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At their very heart, both sand filters and cartridge filters are the same. They filter your pool water so that you will be left with sparkling and clean water. But the way they work, what they’re made of, and even cost, vary greatly. Lets go over both types to see which is the perfect filter for your pool.
From the name itself, sand filters use sand as a media to catch debris and other small particles before sending crystal clear water back into the pool. Expense wise, the initial cost of a sand filter is generally higher than cartridge filters, but over time, it becomes cheaper as you don’t need to replace the filter media as often.
Cleaning sand filters is pretty straightforward and it uses a technique called “backwashing” it’s basically reversing the flow of water and it’s a very simple task that can be done in just a few minutes. Every three to five years, you may have to change out the sand in your sand filter as they may have gotten worn out over time. Sand filter media starts off with jagged edges that snag debris down to 20 microns in size and over time, these edges get worn smooth by the water passing through the filter, effectively reducing its filter efficiency until it no longer filters the water properly.
Pool Cartridge Filters are much simpler (and compact!) than pool sand filters. Cartridge filters use filter cartridges that are constructed from synthetic fabrics that are attached to a plastic frame or core. Cartridge filters can trap particles down to 10 microns in size, which means that you’ll end up with much clearer water when compared with that of a sand filter. The downside to this is that since it catches more stuff, then more cleaning is required.
To clean a filter cartridge, you have to take it out of the housing, and rinse it off with a garden hose. There will be times when the cartridge itself can get gunked up by debris or other unmentionables, and if this is the case, then you’ll have to use a specialty cleaner like the Zodiac filter cleaner to give it a good overnight soak to melt the gunk away.
As for replacing the filter cartridges, there’s really nothing to replacing the cartridge, just open it up, pop out the old one and put in a new filter. The downside to this is that filter cartridges can be expensive and they need to be replaced more often than sand filter media.
This is the first major factor that people will consider when choosing their pool filter system. We’ve taken our most popular filter from each category and have laid out a comparison of the costs in maintaining the filter over the course of five years.
As we can see, the costs for both pool sand filters and pool cartridge filters are roughly the same when we look at it over the span of five years. After five years, the maintenance cost of pool cartridge filters easily overtake that of the sand filter’s cost. Now we’ve included filter cleaners in the cost of maintenance to make sure that our filter cartridges are at their peak and they don’t break ahead of their time. We’ve also used our Water TechniX branded filter cartridges in order to save up on costs, they’re as durable and effective as the original filter cartridges at a fraction of the cost. Which one is better? First five years, it’s a draw. After five years, pool sand filters are the clear winner.
This is another factor that contributes to the answer of which pool filter is better. For pool sand filters, maintenance is a breeze. Backwashing only takes a few minutes and a few turns of a lever to clean out the filter completely. With cartridge filters, you have to take our the cartridges and give them a good and thorough clean with a garden hose where you have to make sure that every area in-between pleats is cleaned thoroughly.
To make this process simpler, people will usually get a cleaning wand like the Water TechniX Waterwand Cleaning Wand to rinse out 8 pleats per pass, essentially cutting down filter cleaning time by over half. Every few months (or as required) filter cartridges need to be soaked in a filter cleaning solution to melt away tough particles that may have lodged themselves in your filter media. Which is better? Hands down pool sand filters.
Now this is an issue that never ends with when we’re talking about pool filters. The clarity of the water. This is a very subjective matter as what is clear and acceptable to many people isn’t enough for some people. But suffice to say, cartridge filters trap smaller particles than pool sand filters and does objectively produce clearer pool water. But for many home pool owners, the visual quality is negligible and their decision is greatly affected by the ease of maintenance and the running costs. Which is better? Objectively pool cartridge filters. Subjectively, it’s a draw.
Pool sand filters use a lot more water than pool filter cartridges when cleaning. The backwashing cycle will use anywhere between 300 to 600 liters of water. This is one big thing that cannot be ignored and, in this category, pool filter cartridges are the clear winner.
While each type of pool filter has their own strengths and weaknesses, the main factors that really determine what’s better for most people are the ease of maintenance and long-term operating costs. This is why in the eyes of many people, pool sand filters are better than pool cartridge filters, and we tend to agree with this assessment.
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