Topic
Your filter does the work your chemicals get credit for.
14 guides on this topic
What the spa makers' manuals say to check when hot tub jets go weak, surge or stop: the water level, filter, pump speed, air controls, valves and airlocks.
How Hot Spring, Jacuzzi, Sundance, Caldera and Bullfrog say to clean a hot tub filter, how often, what to soak it in, and when to replace it.
When filter sand really needs changing, how much each Hayward, Pentair and Jandy filter takes, and the fill step that protects the laterals underneath.
A puff after recharging is normal. Powder that keeps coming is often too much DE, not a torn grid. What the makers say, where it gets in, and the fix.
A cracked lateral is the usual answer, but not the only one. How to tell filter sand from plaster grit, what the makers' troubleshooting says, and the fix.
Filter area decides how often you clean and how hard your pump works. Real models compared, and why the one your builder fitted is probably too small.
The full backwash sequence step by step, when pressure says it is time, and why backwashing on a schedule makes your water worse rather than better.
How to size a pool filter to your pump rather than your pool, what square footage buys you, and why oversizing a filter is nothing like oversizing a pump.
What every valve on a pool does, which handle position means what, and the one move that destroys a multiport valve — plus how to spot one failing.
High pressure and low pressure mean opposite things. Here's how to read your gauge and find the restriction.
Six things turn pool water cloudy and only one of them needs clarifier. Work through them in this order and you'll fix it in a day instead of two weeks.
Manual vacuuming done properly, including when to vacuum to waste instead of through the filter, and the priming trick that saves the pump.
What each filter type actually catches, what it costs to run, and which one suits which pool. No brand preference, no hedging.
Backwashing isn't cleaning. Here's how to actually clean each filter type, when to do it, and when the media needs replacing instead.