Hayward W3EC65A Perflex Diatomaceous Earth DE Pool Filter

Works just like the original i had. No issues. Easy to put together

Good unit !!

When I purchased my home, it came with a pool. The previous owners were too lazy to buy a winter cover for it, so it had filled up with leaves and pine needles and baked in the sun. It was full of mosquitoes, frogs, and other wildlife. The bottom 6 inches were a combination of rotting leaves and a thick green soupy material. I added more and more chlorine and just keep scooping large chunks of horrible smelling gunk with a leaf rake day after day. Eventually I got the majority of solids out and got the other chemicals in balance, and added even more chlorine. 15 gallons of 12.5% to be exact. Eventually the pool turned greenish blue but was totally cloudy; I couldn't see more than a couple inches in depth.So I ran the 150lb sand filter that was attached to the pool. It didn't seem to be doing much after a couple days so I had the pool store come out. They charged me $215 to change the sand and replace the gaskets/seals. I ran the pump 24/7 for 2 weeks, and saw no noticeable difference in the clarity of the water or any pressure increase on the filter. I finally got fed up and ordered this DE filter.I got lucky and was able to use the screw in parts from the old filter. My old filter had the output and input on the top; this DE filter has the input on the bottom and the output on the top, so you may have to adjust your plumbing accordingly. My pump's output was on the top, so I put a 90 degree elbow coming off the pump and used some flexible piping to go into the filter. You'll need male screw-in adapters to fit into the filter, 1.5" in diameter. Also, this thing gets very messy when backwashing, all the DE gets everywhere. You'll want to install some sort of drain extension. The filter includes a valve to use on the drain. My solution was to go to Lowes and get a PVC threaded male adapter, a 90 degree elbow, and a 2.5 foot piece of pipe (all 1.5"). This discharges the old DE into the bushes near the pool and out of the way.Back to the pool: I hooked everything up and checked for leaks. I then turned on the pump and added 4 pounds of DE. A 25 pound package was $13 at the local pool store. You'll want to get some form of measuring scoop for DE. A coffee can can be used, but a 1 pound can is only about 1/2 pound of DE. Added the DE through the skimmer and noted the pressure. At this point I noticed the pressure gauge wasn't working. I swapped in the old one from the sand filter and it worked fine. Not sure why a brand new pressure gauge from the factory didn't work but oh well. I contacted Hayward about it and they never responded back. Anyways, after about 30 minutes the pressure jumped right up. I shut off the pump and bumped the filter according to directions. Repeat this again and again for days. About every 4th bump the pressure would climb too quickly and I would have to backwash and add new DE. A week later, my pool is almost totally clear. There's pockets of settled algae but it's almost all gone. I've gone through about 20 something pounds of DE.Overall I'm very happy with the exception of the pressure gauge. I'll contact Hayward again, maybe by phone. But it's definitely working great and I wish I had bought it outright instead of dealing with the sand filter. Unfortunately it's basically the end of the summer and swimming season, but this filter salvaged what would otherwise have been a total loss.

The filter works very well, but the ring to connect top thru fingers to bottom tank split! I am using on hot tub in basement . I changed the de and i noticed some drops of water on hi speed so I just used low speed, well the clamp split around both halves on horizon plane I was sure that I didnt over torque fasteners but it is split and leaking in my basement. It took a some time to locate leak found it tonight . I put some c-clamps on the split , it stopped the leak now I need a new clamp. Mike M.

My Pool: 24' Round KD Royal above ground pool. Hayward 1hp Flomax pump with Hayward EC40 D.E. FilterI decided to wait until the end of the season to write this review. I purchased my filter in late spring to replace my PITA cartridge filter. I had a cartridge filter for about 10 years and the money I spent on filters would have paid for this filter several times over. This is by far the best above ground pool filter you can buy. I bought one box of d.e. powder for $25 and charged the filter twice over the entire summer. I didn't even use half of the d.e. I bumped the filter about once every 5 days whether it needed it or not. I just like bumping the filter when I clean the leaf basket on the pump. Since everything is already off, why not. I closed my pool last weekend and I removed the pump and filter to store for the winter. I took the filter apart per the manufacturers instructions by loosening the two bolts on the cover retaining bracket. It took a whole 5 minutes to remove the cover. I lifted the top off of the filter and exposed the d.e. filter elements. The elements were dirty but not like I expected. (from some of the youtube videos) I carried the filter top over to a 5 gallon bucket I scavenged up for the occasion and set the filter inside the bucket. It fits perfectly! I bought a bottle of filter cleaner and transferred the contents into a spray bottle. Following the filter cleaner instructions, I sprayed each element with the cleaner and let the filter set in the bucket for 10 minutes or so. The stuff has muriatic acid or some other caustic chemical because it had a pretty strong odor. Gloves, eye protection, and long pants and sleeve highly recommended. Once the 10 minutes had passed, I hosed off the elements to remove the cleaner and the nasty stuff. It took all of 20 minutes from start to finish to clean this filter.Now for the performance. WOW!! My pool water was crystal clear ALL summer long. Startup was a breeze. The pool was swim ready in 3 days which is how long it took to get the debris out of the pool,chemicals balanced and clear. The pool was cloudy for 1 day but the d.e. filter had it sparkling on the 3rd day. My neighbor who had a pool service fired her guy because he couldn't get her pool as clear.I am extremely happy with this filter and will buy another if this one ever fails.PROS: Keeps water crystal clear, reduces pool maintenance like vacuuming, easy to load, easy to clean. Very inexpensive.CONS: NONE. Just wish I had bought one sooner.FINAL THOUGHTS: If you need a filter for your above ground pool and you want crystal clear water that is easy to maintain, you don't want to spend alot of money, and you don't want to clean weekly like a cartridge filter, then this is your filter. You won't find it any cheaper than right here on amazon. In fact if you need anything related to pool equipment, Amazon is the place to shop.