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

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!

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.

Good price, good quality. Manf packaging sort of sucks, not meant for this type of shipping, other places wanted to ship freight. I got this one from ups, box was beat to hell but everything was in there, so I'm happy.

We replaced our old Hayward S-200 sand filter with this cartridge filter and the difference in clarity of our pool water is amazing (night and day). We also replaced our pump with the Pentair variable speed. Another fantastic product. We purchased a larger filter than what was estimated for our pool and wow, what a great move. We sized it big enough, so that we wouldn’t have to clean the cartridges until the end of summer. So much better than sand filter. We will never go back to sand filter. This is so much cleaner and lower maintenance. And, less chemicals. Also, we never have to skim it in the mornings, like we used to.

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.

cleans well, but took a week running 7 hours a day to clear up my pool of 24k gallons. i added a little de to boost it and after a week, the water was mostly clear. for the week, it was somewhat cloudy as the filter was not filtering as well as i expected it to. i had the chemicals set correctly, cleaned the filter 3 times in two weeks to ensure it was clean. it works, well, just be patient. i am happy with it.

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.

Two weeks ago, my 17 year old Pentair pool filter (CCP 240) had a catastrophic failure by means of a 16 inch long crack in the top. It flooded the yard before i got the pump stopped. I have a tight space, but after reading the Pentair specs, I ordered a larger replacement filter, a Pentair CCP 420 from VM Express. The Good:: 1. The initial quoted delivery date on the filter was for 5 to 9 days later. The filter arrived early, only three days after i ordered it. 2. Pentair’s specs were spot on, the larger filter fit the footprint of the old filter and mounted onto my existing piping without any piping mods. It took me just over an hour from receiving the package until i had removed the old one and had the new one fitted up on on my system. 3. The reviews on Amazon said to take the Time to check for internal damage. I did. The Bad: the top manifold was broken (see pic). The Excellent: i had installed this late on a Friday and customer service at VM Express was closed until the following Monday. I called VM Express early Monday morning. The rep immediately gave me the option of shipping it back or sending the part (i had looked up the pentair part number previously). I asked for the part and it was shipped out that day. I received it in a couple of days and installed it. The filter is better than my old one. The pool looks great. I gave this 5 stars because of the Excellent customer service i received from VM Express.