The stainless tank is exactly what makes it the best. I put more faith in that tank for a long life expectancy than any fiberglass or thermoplastic tank. The filtration effectiveness and flow will be the exact same on both units. That's why I said I liked what I read about the Hayward 72 over the Quad. I had a Quad comp'd to me about 4 years ago, we placed it at a salesgirls home pool. It didn't backwash as effectively as a unit with DE grids. They gave us a retro diverter assembly manifold for the unit to help in this aspect of operation. Although better I still wasn't overly impressed with the unit. My salesgirl loves it because it beat her 10+ yr old filter hands down. Trust me on this, I wont make a product switch unless I'm firmly convinced it's better, not just more expensive. And coming back to me with this retrofit diverter assembly for brand new product that's not only noticably more expensive but has lesser performance effectiveness in the backwash cycle sunk it's battleship. I just couldn't join the Quad's fan club based on my real world interaction with the unit. Note, my salesgirl, one of my longest employees loves hers. that's why I couldn't speak negatively about the product, I just couldn't speak positively about it either. Maybe Reno's correct, it's probably just real hard to give any cartridge filter an effective backwashing without a filter breakdown. I have a VERY large pool (120k gal) and only break my 60's down at the beginning of swim season (the weekend before spring break) then I backwash for the following year. I have no need for a unit that refuses to backwash as well as a product which costs the same or less. As soon as one of my tanks gives up it's ghost I'll surely regret not stepping up to the plate and getting what I really wanted but cheaped out on due to cost over-runs on my pool construction project. See ya, Kelly

The pollen is not toooo bad here. I wish I knew more about how the plumbing on this pool was actually laid out. At the bottom of my skimmers there are 2 "holes", someone told me this means they are tied to the drain. I only see one main drain. The cartridges are now 5 years old, I do not know the history of if/when they were cleaned. I cleaned them with water and a light detergent, they still looked dirty when I was done. Have not degreased the elements. I am not 100% sure the gauge is functioning correctly, but it did seem to work ok with the old pump, I consistently got a reading of around 12-13 PSI. And I can get it there now by increasing the flow. My skimmers have no flappers? When I pull the cover, I can see water swirling around, this is why I assumed they were working. Thats also how I came up with the 3-way valve switching between skimmers, when I move the valve, the water movement in the skimmers changes, one gets stronger, the other weaker.

With just 2 returns stick with a 3/4hp pump....Now for the filter with a DE filter its like a cartridge but you apply a DE powder over the Cartridge and you can just backwash the powder and dirt away....If you want to clear a geen pool on opening a DE filter is the bomb I.M.O.. I have one on my personnel pool and I'm in Tennessee and we have our share of trees and I backwash my DE filter once per season at startup and break it down and clean it once per year...

This is the 1st Quad DE I have installed. I was only stating what is in the filter valve manual. The filter user manual warning says that it is different than other DE filters and you must use one of the valves listed. I followed the slide valve installation for a DE filter assuming that Pentair accounted for the filter difference stated based on their recommendation of valves. It sounds like you have a lot of experience with this filter. Looking at your filter picture, I have the pool return and waste lines swapped. My filter is operating with the slide valve in the down position. The thing I don't understand is the filter would then be running in backwash mode the way I am set up. I would expect all of the DE dumped in my pool but that is not happening. The water is actually really clear with a small amount of DE leakage in the pool during startup. I have sight glasses on each of the lines and can see the DE rushing through the waste line when the valve handle is in the up position. Did the DE coat the inside of the filter cartridges instead of the outside of the cartridges? Can you help clarify this before I replumb the connections? Do I need to open the filter and wash everything down before restarting after I replumb?