Geez, this is making me weary.
I had my pool down for about six weeks. Broke the Hayward core getting it loose, bought a new one ($300 **.)
Fixed some decorative sub-surface tiles **.
Cleaned the filter housing carefully; took off the vent valve and cleaned it, etc., Being, as Buggs da Bunny would say, "vewy ca-e-fuw."
I was probably One Jack Over The Line while dumping in about 7.5 pounds of DE. It seemed to go down nicely w/o suction issues. This is how I have always done it -- LOADED, & fast, as in the Hayward instructions.
The problem is, the pump suction line is now seriously starved. I can't get more than a few PSI at the filter, and the pump load is wailing up and down (working hard), and the pressure, while faint, is moving with the pump groans.
I have one of those crazy (and totally awesome) bladders that connects to the end of a hose to use for clearing things like laundry drains; when it is pressurized, it blows up to fill/seal the pipe and delivers a pulsating water train down the tube. [If Home Despot doesn't have them, Ace always does.] I ran it for an hour from the skimmer (the skimmer socket has a PVC pipe riser for a Kreepy regulator) into the pump/filter, and after that, put things back together and ran the pump for a while.
Note that Kreepy usually runs at Top Fuel Dragster speed with this pump.
I put the hose/bladder back into the pump inlet, let it run the other direction from pump to pool for about 45 minutes. Little but not lots of flow -- about 20 or 30 minutes. I have 90 PSI water service, and it should have been a veritable fountain in the skimmer. I had done this previously and noted blooms of DE [about the time Kreepy started to work again], but not this time.
I put it all back together and let the pump run for an hour or so just to get some chlorine into the pool. Not much different - big time groaning pump and wavering pressure at the filter. I don't like running the system like this as it is obvious that the pump/motor are really straining to get that water into the feed. Kreepy doesn't move.
I then pulled the Ortega Valves **, put the bladder back into the suction line at the skimmer, and turned on the water. I got a pitiful flow.
Tried a snake from the Ortega housing back to the skimmer; it hit the 90 degree bend and gave up after the Funky Back started qvetsching.
I'd call the pool guy, but what's he going to do that I have not?
While the pool was down I had the cover on the skimmer, and the Kreepy regulator, a leaf trap, and 5' hose connected to the inlet, whose open end was dangling feet above the slosh at the bottom of the nearly empty pool; I cannot imagine anything crawling up and into the system, as the tail of the hose was several feet up from the bottom of the pool, and the fiberglass makes it so slippery that a cat can't climb out after trying to get a drink, even on a side sloping less than vertical (so long Lola [ or, as I called her, Stupid ] -- my married and moved away daughter's 10 year old cat.)
I am clearly at my wit's end.
Time for a JACKHAMMER????
txAbunch
mac
** see previous post
I had my pool down for about six weeks. Broke the Hayward core getting it loose, bought a new one ($300 **.)
Fixed some decorative sub-surface tiles **.
Cleaned the filter housing carefully; took off the vent valve and cleaned it, etc., Being, as Buggs da Bunny would say, "vewy ca-e-fuw."
I was probably One Jack Over The Line while dumping in about 7.5 pounds of DE. It seemed to go down nicely w/o suction issues. This is how I have always done it -- LOADED, & fast, as in the Hayward instructions.
The problem is, the pump suction line is now seriously starved. I can't get more than a few PSI at the filter, and the pump load is wailing up and down (working hard), and the pressure, while faint, is moving with the pump groans.
I have one of those crazy (and totally awesome) bladders that connects to the end of a hose to use for clearing things like laundry drains; when it is pressurized, it blows up to fill/seal the pipe and delivers a pulsating water train down the tube. [If Home Despot doesn't have them, Ace always does.] I ran it for an hour from the skimmer (the skimmer socket has a PVC pipe riser for a Kreepy regulator) into the pump/filter, and after that, put things back together and ran the pump for a while.
- It was better for a bit [Kreepy was running], but then went back to the hard working pump story as outlined above.
Note that Kreepy usually runs at Top Fuel Dragster speed with this pump.
I put the hose/bladder back into the pump inlet, let it run the other direction from pump to pool for about 45 minutes. Little but not lots of flow -- about 20 or 30 minutes. I have 90 PSI water service, and it should have been a veritable fountain in the skimmer. I had done this previously and noted blooms of DE [about the time Kreepy started to work again], but not this time.
I put it all back together and let the pump run for an hour or so just to get some chlorine into the pool. Not much different - big time groaning pump and wavering pressure at the filter. I don't like running the system like this as it is obvious that the pump/motor are really straining to get that water into the feed. Kreepy doesn't move.
I then pulled the Ortega Valves **, put the bladder back into the suction line at the skimmer, and turned on the water. I got a pitiful flow.
Tried a snake from the Ortega housing back to the skimmer; it hit the 90 degree bend and gave up after the Funky Back started qvetsching.
I'd call the pool guy, but what's he going to do that I have not?
While the pool was down I had the cover on the skimmer, and the Kreepy regulator, a leaf trap, and 5' hose connected to the inlet, whose open end was dangling feet above the slosh at the bottom of the nearly empty pool; I cannot imagine anything crawling up and into the system, as the tail of the hose was several feet up from the bottom of the pool, and the fiberglass makes it so slippery that a cat can't climb out after trying to get a drink, even on a side sloping less than vertical (so long Lola [ or, as I called her, Stupid ] -- my married and moved away daughter's 10 year old cat.)
I am clearly at my wit's end.
Time for a JACKHAMMER????
txAbunch
mac
** see previous post
