Pool Filter Cartridges

297 products

Replacement cartridges for cartridge filters, and the thing to know before searching is that one physical cartridge usually has several numbers. The original maker gives it one and the three aftermarket houses each give it another, so the same element can be a Hayward CX, a Unicel C, a Pleatco PA and a Filbur FC all at once. The prefix tells you whose number you are holding, and most products here name the filter they go into as well.

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About Pool Filter Cartridges

Nearly three hundred cartridges from Pleatco, Unicel and Filbur alongside Pentair, Hayward, Sta-Rite and Jandy originals, in areas from the small spa elements up to 200 sq ft, with the length and outside diameter published on most of them and the filter model they fit on over a hundred and fifty.

The filters themselves are in pool filters, and tank o-rings, manifolds and the rest are in filter parts.

Questions about Pool Filter Cartridges

My old cartridge has a number I cannot find. What is it?

Look at the letters in front of it, because they say which company numbered it rather than which filter it fits. On this shelf a C number is Unicel, FC is Filbur, PA or PAP is Pleatco, CX is Hayward, PXC is Sta-Rite and a number starting R is usually Pentair. So a cartridge marked C-9415 is Unicel's designation for something Pentair calls R173216 and Pleatco calls PAP150. All three are on this page and all three are the same element.

Will a Pleatco fit where a Hayward one was?

Usually, and the makers say so themselves rather than leaving you to guess. Where a manufacturer publishes a cross reference we carry it on the product, under a replaces line: you will see a Hayward CX200XRE listed as replacing a Unicel C-9442, a Filbur FC-1267 and a Pleatco PA200S, and a Filbur PC-1292 listed against Hayward, Sta-Rite, Pleatco and Unicel equivalents. Not every product carries that line, so where it is absent, match on the measurements instead.

How do I match one with no numbers left on it?

Three measurements and you will find it. Take the overall length, the outside diameter of the pleat pack, and look at the end caps to see whether they are open, closed, or one of each with a moulded fitting. Most cartridges here publish length and outside diameter, so those two narrow it to a handful, and the end configuration settles it. Knowing the filter it came out of is even better, because over a hundred and fifty of these name the filter model they go into.

When is a cartridge finished rather than dirty?

When cleaning stops buying you time. A healthy element comes back to roughly the pressure it started at after a proper soak and rinse; one at the end of its life climbs back within days. Look at the pleats as well: fabric that has gone hard and shiny, that has lost its spring, or that is splitting along a fold will not filter whatever you do to it, and flattened pleats that no longer stand apart have lost the area you paid for. Cracked end caps are the other obvious end.