Pentair Pool Filter Guide: Models, Prices, and Parts
The short answer
Which Pentair pool filter do you own? A guide to the Clean and Clear, Triton II, FNS Plus, and Quad DE lineup, with tank sizes, prices, parts, and upkeep.
In This Guide
Pentair is the largest name on American pool pads, and that scale is exactly what makes the brand confusing to shop for. The same company sells cartridge, sand, and DE filters, several of those lines have a standard and a Plus version, and the model badge on your tank may have faded off years ago. Owners end up ordering the wrong cartridge, buying too much sand, or paying for a DE filter when a cartridge would have served the pool better.
This guide is the map. It covers every current Pentair filter family, how to work out which one is sitting on your equipment pad, what each line costs to buy and to feed, and where to find the right replacement parts. It deliberately does not repeat cleaning or backwashing steps, because those live on dedicated pages linked throughout.
Which Pentair Pool Filter Should You Choose?
For most residential pools, choose a Pentair Clean and Clear or Clean and Clear Plus cartridge filter. It offers the lowest upkeep of the three types, needs no backwashing, and wastes no water, which matters in metered or drought-restricted areas. Choose a Triton II sand filter instead if your pool is large or sits under heavy tree cover, because sand is by far the cheapest media to run and the tank shrugs off big debris loads. Choose an FNS Plus or Quad DE filter if water clarity is your top priority, since diatomaceous earth traps particles down to roughly 3 microns compared to about 20 microns for sand. All three lines are built to the same Pentair quality standard, so the decision is about how you want to spend your maintenance time, not about durability.
The Pentair Filter Lineup
Four families cover almost every Pentair filter you will find in a backyard. The table below is the fastest way to place your tank.
| Model Family | Filter Type | Sizes | Suits Which Pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clean and Clear | Cartridge | 100, 150, 200 sq ft, single element | Small to mid inground and larger above ground pools |
| Clean and Clear Plus | Cartridge | 320, 420, 520 sq ft, four elements | Mid to large inground pools wanting long intervals between cleanings |
| Triton II TR-40 | Sand | 19 inch tank, about 180 lbs sand | Above ground and small inground pools |
| Triton II TR-60 | Sand | 24 inch tank, about 325 lbs sand | Standard inground pools up to roughly 20,000 gallons |
| Triton II TR-100 | Sand | 30 inch tank, 600 lbs sand | Large inground pools and heavy debris loads |
| Triton II TR-140 | Sand | 36 inch tank, 925 lbs sand | Very large residential and light commercial pools |
| FNS Plus DE | DE, backwashable | 36, 48, 60, 72 sq ft | Owners who want the clearest water and accept DE recharging |
| Quad DE | DE, no backwash | 60, 80, 100 sq ft | DE clarity without a multiport valve or a waste line |
A few notes that the spec sheet does not make obvious. The Clean and Clear Plus is not simply a bigger Clean and Clear: it holds four separate cartridges around a center manifold rather than one large element, so a cartridge order is a set of four, not one part. The Triton II sand figures above come straight from Pentair’s own documentation, and they matter because sand is sold in 50 lb bags. A TR-100 needs 12 bags and a TR-140 needs 19 bags, which is a very different trip to the store than the 4 bags a TR-40 takes.
The Quad DE is the odd one out. It gives DE-level filtration using four cartridge-style elements coated with powder, but it has no multiport valve and no backwash line at all. You clean it by opening the tank, which means it behaves like a cartridge filter on your maintenance calendar while filtering like a DE filter in the water.
How to Identify Your Pentair Model
Start with the label plate. On nearly every Pentair filter it sits on the tank body, on the lower half of the shell, either near the base or just under the clamp band. It carries the model name, the model number, the square footage or sand capacity, and the maximum working pressure. Photograph it once and keep the picture on your phone, because that single label answers every parts question you will ever have about the filter.
The naming conventions are consistent enough to decode on sight:
- CCP followed by a number is a Clean and Clear Plus, and the number is the square footage. A CCP420 is a 420 sq ft cartridge filter.
- TR followed by a number is a Triton II sand filter. TR-60 and TR-100 are the two most common residential sizes.
- FNSP followed by a number is an FNS Plus DE filter, and the number is again the square footage of grid area.
- Quad DE tanks are badged by square footage, 60, 80, or 100.
If the label has weathered off, identification is still straightforward. Check the top of the tank first. A top-mounted multiport valve with a lever and a waste line means a Triton II sand filter or an FNS Plus DE filter. No valve and a clamp band around the tank middle means a cartridge filter or a Quad DE.
Then open the tank and look inside. One tall pleated cartridge is a standard Clean and Clear. Four pleated cartridges around a center manifold is a Clean and Clear Plus. Curved fabric-covered grids on a manifold is an FNS Plus. Four rigid cartridge-style DE elements is a Quad DE. Finally, measure the tank diameter at its widest point to place a sand filter in the TR range: roughly 19, 24, 30, or 36 inches maps to the TR-40, TR-60, TR-100, and TR-140 respectively.
One more identification trap worth knowing. If your tank says Sta-Rite rather than Pentair, you are still in the same family, because Pentair has owned Sta-Rite since 2004. The System 3 and Posi-Flo tanks look nothing like a Clean and Clear but share plenty of small parts. Our Sta-Rite pool filter guide covers that lineup separately.
Pentair Filter Prices
Pentair sits at the premium end of residential pool equipment, and the price spread inside each line comes almost entirely from tank size. These are typical retail ranges for the filter alone, before installation.
| Line | Typical Price Range | Media Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Clean and Clear cartridge | 400 to 900 dollars | Replacement cartridges 60 to 200 dollars each |
| Triton II sand | 400 to 1,100 dollars | #20 silica sand 10 to 25 dollars per 50 lb bag |
| FNS Plus DE | 600 to 1,200 dollars | DE powder 25 to 40 dollars per 25 lb bag |
| Quad DE | 700 to 1,300 dollars | DE powder plus periodic element replacement |
Media costs are where the lines really separate over a decade of ownership. Sand is the cheapest to feed by a wide margin: a full change every 5 to 7 years costs 40 to 250 dollars in sand depending on tank size, and nothing in between. Cartridges are the most expensive consumable, since a Clean and Clear Plus needs a set of four elements every 2 to 3 seasons. DE powder is a small recurring cost after every backwash, but DE grids also need replacing every 5 to 7 years.
Add 300 to 800 dollars if a professional installs the filter, more if the plumbing has to be reworked to fit a larger tank. For a full breakdown of filter pricing across brands and types, see our pool filter cost guide.
Pentair Parts and Cartridges
Every Pentair parts order should start from the model number on the tank label, never from the tank size alone. Pentair filter elements are model-specific, and lookalike cartridges of the same height can differ in end cap diameter or core size enough that they will not seat.
Clean and Clear Plus owners should note again that cartridges are sold and replaced as a matched set of four. Running three new elements alongside one worn one pushes the full dirt load onto the tired cartridge and shortens the life of the whole set. Our page on Pentair pool filter cartridges lists which part numbers pair with which model.
Shop Pentair replacement filter cartridges on Amazon
The small wear parts are worth keeping in a bin on the shelf, because they are the ones that strand you mid season: the tank lid or clamp band O-ring, the air relief assembly, the drain plug and its O-ring, and a spare 1/4 inch NPT pressure gauge. Gauges are universal, so a generic replacement works fine, and a dead gauge is the single most common reason owners lose track of when to clean. A pool filter pressure gauge on Amazon costs less than a bag of DE. For a plain-language rundown of what each component does across all filter types, see our pool filter parts guide.
Sand filter owners have one extra part to watch: the laterals at the base of the tank. If your Triton II starts returning sand to the pool, a cracked lateral is usually the cause, and Pentair sells them as a set for each TR size.
Maintaining a Pentair Filter
Cleaning is driven by pressure, not by the calendar. When the gauge reads 8 to 10 PSI above the clean baseline you recorded at startup, it is time. The exact procedure differs by line, and both are covered step by step elsewhere on this site.
For Clean and Clear cartridges, FNS Plus grids, and Quad DE elements, the job is opening the tank and hand rinsing, plus a chemical soak once or twice a season to strip out body oils and scale. The full model-by-model walkthrough is in our guide on cleaning a Pentair pool filter.
For Triton II sand filters and FNS Plus DE filters, routine cleaning is a backwash through the multiport valve, with a DE recharge afterward on the FNS Plus. The valve positions, run times, and the recharge step are laid out in our guide on how to backwash a Pentair pool filter. Never move the multiport handle with the pump running, since that is what tears the spider gasket.
Sand filters also need their media replaced eventually. Fresh #20 grade pool filter sand on Amazon is the only media Pentair specifies for the Triton II line.
Pentair vs Hayward
These two brands split most of the American residential market, and on paper they are close. Both build well-made tanks at similar prices with similar warranties, and both have a cartridge, sand, and DE line. In practice the differences show up in lateral design, valve options, and how easy parts are to source locally, which varies by region more than most buyers expect.
The short version: buy the brand your local pool store stocks parts for, because a filter you can get an O-ring for on a Saturday morning beats a marginally better tank you have to order online. If you are choosing between sand models specifically, our Hayward vs Pentair sand filter comparison breaks down the lateral assemblies, tank construction, and valve differences side by side.
Related Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Pentair pool filter is best?
How do I identify my Pentair filter model?
How much sand does a Pentair Triton II take?
Does Pentair own Sta-Rite?
Can you backwash a Pentair Clean and Clear filter?
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