ok, i dont have pea soup..more like cool blue listerine

[fog80]

chuck,

I saw some paperwork the old homeowner left behind and the pool filter and pump seem to be from 1987 which would make my setup 20 yrs old as well!

I did the acid wash this evening, but i didnt let it soak overnight, just for an hour or so. I also noticed that my pressure gauge isnt screwed into the filter like the picture on the manual. It seems like the previous owner plumbed some pvc in an L shape so that the gauge is visible from the top. It also looks like he glued the gauge in, so I wont be able to open it and flush out the de with a hose like the manual suggests.

However the filter wash did the trick so far, the psi is holding steady at 10 when before i couldnt get it to hold at 15 for more than a minute.

[fog80]

crap!! its been 2 hrs since i soaked my filter and added fresh de and my pressure is already up from 10-15psi to 25!!!

what else can i do???

[ChuckD]

crap!! its been 2 hrs since i soaked my filter and added fresh de and my pressure is already up from 10-15psi to 25!!!

what else can i do???

Sounds just like when I was clearing the soup two weekends ago. Is your water still not clear? Like I said, it'll take repeated bumping till it is. That's the DE filtering it out. But I'd hold off backwashing till the water's nearly there. Don't see a need for it.

[fog80]

Sounds just like when I was clearing the soup two weekends ago. Is your water still not clear? Like I said, it'll take repeated bumping till it is. That's the DE filtering it out. But I'd hold off backwashing till the water's nearly there. Don't see a need for it.

its blue but not clear enough to see the bottom. this morning i did a quick strip test and my fc was above 10.

i can bump and knock the psi down to like 20 but its back up to 25 within an hour and the water flow is extremely restricted.

[ChuckD]

In light of another post by waste that he's pretty busy this time of year, and doesn't get on the forum as often, I'll stick with you here. But he's the expert so I welcome his input. I'm an expert on my own pump and filter in my own backyard, and that's about it. That said...


You need what one of the Mods here calls a POP test. That's Pool Owner's Patience. Assuming your chems are pretty much in line, at this point in the process the filter is still removing particulate from the water which makes it less than clear. That's why the pump needs to run 24/7. And because of the effectiveness of DE, the matrix it forms on the grids needs to be broken down and rebuilt frequently, AKA bumping. You can help to alleviate some of this congestion by putting a skimmer sock on the skimmer basket, but that does nothing for water entering through the maindrain. It will grab the surface stuff though so it may be some help.

I'm also wondering if maybe you had too much DE since you claim bumping doesn't lower the pressure less than 20psi (but after acid washing it did start out at 10).

In any case, Keep the pump running and try to remember to bump when the pressure raises 10psi or so. It might be once an hour for the first two days or so, but don't sweat it about letting the pump run at this raised pressure for a couple hours unattended (like when you're asleep!). Just make sure it's adequately ventilated, and bump it the next chance you can. You need to keep it running as much as possible the first couple days. Then you can back off to 8 hours a day, or so.

And keep the skimmer and pump baskets clean as well.

[ChuckD]

One more thing:
I'm doing some reading on the net about the DE filters and one point has come up a couple times that caught my eye. That's that the amount of DE recommended by the manufacturer (in this case Hayward) is way too much for what's needed. Hayward calls for 5lbs., IIRC. I have a tub that once held 7 lbs of Cl pucks. I know that if I fill it roughly 4/5 of the way with DE (not packed down) and dump it in the skimmer when I start the pump, everything seems to work nicely and my water is absolutely clear throughout the season. (I also use the Hayward wand to really clean out the filter tank when I backwash).

I don't know how much DE that really is, but it works for me, and I back washed twice last summer, after getting the intial gunk out. I bring this up again because I'm starting to think seriously that you need to cut back on the DE.

[waste]

Gentlemen, how are you today (other than frustrated, Fog )?

Chuck has said quite a few good things here, and IMO is doing a great job of answering the questions! Let me add a couple of 'why' s to what's been said.
On the matter of the psi rising so quickly - the spaces between the particles of DE are almost the exact size of an algae cell - algae clogs it very quickly, bumping will drop the pressure ~ 5 lbs the first time, and less with each subsequent bumping - 'backwashing' or rinsing out the filter is the only way to get that 'used' DE out. Breaking the filter apart and hosing the fingers will probably get you back to the 10- 15 psi, but with a green pool - you've got to do it often as long as the water is green/ cloudy . [while I'm at it, DE filters use a coating of DE (duh!) to pre-coat the grids or fingers with a material (DE) that won't pass through the 'cloth' but will collect all but the smallest of particles. The collected particals stay on the outer surface of the DE coating and never touch the collection membrane, until you bump - bumping 'shakes' the DE coating off of the cloth and let's it drop to the bottom of the filter tank. When water starts passing through the filter again, this DE with 'scum' on it mixes with the clean stuff that was between the dirty DE and the clean DE that was on the membrane, which opens new passages for the dirty water to flow through, but not as many as a freshly cleaned and recharged coating would be. **bumping does not remove any of the dirt from the filter - unlike backwashing does - it only rearranges the clean and dirty DE to open the flow until the new channels fill up with dirt/ algae)]
Where was I... Ah, too much DE - my feeling is that the # on the plate for how much it holds is correct, but only when the filter has been fully cleaned of DE, if you've only backwashed or bumped and cleared the tank, you've still got a pound or two in the filter and should only add ~80% of the initial amount when recharging (Chuck, I'm sure that your 'wand' gets closer to 95% - adjust acordingly)

Too much DE or too little can cause performance problems, I'll link up some of my old 'gems' ( ) on DE filters at the end of this post.

Chuck, the reason for relieving some air before bumping is because water can not be compressed, but air can - if the tank is full of water and the back pressurre from the run of the lines is too great, forcing the fingers up (and for people who do it backwards) or down can crack the plastic tube sheets - air can be compressed and will do so before the pressure cracks the sheets. So, yes, the pressure gauge will show 0, but you make some by bumping the handle.

I've gone soo far off what I had planned to say... here's some links to my other advise - if something's not covered, please ask

[thread=6811]EC cleaning[/tread]
other DE info
general EC info

Pfwhew! - sorry to go on so long! GOOD NIGHT!!