Pentair EC-160301 Clean & Clear Plus 420 sq. ft. Cartridge Pool Filter - Limited Warranty

We purchased this filter last year when our old one gave out. After the purchase - while we were waiting for delivery - we received a call from the company. I was so impressed that they wanted to answer any questions we might have on the new filter when it arrived. These days it's hard to find such service. In the year we have owned it we have been very pleased. Pool is clean and filters do their job. The unit is easy to use. The hard part is always putting the pressure ring back on and tightened, and I always wish I had an extra hand to hold it in place while I get the bolt and screws tightened. But that is just normal stuff. The assembly was easy enough and we had no trouble connecting it to the existing plumbing.

Quick delivery. Came with everything set up perfectly. All I had to do was install it which is pretty simple. Came with the 4 filters which was unexpected but very much appreciated. Although it’s been installed for only a few hours I’m impressed.

Easy install and it works great. They say clean every 6 months but I clean them every three months with a hose and it takes half the time to clean them. Don't need a pool guy anymore.

We bought a brand new one of these filters in late 2019. As recommended, my pool guy took the filter apart in March of 2020 to clean the cartridges in order to get the pool ready for the year. When we took the top of the filter off, we noticed the top manifold was completely broken (split in half), bleed pipe dislodged and several other pieces (spring, metallic strainer/filter, etc.) all on the bottom of the tank. We contacted Amazon who then directed us to the seller/supplier (In The Swim Pool Supplies) whom we immediately communicated with via emails with supporting photos of the broken part. While admitting the unit was defective and under warranty, this company refused to send us a replacement part and requested us to send them the broken piece first. In the meantime our pool turned green, grew algae, etc... I would stay away from this company and product; there are many other products and sellers available in the market with much better customer service.

Read all the reviews about the packaging and broken parts. The item weighs approximately 75#’s so which results in cardboard wear and tear. The box was delivered with minor wear to the exterior. Inside, the parts were intact and in good shape. The reason I went this route was for cost savings. My old filter housing is 15-years old and failure of the housing is not what I wanted to wake-up to one day. My suggestion is read the reviews carefully and you will see failures occurring from 12-17 years. This is an easy project for the house owner since it has 2-unions to deal with and two O-rings. Apply a little pool lubricant to the union and your done.

I started looking into how to maintain my own pool. I had a DE filter and started looking at how to add DE to the pool and doing the back wash, etc. While researching, I found the DE is carcinogenic. When you apply DE you are supposed to wear a mask and breathing it in will cause lung cancer. Funny thing is once it is wet is is harmless and you can eat it but you just can't breathe it. Also if you are paying someone to maintain your pool who knows if they are sloppy or not and spilling the powered DE all over when adding would put your family at risk. I've researched heavily into alternatives and found Sand filters, but they don't do that great of a job filtering and you have to back wash very often. They seem to work well only when really dirty. Weird... I then came across the media filters. I have media whole house filters and I like them. I also learned that the new media filters are very close to how good DE cleans. With this media filter I should be able to go the whole season without having to take it out and clean the media. By cleaning the media, I mean just a hose down. It looks to be a relatively simple process. Now down to the bad part about this product. The packaging! The packaging is really bad, hardly any protection for the product at all. I had to return the first one I got because the top was ripped and parts fell out. Side of the box had a big hole in it. Had a couple of scratches... The second one came the same exact way, but I opened it to make sure nothing was broken internally and decided to keep it and had my pool guy install it. We will see how well it works and if it meets my expectations. The 420 is supposed to be able to filter 54,000 gallons of water in 6 hours. So I should be able to clean my pool which is about half that size in about 3 hours! I will provide an update after my season is over if it is really going to last the whole season!

So far so good. Considering the last filter for my pool was installed in 1964 when the home was built, there’s a lot to be said for older and quality items back then, because it lasted over 50 years with regular maintenance. This item eliminated a round filter that took 30 nuts and bolts to remove in order to clean off the rows of filters and then put it back in and put the 30 bolts back on to it every single time I had to clean it. In the few months I’ve had this filter it’s been so easy to clean not just the unit itself weekly Versus every few months but my pool is cleaner because of how often and weekly I can clean the filter not including the huge amount of power this new filtration system added to my pools cleaning pool sweep and power to the water suction and pressure to the jets that move the pool water. I can see nay hope this product lasts 10 years for what it costs considering how long the previous one lasted. I did order this off Amazon because all the shops within 60 miles wanted $3,000 or more for a unit, weeks for order and that didn’t include a few of them requiring them to install which as a licensed general contractor who builds new custom homes for 30+ years it’s insulting and stupid to think they can do it better than myself and subcontractors I have access to for cheaper and better service.