A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.O. S

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skos

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Aug 17, 2010
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A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.O. Smith B130 2.4hp. I believe my old pump was a 2hp. I have a 14K pool with 2 skimmers, a fountain in the spa that flow like a waterfall back into the pool and a sheer decent feature.

Also went the pump went out it collapsed a lot of the DE grids. I replaced all the grids. Now I noticed after a couple of month that a couple of grids are collapsed again and I constantly have low pressure issues.

After I replaced the pump and grids I had 20psi. When I have low pressure in the pool issues it is up to 30psi. I can back wash and I am back to 20psi.

Any ideas on the grids issue?

Thanks
Steve
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

Can you tell us what model of filter you have? If the filter is very small, the 2+ HP pump might be too much for it.

20 psi with a clean filter doesn't sound unreasonable given that you have such a large pump.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

The DE2420 is a fairly small filter, with a maximum design flow rate of 60 GPM. It is quite likely that your current pump is putting out more than 60 GPM, which puts a significant strain on the grids, especially when the filter is dirty.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

The most efficient solution besides replacing the pump, motor and/or filter which I assume you would not want to do, would be to put in a filter bypass. A pipe with a valve that simply bypasses the filter will allow you to adjust how much water is bypassed but it will probably be close to 40% or so. This will affect your filtering capability so you need to take that into account.

Replacing the motor with a two speed would allow you to run on low speed most of the time but then you would need to turn on and off the bypass accordingly.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

I like your idea, thanks. Also what if I put in some sort of bag filter in line? That way I can cut down on how often the DE filter needs cleaning and reduce the pressure?
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

If you use skimmer socks, that can help and they are easy to use.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

It would except for the fact that the OP has a spa. The ideal solution would be a 2 HP two speed or variable speed pump with an upsized filter to handle the high speed flow but the cost may be prohibitive.
 

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Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

mas985 said:
If you use skimmer socks, that can help and they are easy to use.
Click to expand...

I like his idea. Question, what happens to the pressure on the grids if socks are used and (worst case) the skimmers get clogged with debris? Would the pressure increase thus collapsing the grids again?
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

No, suction would increase and pressure decrease but it isn't the pressure that is hurting the filter it is the flow rate. Increasing either the pressure (>return head loss) or the suction (>suction head loss) reduces flow rate. You could just add head loss to the return side to reduce the flow rate but you would need to add an awful lot of head loss to reduce the flow rate to 60 GPM which is why I suggested the bypass.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

Update, when I start to lose pressure from the fountain, my filter reads 33psi.

Also the motor filter basket is not completely filled with water. There is an air gap. Maybe an inch. So I can see air in the motor basket but this does not happen for maybe 6hrs of the motor running.

So if I turn off the pump, wait maybe 5min and turn back on, we are back to 20psi and the fountain has pressure. Here are some pics
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/skoscielak/Pool/Picture029.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/skoscielak/Pool/Picture028.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/skoscielak/Pool/Picture.jpg
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

That sounds more like a filter issue. Could be the DE caking and may require cleaning the grids. Have you been fighting any algae recently?
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

No because of a test today after I cleaned the DE filter I did not put any DE in. So this is happening with no DE in.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

Without DE in the filter and if there is a lot of stuff in the pool like algae, the grids are going to clog up pretty quick which might explain the high PSI.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

mas985 said:
Without DE in the filter and if there is a lot of stuff in the pool like algae, the grids are going to clog up pretty quick which might explain the high PSI.
Click to expand...

I open up the filter to look and no dirt or algae.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

33 PSI means there is something blocking flow rate in the return side of the pump and about the only thing that can cause the filter pressure to rise that much is the filter. It is very rare to get something stuck in the return lines. Try removing the grids and see if you get the same fiter pressure. If you still get high pressure, then it is some other part of the return line, if you get lower pressure, then it is the grids that are causing the problem.
 
Re: A year ago my pump went out and I replaced it with an A.

skos said:
Update, when I start to lose pressure from the fountain, my filter reads 33psi.

Also the motor filter basket is not completely filled with water. There is an air gap. Maybe an inch. So I can see air in the motor basket but this does not happen for maybe 6hrs of the motor running.

So if I turn off the pump, wait maybe 5min and turn back on, we are back to 20psi and the fountain has pressure. Here are some pics
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/skoscielak/Pool/Picture029.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/skoscielak/Pool/Picture028.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/skoscielak/Pool/Picture.jpg
Click to expand...
 
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