New Pool - Flow doesnt seem right

[jeremyweber]

Thanks for the help, Im hoping you have some ideas, as this has been the most fustrating day, and I if cant resolve it, Ill need to call in some pros.
At one point, I was thinking &#**# it - just cover the thing back up.

Heres what I have done today.

1. Disconnected everything. Cleaned all the threads where pipes connect.
2. Took apart the filter and cleaned it out. There was a lot of gook.
3. Put everything back together.
4. Attempted to vacuum leaves from bottom of the pool, which broke the basket.
5. Went to the store, got a new basket.
6. Tried vacuuming again,

It seemed to be working fine. I am no longer seeing any air collected in the strainer that is connected to the pump. Pump pressure starts at 10 and gets to 20/25 fairly quickly ( 30 minutes or so. ). When the pressure gets to 20/25 there is a noticable decrease in the flow.

Additionally vacuuming is tough. The water is so green and murky right now, its hard to make out anything in the deep end. And it seems that the suction is only good for 10 minutes or so.

Questions

1. It says to backwash for 2/3 minutes on the filter. Is that the right? We are on a well, so water is precious.
2. Should I add more DE everytime I backwash?
3. When I turn the valve from backwash to filter, there is a lot gurgling and I can see lots of air bubbles.
4. As stated in my first post, the stream of water I get when I open the air relief valve is just a dribble. Is this normal?

Someones got to help me save face... You see I originally was going to have someone open the pool until I found out what they charged. I figured I had done our above ground pool at the prior house before and it was no big deal. I really dont want to have someone comeout but I am at my wits end.

Unless of course anyone on this board is from CT, thinks they can help and has a free afternoon, I would certainly supply the pizza and beer...

[waste]

Sorry I can't help you right now, sometings come up in my personal life that can't be ignored - I had 1/2 a response written, but can't do the follow through. Real quick, you're not backwashing correctly, yes add more de after backwashing, don't worry about the 'gurgulling'. I'll expand tomarrow, but I've gotta go right now . Sorry

[jeremyweber]

Eagerly waiting your reply, although I cant for the life of me figure out how I can be screwing up backwashing.... With that said, you would not believe the things that I can screw up.

Heres how I am doing it now.

1. Turn pump off
2. Turn valve to backwash.
3. Turn pump on
4. Wait until water is clear.
5. Turn pump off
6. Move handle to filter.
7. Add more DE.
8. Turn pump on.

Just for the record, I also have dial-a-flow controls on the pipes into and out of the pump/filter. Dont know if that matters or not.

Thanks again and I really appreciate it.

[rmeden]

I repeat the steps a few times seems to help get more of the DE out.

Don't forget to tear down the filter and clean it every few backwashes.... I just did mine... it was a mess! (after backwashing)

I know you're supposed to turn the pump off when changing the valve, but I usually don't.. it's only between positions for a fraction of a second.

Robert

[jeremyweber]

Thanks for the response...

I cleaned out the filter, this morning and it didnt seem to make a difference. All I did was open it, and wash away deposits of DE. If there is any more to it than that, I didnt do it.

The problem I have is it, only takes about 20/30 minutes before my flow drops and the pressure raises to where I would need to backwash. We are on a well, so I am trying to minimize how much I backwash. Every 20/30 minutes would be insane.

[jeremyweber]

More info - Just talked to a local pool place and they said to bring the filter element in for an acid wash...

[waste]

J, again sorry about not being able to type a full post last night!
As for backwashing the cycle is Backwash till the water clears up, RINSE for 15 - 30 sec. (this removes the loosened debris that hasn't found it's way out of the filter yet) then repeat this process until the backwash starts out clean, then it's time to go back to 'filter' and add 80% of ther recommended de (which microclear do you have? if it's the 7.5 lb (6020) only add 6 lbs of de, if it's the 6 lb (4800) only add 5 lbs) since backwashing can only remove 80% of the de, only replace 80%, adding too much or too little can cause performance problems. However, as you are on a well and don't want to tax it's ability to keep the pool full, and said that you've ripped it apart and hosed it before, I would recommend doing that when you need to backwash, it'll save you water. When you hose off the grids, do you get into all the channels between the 8 grids from top and bottom? Doing this with a hose that has low pressure can take a while, but if you use the backwash hose, with the multiport set on WASTE, you can do it much quicker with less water loss (pinch the hose end and direct the flow in between the grids from the side) If you go to remove the 'nest' (the grid assembly) and can barely move it from it's weight, odds are that the filter has been 'over charged' and instead of having 7 lbs of de in it, it has 30 lbs, you may want to rethink the acid wash, your problem could easily be caused by way too much de in the filter. An indication that chemical cleaning needs to be done is if the grids retain a good bit of water after being thoroughly hosed.
If you plan on taking your grids to be acidwashed, keep me posted, I am in Ct and would feel really bad if in the next week I got a work order to acid wash Jeremy Weber's grids. There's a post here (I'll try ! to capture it and edit it into this post, but my sucess rate on linking is ... well, low) about removing oils before doing the acid wash (using detergent or TSP) because acid washing oilfilled grids clogs them. I wish you well with your problem and will keep my eye on this thread - GO HUSKIES!