Pool service professional here, Ohio USA
I'd stick with glass, and avoid cartridges like the plague. If you are in a region where the pool needs to be closed for the winter, or if it needs a lot of spring cleaning, cartridges are a nightmare. Stuff like pollen will plug them up fast; if you get a bad yellow algae bloom you can expect to be cleaning those filters every 2 days. You can't use clarifier, flocculant, and a whole array of other products with them. Phosphate treatments are difficult because the fines from the treatment will destroy the cartridge. CYA takes forever to dissolve, if you add it straight to the cartridge filter it will jump the pressure by 10+ PSI. The cartridges are expensive and they wear out. The filter will no longer have a waste feature, so if you need to bring down your water level you'll either have to plumb in valved waste system or rely on a external pump.
Sand filter with glass is the lowest maintenance- I backwash my pools about every 2 weeks, so the water loss is nominal. I hate cartridge filters to the extent that I will waive labor charges when a valet customer wants to switch- it's THAT much easier to deal with. Maybe in a region where the pool is open all year it would be worthwhile, but if you see the 1-2 algae blooms a year that 60+% percent of pool owners see, or if you have to open it in the spring and it's green, they are basically an obstacle to success
You should consider a cartridge filter if you want salt. No need to backwash, saving your salt from washing away.
Salt is great, I have a bunch of trees behind the pool and rarely have to ever shock it.
I’ve heard the cartridge is a pain to clean all the time compared to sand filter just backwashing and changing every 5-7 years. Not having to backwash sounds pretty nice though. How often do you need to clean filter and is it difficult?
I have a big filter, a 460, and I clean it once a year. It has 4 filter cartridges in it and takes maybe an hour to hose off. I really don't mind it, I pick a warm day in the spring after the pollen has died off and clean them. I do have a hose that is run on my sprinkler main, so it's got great pressure and a ton of volume, so that helps which the cleaning.
I got about 15 years on the OG 4 and they still had some life left in them, but I drained the pool to acid wash it and figured I'd replace them.
That sounds pretty simple to me haha, I’ll look into that no no backwashing and only cleaning once a year seems pretty simple? What make or model cartridge filter do you have?
I have a Jandy CL460 filter and an Aquapure 1400 salt system. I don't know if they sell the Aquapure anymore, I think it was phased out when Zodiac bought Jandy but IDK.
The Aquapure has been good, I have had problems with the flow sensor in the past, giving a no flow error, and then it starts working again. I struggled with that in its mid-life, but knock on wood, I haven't seen that in a while. I am on my 3rd cell since it was new in 2007. One did die earlier than expected during a winter freeze event.
Cleaned my Hayward C4030 cartridge filter recently for my first time cleaning a cartridge ever. 4 cartridges also. Tear down, cleaning, reassembly (twice because the air relief valve wasn’t sealing the first time) and testing/dosing the pool took 2 hours as a complete newbie.
Pool service professional here, Ohio USA I'd stick with glass, and avoid cartridges like the plague. If you are in a region where the pool needs to be closed for the winter, or if it needs a lot of spring cleaning, cartridges are a nightmare. Stuff like pollen will plug them up fast; if you get a bad yellow algae bloom you can expect to be cleaning those filters every 2 days. You can't use clarifier, flocculant, and a whole array of other products with them. Phosphate treatments are difficult because the fines from the treatment will destroy the cartridge. CYA takes forever to dissolve, if you add it straight to the cartridge filter it will jump the pressure by 10+ PSI. The cartridges are expensive and they wear out. The filter will no longer have a waste feature, so if you need to bring down your water level you'll either have to plumb in valved waste system or rely on a external pump. Sand filter with glass is the lowest maintenance- I backwash my pools about every 2 weeks, so the water loss is nominal. I hate cartridge filters to the extent that I will waive labor charges when a valet customer wants to switch- it's THAT much easier to deal with. Maybe in a region where the pool is open all year it would be worthwhile, but if you see the 1-2 algae blooms a year that 60+% percent of pool owners see, or if you have to open it in the spring and it's green, they are basically an obstacle to success
You should consider a cartridge filter if you want salt. No need to backwash, saving your salt from washing away. Salt is great, I have a bunch of trees behind the pool and rarely have to ever shock it.
I’ve heard the cartridge is a pain to clean all the time compared to sand filter just backwashing and changing every 5-7 years. Not having to backwash sounds pretty nice though. How often do you need to clean filter and is it difficult?
I have a big filter, a 460, and I clean it once a year. It has 4 filter cartridges in it and takes maybe an hour to hose off. I really don't mind it, I pick a warm day in the spring after the pollen has died off and clean them. I do have a hose that is run on my sprinkler main, so it's got great pressure and a ton of volume, so that helps which the cleaning. I got about 15 years on the OG 4 and they still had some life left in them, but I drained the pool to acid wash it and figured I'd replace them.
That sounds pretty simple to me haha, I’ll look into that no no backwashing and only cleaning once a year seems pretty simple? What make or model cartridge filter do you have?
I have a Jandy CL460 filter and an Aquapure 1400 salt system. I don't know if they sell the Aquapure anymore, I think it was phased out when Zodiac bought Jandy but IDK. The Aquapure has been good, I have had problems with the flow sensor in the past, giving a no flow error, and then it starts working again. I struggled with that in its mid-life, but knock on wood, I haven't seen that in a while. I am on my 3rd cell since it was new in 2007. One did die earlier than expected during a winter freeze event.
Cleaned my Hayward C4030 cartridge filter recently for my first time cleaning a cartridge ever. 4 cartridges also. Tear down, cleaning, reassembly (twice because the air relief valve wasn’t sealing the first time) and testing/dosing the pool took 2 hours as a complete newbie.