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Choosing the right filtration system By Veda Dante
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iltration, together with disinfection, is considered the most important system you can install to ensure that your swimming pool is good for a splash anytime, regardless of whether you own a small plunge pool or operate a popular municipal facility. The role of swimming pool filtration is to purify water of suspended particles, which it does by passing it through a porous material. This process also prevents the growth of algae. It consists of closed-circuit circulation by a pump and filtration equipment. In some ways they pair together like the human heart and our cardiovascular system – both of which are essential for a healthy life. Generally speaking, roughly 80 per cent of pool water maintenance is performed by filtration (physical treatment) and 20 per cent by cleaning products (mechanical or chemical treatment). “Development of pool filtration has been slow moving for a number of years, with media filters and cartridge filters the two most common types,” says Hayward Pool Products Victoria technical manager Andrew Waldron. “These have remained relatively unchanged, which is testament to their filtration performance – they do a great job, are reliable, simple to use and relatively low cost.” Rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, Waldron says pool equipment manufacturers have preferred to concentrate resources on other areas of the pool equipment pad, prioritising innovations that can make a bigger difference to the pool ownership experience. “For manufacturers, most developments in filtration have largely been focussed on improving reliability,
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ease of install and cost of equipment, rather than innovations in the method of filtration,” he says. When it comes to actual filtration performance, to the naked eye there is very little to tell them apart, whether using a media filter or a cartridge filter your pool will look clear and clean. But media filters will actually filter down to around 20 microns while cartridge filters can go even finer at under 10 microns. “Whether you go for a cartridge or a media filter, there is regular maintenance required to keep a pool filtration system operating at peak performance. Which method of filtration is chosen may be depend on the regularity of maintenance and work required during maintenance that a user is happy performing,” says Waldron.
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