Gah…what is all over my filter?

As pool and spa owners we rely on our filters to keep our water crystal clear. But that can become a daunting task especially as our filter media begins to age. You see depending on your type of filter you will eventually get a build up of scale, oils or both. And no matter what your filter type you should chemically clean your filter at least once a year.

Scale

Scale buildup comes from high calcium hardness. When you have too much calcium in the water, it will begin to drop out of solution. As the calcium falls out of solution it will start to form scale, the two places this will happen first are your heater and your filter.

Scale forms first in your heat exchanger or on your heating element because unlike most other chemicals calcium is less soluble in warm water than in cold, so when as the water is being warmed the calcium is precipitating out of solution. As it does so, it forms tiny jagged platelets that hook onto any rough surface. As the scale begins to develop it creates an even more ideal place for new scale platelets to grab hold.

The next most common place to see scale build up in your filter. One side effect of too much calcium hardness is cloudy water because all those nearly microscopic platelets are floating around; as this cloudy water is passing through your filter, some of those platelets get caught in your filter allowing, even more, to get caught. While it is good that your water is getting clearer, over time the efficiency of your filter is reduced because it is full of calcium. Adding a sequestrant to your water speeds up the process of clearing your water but also add to the clogging of your filter.

The fix for this is to clean your filter with a product like BioGuard’s Kleen-It.  Using this product at least once a year will ensure that you have an efficient and free-flowing filter.

Oils

Oils in your pool water come primarily from your swimmers. Hair products, makeup, lotions and even body oils all come off in the water. In hot tubs, one sign that your filter is overloaded with oils is when the water begins to foam. The other thing that you will note if your filter needs to be cleaned is a dirty scum line along the water line.

Thankfully BioGuard has a product for this type of cleaning as well, Strip-Kwik. Again it is recommended that this process is done at least once a year to ensure your filter is working at it utmost capacity.