Pentair Clean & Clear, Clean & Clear Plus and Quad D.E. Cartridges: Clean or Replace, and How to Identify the Right Element by Length and End Cap

Three Pentair filters share the word "cartridge" and almost nothing else. The original Clean & Clear (also badged Predator) holds one large pleated cartridge on a centre core. The Clean & Clear Plus holds four narrower cartridges hanging from a top manifold. The Quad D.E. also holds four cartridges, but they are DE elements — the fabric is meant to carry a cake of diatomaceous earth and is not a filter on its own. A service company that stocks the wrong one for the tank in front of it has made an expensive mistake, and a pool owner asking "how do I know if it needs replacing" gets a different answer for each.

This guide does two things. First, it lays out the clean-or-replace decision, which is the same across all three once you know what to look at. Second, it gives an identification table for each family — filter model to element, with the length and end-cap details that let you confirm a cartridge on the bench when the box is long gone — and is honest about which elements we make and which we do not.

Reading the symptoms

Pressure climbing faster than it used to. The pressure gauge is the only instrument on a cartridge filter and it tells most of the story. Pentair's Clean & Clear literature calls for cleaning when the gauge reads 8 to 10 psi above the filter's clean starting pressure. Write that starting pressure on the tank the day a new cartridge goes in; without it, every later reading is a guess. If the interval between cleanings has shrunk from months to weeks, the media is loading with something a hose does not remove.

Pressure that does not come back down after cleaning. This is the single most reliable sign that a cartridge is finished. A thorough clean — hose, then a soak in a filter cleaner for oils, then a rinse — on a good cartridge returns the gauge to within a psi or two of the baseline. A cartridge that stays 3 to 5 psi high after a proper clean has media blinded at a level no cleaning reaches: calcium in the fibres, sunscreen and body oils driven in by pressure, or fibres worn smooth.

Debris or DE in the pool. On a Clean & Clear or Clean & Clear Plus, fine debris returning to the pool means water is bypassing the pleats: a torn pleat, a cracked end cap, or a cartridge not seated on its core. On a Quad D.E. it means DE is passing the element — a torn element, a bad seat at the manifold, or a cake that never formed because the element was too worn to hold it.

Short filter runs combined with a cloudy pool. The cartridge is still filtering but its capacity is gone. On a four-cartridge filter this often shows up unevenly: two cartridges brown and matted, two comparatively clean, because the tired ones stopped taking flow and pushed it onto the others.

Prep and safety

Power off at the breaker, not at the timer. Relieve pressure at the manual air relief until the gauge reads zero. On a pad below water level, close the isolation valves. Open the drain to bring the water level below the tank split before touching the clamp; a Clean & Clear Plus 520 holds a great deal of water and the tension clamp should never be released on a tank under pressure.

Cartridge filters are opened often, so the closure hardware wears faster than on a sand filter. On the Clean & Clear Plus and Quad D.E., the 190003 tension control clamp kit is the part that holds two halves of a pressure vessel together; if the threads are galled or the band is stretched, replace it before reassembly. The tank o-ring 39010200 sits in the same joint and is the usual source of a weep at the seam.

Clean, or replace?

Take the cartridge out, hose it from the top down with the pleats held open, and let it dry enough to see. Then work through this list. Any one item in the first group is a replacement; the second group is a cleaning problem that may still be recoverable.

Replace when you see:

• A cracked or split end cap. The end caps seal the cartridge to the core or manifold. A hairline crack bypasses the whole cartridge, and it will not glue.
• Collapsed or flattened pleats, or a cartridge that looks crushed. The internal cage or centre band has failed. It cannot be reshaped and the pleats no longer present their area to the flow.
• Torn or frayed fabric, including small tears at the pleat tips that only show when the pleat is opened by hand.
• Fabric that stays grey-brown after cleaning, or has a glossy, felted look. Oils and minerals have set in the fibres. Distributor guidance and Pentair's own manual agree: once the media will not clean, the element is done.
• Pressure that stays high after a full clean-and-soak, even with the cartridge looking presentable.

Clean when you see:

• Pleats that are matted with dirt or leaf fragments but spring back when hosed.
• A white, chalky deposit that softens or dissolves in a filter cleaner — calcium that has not yet bonded into the fibres.
• Fabric that returns to an even off-white after a soak.

Cleaning method matters for how long an element lasts. Hose from the top down at moderate pressure — a pressure washer opens the weave and shortens the life. For oil, soak overnight in a filter cleaner rather than dishwashing detergent, which foams inside the tank for weeks afterwards. If a muriatic acid soak is used for scale, degrease first: acid on oil-coated fibres sets the oil permanently. Expect one to three seasons from a residential cartridge depending on load; a DE element in a Quad D.E. typically lasts longer because the cake takes the abuse, not the fabric.

Identifying the element: Clean & Clear (single cartridge)

The original Clean & Clear — sold as CC50 through CC200, and under the Predator name — uses one cartridge with a 10-1/16 inch outside diameter across all five sizes. What changes is the length, so the model number and the tape measure answer the same question. Tank heights from Pentair's specification table are included as a cross-check for filters whose label is gone.

Cartridge lengths are as published by two independent Pentair distributors and agree with the tank heights in Pentair's own table. The point worth memorising is the last two rows: the CC150 and CC200 share a tank, a cartridge length and a centre core; the 200 has more pleats packed into the same 31-inch length. Confirm by counting pleats or by the number moulded into the end cap, not by the tape measure alone.

The centre core is the plastic tube the cartridge slides over, and it is the part most often broken during a cleaning — someone levers the cartridge off it and cracks the base. A cracked core lets water bypass under the cartridge and shows up as debris in the pool with a perfectly good cartridge. Cores are size-specific: 59053500 for the CC50, 59053700 for the CC100, and 59053800 for the CC150 and CC200 (also sold as a base only). We do not currently list the CC75 core.

The tank halves themselves crack at the drain boss and around the locking ring lugs. The almond 178553 lid fits the CC50 and CC100 tanks and the 178560 bottom fits the CC150 and CC200; both are size-specific, so check the model before ordering a half.

Identifying the element: Clean & Clear Plus (four cartridges)

The Clean & Clear Plus — CCP240, CCP320, CCP420 and CCP520 — hangs four identical cartridges from a top manifold inside a two-piece tank held by a tension clamp. The number after "CCP" is the total area; each cartridge is a quarter of it. All four cartridges in a tank are the same age and should be replaced as a set: a new cartridge among three tired ones takes most of the flow and blinds first, and the set is back to where it was in weeks.

We do not currently manufacture the Clean & Clear Plus cartridges themselves; the industry numbers above are given so the set can be identified from a distributor's shelf. What we do make is everything around them, and on this filter the surrounding parts fail as often as the media does:

• Top manifold 170027 — the plastic head the four cartridges seat into on the CCP320, 420 and 520. Cracked sockets bypass a whole cartridge and are invisible until the manifold is lifted out and held to the light.
• Air bleed assemblies — the 170029 tube assembly and the 178583 air bleed for the 320 sq ft tank. The internal air bleed keeps the tank from air-locking; a cracked one lets air accumulate at the top and starves the upper pleats.
• Bulkhead union set 270004 and valve adaptor kit 270100 — the through-tank fittings and the adaptor that mates the filter to a multiport or push-pull valve. Both weep at the gasket after years of heat cycling.
• Union adapter kit 274426Z for the 2-1/2 by 2 inch plumbing connection.
• Tank o-ring 39010200 and tension control clamp 190003, common to the Clean & Clear Plus, FNS Plus and Quad D.E. tanks.

Identifying the element: Quad D.E. (four DE cartridges)

The Quad D.E. — models 60, 80 and 100 — looks like a Clean & Clear Plus and shares its tank, clamp and valve hardware, but its four elements are DE cartridges: pleated fabric that carries a coating of diatomaceous earth. Run without DE, they filter poorly and load quickly; the DE is the filter, the element is the support. Pentair's specification puts the initial charge at 6, 8 and 10 pounds of DE for the 60, 80 and 100 respectively, and the filter can be backwashed and recharged or opened and rinsed.

Element length is the identifier: all three share the 6-1/4 inch diameter and 3 inch centre hole, so a 26-3/4 inch element is an 80 and a 32-3/4 inch element is a 100. Our 178655 covers the Quad D.E. 80 and is cross-referenced to the Unicel and Filbur numbers in the table below.

On the Quad D.E., DE in the pool has one extra cause the cartridge filters do not: an element that has been rinsed and reinstalled without recharging, so the DE cake never formed and the first minutes of filtration went straight through the fabric. Charge through the skimmer with the pump running immediately after every rinse.

The Quad D.E. 170036 outlet pipe assembly and the 178582 tank lid for the Quad D.E. 100 and the CCP520 are the two tank-side parts specific to the larger units; the rest of the hardware is the shared list above.

Reassembly notes

On the Clean & Clear, lubricate the tank o-ring with a silicone pool lubricant, seat the cartridge fully on the centre core so the top end cap sits under the lid's locator, and tighten the locking ring by hand only. On the Clean & Clear Plus and Quad D.E., seat each cartridge or element squarely in its manifold socket — a cocked one is the classic cause of debris in the pool after a service — then set the tank halves together, fit the clamp and tighten to Pentair's specification for the tension control clamp, and open the air relief while the pump primes until water sprays. Write the new clean pressure on the tank.

Cross-reference table

The full list of parts that fit is on the Clean & Clear Plus, Clean & Clear 200, Quad D.E. series and Quad D.E. 80 model pages, and the Pentair brand page lists the rest of the filter range.

Sourcing

POOLPOINT manufactures the Clean & Clear cartridges, the Quad D.E. 80 element and the tank, manifold, clamp and union parts above factory direct for US distributors, service companies and online sellers. MOQ starts at 50 pieces per SKU, mixed cartons are accepted to reach it, and private label is available. Where the table says "not currently listed", we do not yet make that element and will say so if asked. Request a quote for wholesale pricing on the parts we do make.