On Thu, 24 May 2012 16:34:46 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

They sell a wand that is supposed to clean pleated filters better, but I
do mine in a deep sink with a regular hose and warm water. Then they
get dry before their next use. I've been rotating 3 filters for
4 years in my year-round hot tub.

Keep an eye open for a sand filter at a garage sale.

Funny you should mention that.

This is a self-cleaning pool but it uses electricity like it was free in
order to run the second pump and a dozen or more pop-up in-floor sprayers
to channel all the crud to the deep end (which is really deep so that the
crud can't get back out).

So I was thinking of hooking up a vacuum pump to the capped-off pipe at
the center of the pool put in for that reason. I'd need the entire pump
because all I have is a pipe that goes to the middle of the pool - but if
I could find one for cheap, I could then filter the water from a moving
vacuum instead of having to run the cleaner system which spends all day
pushing the debris to the deep end of the pool.