Over time, chloramines, metal ions and dissolved solids build up in pool water and cannot be filtered out. Pool surfaces become rough and coated with calcium scale that needs to be cleaned away. The only way to solve these issues is to empty the pool, clean the surfaces and refill it. I recommend changing the pool water every 5 or 6 years to solve these problems.
Add Clarifier to Improve Your Pool Filtration
Sometimes tiny particles build up in pool water that takes the sparkle away. These particles are so fine that they never sink to the bottom but stay suspended in the water. Try adding some clarifier to the water to remove the fine particles. The use of a clarifier chemical will help to combine these tiny particles together into larger particles that can be filtered out or fall to the bottom and can be vacuumed manually or by a robot cleaner.
Add Algaecide to Improve Your Pool Filtration
Use algaecide at the beginning of the season to provide protection against an algal bloom.
Note: If you already have algae in your pool, algaecide will not kill the algae. You will need to chlorine shock the pool several times to kill algae that is already established.
How to Kill Algae in Your Pool
Add a Filter Sock to the Skimmer Basket
Pool skimmer socks are one of the most useful, simple and inexpensive devices to keep your pool sparkling clean. As a result, they are a top seller for all pool supply stores.
Skimmer socks are made of a durable and ultra-fine elastic nylon mesh that captures hair, leaves, grass, pollen, insects and other debris. Using a skimmer sock not only enhances the skimmer’s filtering capability but reduces the frequency of filter cleaning by preventing clogging of the pool’s filter. After all it’s much easier to remove a skimmer basket filter sock than backwash the filter or clean the filter cartridge.
Simply stretch the elastic mesh fabric over your skimmer basket for a perfect fit.
Replace the skimmer basket in the skimmer box as normal.
When soiled, simply remove the basket and clean with a garden hose and reuse.
When the skimmer sock is heavily soiled throw it away and replace with a new one.
Replace Sand with Filter Balls in the Filter
Pool filter balls are polyethylene fibre media that replace sand in a pool sand filter. They are very lightweight and come in a bag that can be delivered by post. Try that with a bag of sand!
Sand is a good filter media but polyethylene filter balls are better at trapping dirt and debris in the filter tank at lower pressure.
The polyethylene media captures finer particles than sand (down to 10 microns) leaving the water crystal clear. This allows the filter to operate at lower pressure as water can more easily move through the filter balls than through sand. As a result, the pressure gauge remains low for longer resulting in less requirement to backwash the filter which saves water.
The lower tank pressure results in a higher flow rate with a strong water pressure stream at the return jets. This gives better water circulation around the pool and the vacuum suction pressure is strong making cleaning the pool easier.
Now you can operate the filter less hours per day resulting in electricity savings.
The higher flow rate results in less strain on the pump motor and the whole filtration system. Now there is less filter and pump noise.
Filter balls are more environmentally economical as they can be cleaned and recycled. Simply wash them in the washing machine and use again. Try that with sand!
And when you want to dispose of the filter balls simply put them in the garbage.
If you have the problem of sand blowing into your pool from the filter, filter balls will prevent that happening again.
For more information, please read:
How To Change from Sand to Filter Balls
Add Filter Balls to the Skimmer Basket
If you don’t have a filter sock for the skimmer basket but have some spare filter balls from your filter you can add them to the skimmer basket. The filter balls are great for trapping smaller particles that would normally pass right through your skimmer basket and pump basket.
Replace Filter Cartridges More Frequently
Filter cartridges lose their effectiveness over time because every clean reduces the filter’s cleaning ability. The fibre filter material becomes worn out and allows particles to escape and end up back in the pool.
Some pool experts recommend regularly soaking the filter cartridge in a cleaning solution to remove oil and minerals in the filter pleats. I don’t think this is necessary for most backyard pools. If the filter cartridge has a build up of minerals and oils then it’s time for a new cartridge.
Filter cartridges are not expensive when bought in bulk, online. So replace your filter cartridges more frequently. Don’t try to make a cartridge last for years because it looks ok. At the microscopic level the filter fabric wears out and does not trap small particles of contaminants.
Conclusion
Some people believe owning a pool is a lot of work with continuous maintenance. That’s simply not true. Once you have owned or operated a pool for a few months testing and balancing your pool water becomes very easy and natural. Once the water chemistry is balanced and the filtration equipment is set to optimal performance most pools never need much maintenance at all.