Small Filter, Big Pool

[qmag]

I recently purchased a home with a 28,000 gallon in-ground swimming pool. The previous (and cheap!) owner had replaced the old, bigger filter with a smaller filter (175 sq. ft.). According to him, the pool has been clear/clean as long for the past 1 1/2 years, and can stay clean as long as I frequently clean the filter. Is it a good idea to keep the current smaller filter or spend the money to buy a bigger filter (Pentair 420 model,$700 )? What are the benefits? Any suggestions?

[qmag]

BTW, this is a cartridge filter.

[TSH Tech]

Let me ask you this, you own a car right? If you took out the 15+ gallon gas tank and replaced it with only a 1 gallon gas tank, you could technically still get to where you're going as long as you stopped and filled up your 1 gallon gas tank. How long would it be until you started becoming very annoyed at stopping frequently to fill up again?

There's many advantages going to the Pentair 420 as you listed. Larger filter means larger water filtering area. Here's the advantage, with a larger filter, you do not have to tear down and clean it every week as you do with the tiny 175sqft filter. You can go an entire pool season cleaning it 2 times, once if you don't use the pool that often. If you ever have a pool party, a larger filter can handle the pool usage, the smaller 175sqft filter will more than likely get dirty in the middle of the pool party and not filter efficiently, rendering your pool water cloudy very quickly in the middle of your party. You will spend a frequent amount of time tearing down and cleaning that little filter, and your swimming pool, once looked upon as enjoyment, will quickly become an item of burden to you over that little filter. You have everything to gain by installing the larger filter. Enjoy!