Intex 28602BS 330 GPH 220 – 240 V Cartridge Filter Pump

The instructions for this device are literally appalling.

What needs to be done is it needs to be made a lot more simplistic, and the diagrams are useless, because they don’t actually show the items clearly.

It would be much easier if they actually put some stickers on things to tell you which goes in what bit, and where it should go in on the pool. I suspect the reason why people are having trouble with the flow is because they are putting the ends in the wrong places and then putting them in back to front, on the actual pools, which is what we did. when we realised our error, we were able to get a really good flow. Despite what it says the cartridges need DAILY cleaning, IF your using the pool. If you have kids or yourselves jumping in and out of the pool all day, then you do need to clean your cartridge, otherwise it clogs up and the flow trickles. You don’t need to replace it, it just needs to be cleaned in order to keep the flow at a strong rate.
The reason why people are losing the flow is due to 2 things, that there is air in the pump, or that the filter itself needs cleaning. We got into a habit of cleaning it every day if we were using it. It doesn’t need this if you’re just using the filter for so many hours a day and not using the pool. There are lots of YouTube videos that teach you how to clean the filter properly, the instructions again are useless for this. I actually watched a couple of YouTube videos to work out how to do it, because I just couldn’t figure it out without emptying the whole pool out Having to put the stops in.
It turns out all you need to do is lift the filter up above the height of the pool say on a table. Turn the gear knob in the middle of the pump until you can hear the air escape, once you can hear the air no longer, then you can safely remove the top and take the filter out. You can clean the filter in either of two ways, you can take the filter out and hose it with a high jet on the hose, and this will take off pretty much everything. However if you have been wearing fake tan, foundation, suntan lotion, is then it is my advice to soak it for an hour in some Oxy clean and hot water, this will then remove any of that greasy residue from the filter.

You can then once you’ve rinsed it thoroughly, then return it to the pump. So basically you will need to do some form of daily maintenance, if you are using the pool. I’ve had the filter on for a week now, due to rain we haven’t been able to use the pool for 3 days, and the filter is still fairly clean. So it shows it does get pretty dirty, when your actually using it.

Once you get the hang of it it’s all pretty simple. However it would’ve been a much more simple had the instructions been more clear, and maintenance instructions clearer. From what I can see as long as you keep the filter clean, and you release any air, the filter will flow. Also make sure you’ve got the right ends in the right place. Your aerator should be high up, and your grill should be low down. But the diagrams are rubbish you couldn’t really see what end went where, it’s easy to get confused what I think they would make it much better if they had clear photographs of the items that are in the box, and where they should go. All in all we are happy so far, we shall see what happens with further use. We are going to look into a better system for the filter, because we feel that having clean the filter every single day it’s daft, it should clog that easily, and judging by YouTube videos it is thought that the filters aren’t up to the task. We have seen some videos on YouTube that show different ways of filtrating using different filtration medium, so we are going to look into that.