Hello,
I have a leak around the main seal of my Hayward DE filter. I've check the gasket for damage and the lip of the filter looks fine. I've taken the black band off and on several times and reseated the cover and made it as tight as I could but after 30 minutes it starts leaking again. Any ideas? Since I opened the pool this year I can't seem to raise the PH (TF100 reads pale yellow) no matter how much Borax I add. Could this have led to the problem (damage due to acidic water?)? Thanks in advance for reading my post.

Have you added any lube to the o-ring. I think it is called Jacks #327. I added some to my pumps strainer lid and it sealed right up. I have the same filter with the matching pump.

I don't see that mentioned in the owners manual. Has anyone tried this?

First, post a full set of test results.

A lot of us use pool lube on any o-ring or gasket around the pool. It's common practice and it really works.

OK, I'll do a complete test run tonight.

Here's my numbers:
PH 6.8
FC 4
TA 90
CC 0
CYA 80

I performed an acid bath on the filter finger assembly. The pool store said the pressure inside the filter could be increasing over time and causing the leak (it runs leak-free for 30 minutes).
I guess I'll be draining some of the water at some point to get the CYA down (I've been using pucks for three years but I see the light now). I just got my TF100 a few days ago.

Try adding one more crank of the wrench when you close the steel band. I read it takes two turns once the coils of the spring touch each other. This was in the owners guide. You can find it online.

Lube the oring and covers well.

I tighten the screw to snug ... then tap all the way around the band with a rubber mallet ... then tighten and tap ... repeat until the spring is tight after tapping.

That is the best way to get the band on uniformly without having to really crank on it.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I've tightened and re-tightened several times. I've tried the rubber mallot trick too. No matter what I do it starts leaking after 1/2 hour. I bypassed the solar panels to eliminate the extra presssure they put on the filter but it didn't help. I will pick up some lube when I buy a new gasket tomorrow. I have to try a new gasket at this point I think ($35).

if you have not tried the lube only on the old gasket (and the store is convenient) you could try that before spending $35 on a gasket.

That said, $35 on a new gasket and another $10-12 for the lube is not such a bad thing either, especially if it's a long trip to the store.

OK, I tried a new gasket and Jacks lube. It ran for several hours before leaking again??
I'm really at a loss now on what can be wrong. The pressure went from 0 to 20psi in that amount of time. It seems I have two problems: The leak and the pressure building so fast. The pool store is pointing to the pressure rising as to the cause but the seal should be holding at 20psi even if does get to that level so fast. Does anyone have any other ideas or am I looking at a new filter at this point?

You're right about it should not leak at 20 psi no matter how quickly it gets there.

At this point I'd try and pinpoint the exact place it's leaking. If you could post a pic of that place it might help figure it out.

Thanks for the reply. It's tough to tell exactly where since there is a band of metal that wraps all the way around the seam that's leaking. I've cranked this as tight as I can many times over but eventually it starts leaking. It's been running for 5 hours now without leaking but it did this last night and in the morning it was leaking again. I have pretty good troubleshooting skills but this is driving me crazy. I'm also worried this was brought on by adding the solar panels this year.

Have you replaced the gasket?

Yes, I replaced the gasket last night and coated it with Jacks Lube. It now runs longer without leaking but still does eventually. I bumped it this morning and the pressure went from 0 to 16.5 before it started leaking again a few minutes ago.

It almost sounds like a issue with the sealing surface, where the gasket seals it until the pressure gets up and then it leaks by it. I'd pull it apart and inspect the sealing surface really well for scratches, cracks, and nicks.

I have the same filter and my pressures, on my old gauge, were 14 psi clean and 24 max pressure dirty. That gauge died last year. My new gauge shows different pressures, I am using cellulose and I am a dedicated BBB person now. So, I have not seen any green since June2, the day I added new water to my new liner. So my pressures have not climbed above 18 on the new gauge.

I would bump before 24 if I could but some days there was too much junk in the water and it would go to 24 before I could bump it. I had a battle with algae last year and some weekends were filled with power-off, bump, watch pressures go from 14-20, bump... lather rinse repeat. Once the time to go from 14-24 was lass than one hour, I would crack open the case, take the tubes out, wash the tubes with the garden hose, dump the yucky grey-green DE from the filter body (no permanent backwash plumbing), rebuild the filter, add DE and watch the pressures rise again. I repeated this process until the water was clear. I have learned that DE filters water impurities really fast... and this mean if you let your water get green, you will need to do a bunch of changes and cleans but if you dedicate the time, it's pretty quick from green to clean (one weekend, in my case).

I do know, if there is ANYTHING in the grooves for the o-ring, it will leak. Especially if the the debris is under the o-ring. I have a tree (crepe myrtle) near the filter body and if it drops a flower or seed pod while the cover is off the filter body, it will leak.

@Bama: Thanks. I'm thinking maybe a hairline crack right in the area you speak of but it must be pretty small because I haven't found one yet. This filter is only three years old.
@Techguy: Good advise on bumping and pressure readings. I've made sure there is no debris under the gasket but I'll check again.