Water Purification: Sand Filter Changes
The Importance of Water Filtration
Riddle of the Day: “What goes round and round, contains an ingredient key to life, and provides happiness and safety at the same time?” Answer: your swimming pool!
All swimming pools operate on the principle of a closed loop system. Once water is initially added to your swimming pool, it is not regularly added. Therefore, we call our swimming pools “closed loop” because we circulate the water in and out of our swimming pool basin.
In order to keep our water happy, healthy and pure – we circulate the water using a pool pump. Our pumps push the water through a series of filtration equipment. Lastly, we apply pool chemistry as a secondary method to sanitize our water.
Key Elements For Water Sanitation
Water must have all of the following properties to remain sanitary & algae free:
- Movement – water standing still is an invitation for organisms to settle and reproduce
- Chemistry – proper water balancing ensures our PH (acid & base), Alkalinity and other factors are satisfied
- Filtration – water is a sponge for all types of elements (good and bad). It’s imperative that water be filtered through a outside medium in order to filter out and capture bad organic material.
It Starts & Ends With The Filter
If we were to compare our pool equipment to the human body, the pump would be called “the heart” while the filter would be “the liver.”
Like all of our bodies, the liver performs various functions. It operates as a filter to extract and secrete numerous organisms, materials and non-digestible properties that shouldn’t exist in our digestive tracts. The same goes for swimming pool filters.
In fact, the purpose of running all those funky lines of PVC pipe, adding in a pump and applying our control valves is to push all of that water through our filter. This all ties into a principle in the swimming pool industry known as: Water Turn Over.
Residential “Water Turn Over” Requirements
In the residential realm, your total pool volume must be turned over in a maximum time frame of 8 hours.
For most Above Ground pools, our water volume ranges from 5,700 Gallons – 22,000 Gallons. This equates to a water turnover rate of 12 GPM (Gallons per Minute) – 46 GPM. Based upon our GPM requirement, we then select our filter size. For most above ground pools, we utilize the Hayward S180T (max of 35 GPM) or Pentair TA60D (max of 60 GPM).
Filter Media & Micron Levels
There are 3 types of swimming pool filters. Each one inherently removes to a level of “microns” – the degree of microscopic material left in the water in PPM (parts per million) after water passes through the filter. Let’s compare our options:
- D.E. (diatomaceous earth): 2-3 ppm
- Cartridge: 5-10 ppm
- Sand Filters: 20-40 ppm
All sand filters operate by combining Filter Media with Water Flow. As the water is pushed through the filter, it cruises past sand particles that are rough and absorbent. These sand particles remove microscopic particles from the water in order to remove organic material & debris from your swimming pool water.
Summarizing Filtration Fundamentals
Now that we’ve covered all of this educational material – let’s review:
- Filtration is vital to your pool health
- Water Turn Over: is the rate (GPM – Gallons per Minute) that water circulates for a complete rotation
- Filters are rated based upon Microns – the level of microscopic materials per PPM (parts per million) allowed to pass through the filter
Choosing Our Optimal Filter Media
At this point you may be asking yourself: “if sand filters filter the least amount of microns, then why would you sell them for your above ground pools?” We use Sand Filters for 3 key reasons:
- They require less maintenance & are easier to operate
- Sand filters are cheaper to install, replace & change out media
- They have the longest life span of any filter
In order for us to step up our game with sand filters, we need to do one thing: improve the level of Microns that they filter down to. Long story short – we’ve done it! We have a product called Glass Media by Maytronics that operates as an alternative to silica sand (which has been used for decades).
Glass Media is crazy cool because it gives us a micron level of 2-3 microns and comes with a lifetime guarantee! That’s completely unheard of and it is totally revolutionizing the swimming pool industries and our customers maintenance programs. By converting your swimming pool filter over to a Glass Media program, you have install that product that lasts the lifetime of your filter. Here’s how:
- Install the Glass Media (size properly by Coarse & Fine media bags)
- Apply the Summer Enhance Enzyme at the beginning and end of each pool season
- Maintain proper chemistry levels and get your water tested by a professional pool provider (a.k.a. – Illiana Backyard Fun!)
Professional Installation Techniques
Without having to say, we completely love this new Glass Media product that hit the market several years ago. Since it’s introduction into the industry, we’ve installed this product on several dozen swimming pools. It does a terrific job of clearing up the water and removing a greater amount of microns than typical sand!
If any of this information was overwhelming or you’re confused over any of this material, we invite you to give us a call! At Illiana Backyard Fun, we want to become your Pool Partner for 2018! We love educating our customers and believe it’s one of our core functions as a company.
Lastly, if you’d like more information on our Glass Media, Sand Filters or any other pool products, please give us a call! We do this for a living and take our profession and customer service very seriously! No pool is too much of a challenge for us. We’d like to get to know yours, provide a diagnosis and get you the best results possible for your Summer of 2018 Fun!
Article written by Dallas Web Guy LLC – a local Dallas/Fort Worth business formed in September 2017. Our goal is help “Small Businesses Grow” and we do not deviate from this path!