pressure problem w/ clean de filter & rising psi

[messianic]

I built a pool (with a lil help from tfp) and the deck around it myself last year. Bought a new heyward pump and de filter and everything worked great for the season with minimal aggravation. fast forward to yesterday, i lugged all the equipment out of the garage, took pump apart and checked impeller, looked good. took filter apart and hosed down d.e. fingers, looked good. plumb everything together with pvc exactly as it was last year, turn everything on, add 7 pounds of d.e. Success, I'm ready for summer!

10 minutes later my filter pressure gauge that was reading 10 is now 25 and there's barely any push on the water returning to the pool. checked all fittings for leaks, all dry. bumped filter a whole buncha times, thought that may have solved the problem as pressure returned and gauge read normal. 10 minutes later, same problem. i feel like i'm missing something simple. any ideas?

 

[Richard320]

The filter is working just the way it's designed. You're filtering out stuff that's too small for the naked eye. Or maybe not. Is the water cloudy or green?

But rising pressure and reduced flow point to a dirty filter. The fact that pressure dropped after bumping confirms it. When bumping no longer works, time to make a mess and clean it. On the bump type I think you just bump a whole bunch and then open a drain and turn the pump on and wash it out. Check the manual.

 

[messianic]

yep the water is both cloudy and green. i shocked and have been trying to clear it up. i guess more bumping throughout the day is in order and i hosed off the guts of the filter this morning. now... do i add de everytime i bump as per the manual?

 

[Richard320]

yep the water is both cloudy and green. i shocked and have been trying to clear it up. i guess more bumping throughout the day is in order and i hosed off the guts of the filter this morning. now... do i add de everytime i bump as per the manual?

Yep. The DE is the actual filter. The cloth fingers just support it. Through a microscope, it would look like a layer of shredded kitchen sponges layered tightly on top of chicken wire. The water goes through the holes in the sponges to filter. Leaving out the DE, all you have is the chicken wire.

That's the curse of a DE filter. They filter so well. When the water is clear, they really make it sparkle. When it;s dirty, they load up amazingly fast.

 

[messianic]

thanks for this. i suppose last years virgin run of the DE filter was so perfect because it was a fresh fill up. i'll grab a few cold ones and keep an eye on her today and bump as needed.