Your pool filter is working overtime. Pressure is climbing. Water flow is slowing down. Something’s clogged.
Sound familiar?
Every pool filter eventually gets packed with debris and contaminants. When that happens, your filtration suffers. Your water gets cloudy. Your pump struggles.
The fix? Backwashing.
Backwashing reverses water flow through your filter, flushing out all the trapped gunk. It’s simple maintenance that keeps your saltwater pool running smoothly.
Here’s the quick process: Turn off the pump, set valve to backwash, run until water clears (2-3 minutes), switch to rinse for 30 seconds, then return to filter mode.
This guide walks you through exactly how to backwash a saltwater pool step by step. Sand filters, DE filters, and cartridge filters all covered.
What is Backwashing?
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In simple terms, Backwashing is a process to clean pool filters in a reverse flow of water. Most of the pool filter has the function to clean debris and organic materials. whistle bringing back the clean water. However, in this process filters tend to lose their efficiency due to high pressure.
That’s when backwashing comes. It extracts contaminants, then rinses all the debris out using the waste line of the hose directly from your pool. It’s cool, right?
How to backwash a saltwater pool
If your pool has cartridge filters, just clean the cartridge with a recommended filter cleaner following the manufacturer’s instructions.
For a D.E. filter, refer to manufacturers instructions on filter backwashing. Now, if you have a sand filter, we’re going to show you how to backwash step by step. All you need is a Cabana backwash hose.
Step 1: Start by turning off your pool pump. Then attach the hose to the pool filter using the strap.
Step 2: After that, roll out the hose to an area that won’t flood. Be sure to follow local regulations about discharging water. Moreover, please don’t discharge into lakes or Streams.
Step 3: Turn your filter valve to backwash, then turn on your pool pump. Watch the water coming out until it runs clear. Usually, in two to three minutes, shut off the pump once the water is clear. And change it to the rinse cycle.
Step 4: Start the pump again and let it rinse for 30 to 45 seconds. Now shut off the pump so you can return the valve to the filter position.
Step 5: Following on, start the pump one last time and raise the water level if it’s below the skimmer. Now just drain the water in the hose.
Step 6: Lastly, roll it up; you’re all done, and your pool is open for business.
Do You Backwash A Cartridge Filter?
Do you need to backwash a Cartridge Filter? If you’re asking this question, you’ve probably recently upgraded from a sand filter to a cartridge filter. And the short answer is NO. You do not backwash cartridge filters. The cleaning and service cycle for sand filters is different from cartridge filters. A sand filter requires backwashing.
Because essentially, it is just a tank of sand, and as dirty water enters one end and clean water leaves the other. There’s an accumulation of physical debris that happens. And the backwashing procedure is exactly as it sounds. You run the water backwards through the filter and evacuate the physical debris. Then with a cartridge filter, it doesn’t work like that. When the physical debris accumulates to the point that you start to see an increase in the pressure that your system is running at, you must open and physically clean the filters, and that’s a two-step process.
One is a chemical degreasing and the other is physically removing the debris that develops between the pleats of the filter.
So the short answer is no. You do not backwash cartridge filters; that’s something that is unique to sand filters.
Process of Backwashing Saltwater Inground pool
Here we discuss the process of backwashing saltwater inground pool.
- The first thing you should do for backwashing is turn the power off. Then switch the indicator over to backwash. Check the basket to see if there’s anything in there, and you should see through and see there’s not much, so turn the pump back on.
- You let it run, they say, until your pressure goes down to your starting pressure or until your sight glass is clear. But in case you don’t trust either one of these, you just let it run for a couple of minutes.
- You should always be conscious to make sure you don’t flood the neighbors out too much. Especially if you got to lower the pool level at the end of the summer. If you see the water a little cloudy or at least you can tell.
- That should clear up too, and that’s another good indicator it’s time to stop backwashing. So maybe you can tell, maybe you can’t. But if the water looks pretty clear, you should go ahead. And come back to the pump; turn the power off. Switch this to rinse and let it run for another 30 seconds or so. You can tell the difference now this is definitely more clear than the previous one.
- The last thing you do is shut the pump back off after 30 seconds. Switch it back to filter and let it fire up. You may notice in the beginning too that your pump sounds weird, that could just be air cavitating through the pump. So you might need to give it a minute before it’ll start backwashing.
How To Add DE Powder Into Your DE Filter
Let’s see how you can add DE powder into your DE filter.
- First thing you need a bucket with some cool water in it. Then you need your DE powder and, lastly, your DE scoop. So from there, you need to ensure you know the measurement for the amount of powder to put in after the backwash.
- Basically, for every size filter up, you go up an extra scoop. So for 24 square feet, we put in two scoops 36 square feet. We put three scoops all the way up to 60 feet. That gives you a good baseline for how much powder of DE is an alternative to adding.
- From here, you always want to wear goggles and cover your nose and mouth when you’re dealing with the stuff and breathing it in. Then in the bucket, make your slurry and then pour it in.
- After you backwash the filter you can put in just one scoop it’s first to make sure there’s nothing wrong with the filter. Because there is nothing wrong with the filters going to pass it on the pool. Thus instead of having five pounds to be in the pool or do just one; slowly pour it in.
How often should I backwash my a sand filter?
If you want to go the rule of thumb method, then once a week. Every Sunday, go outside and backwash your air filter. If you want to go by the book, then what you would do is use the pressure gauge which is attached to your filter. You need to determine your clean operational pressure so give your filter an extended backwash.
Something like you do at the beginning of the season. It can be as much as five minutes on backwash, two minutes on rinse, and then back into normal filtration. Backwashing it to that extent should give you your clean operational pressure.
Whatever the psi reading is on your pressure gauge for the clean operational pressure, you should backwash it again whenever that pressure climbs by as much as five to seven psi you should backwash it again. For example, you started at 10 psi with your clean operational pressure. By the time you reach anywhere between 15 and 17 psi registering on the pressure gauge that means it’s time to backwash your filter again.
FAQs: How to backwash a saltwater pool
How often do you backwash a salt water pool?
Generally, you have to backwash the pool once a week. Another standard backwash schedule is when you see 8 to 10 pounds per square inch or PSI over the starting level.
How do you get dirt out of a saltwater pool?
One of the important maintenance of a saltwater pool is dirt removal. If you want to ensure a clean pool then you have to remove debris from your pool’s surface. To remove that, you have to use a pool vacuum attachment. Then connect the vacuum with a skimmer box and suck the dirt.
How long should you backwash a pool?
Firstly, you need to navigate your pool’s air bleeder assembly and open it. Then turn on the pump and monitor the pressure gauge for spikes. When you see the water in the hose then, backwash the sand filter for 2 to 3 minutes. Alternatively, you can wait until the water becomes clean. .
Conclusion
To sum up, it is ideal to backwash once a week if your gauge reading shows 8-10 psi. You can follow the aforementioned process to do the task. However, if your pool is contaminated highly with dirt and clogged the filter fully, then it is recommended to replace it entirely. In this case, backwash will be a waste. So be careful about that. Hope you got how to backwash a saltwater pool. Check out our other articles as well. Good day!!
