The age old dilemma ...

[Impromp2music]

Hey there all ~ I've had my pool now for 3 years and have a Jacuzzi DE 1.5 pump. A love-hate relationship ... I know this unit like the back of my hand. But I just can't keep the pressure up after 15 mins or a half an hour of use. I've just opened the pool (not much debris) the color of course is a bit brownish-green ... chemicals added. Changed the DE twice ~ there are no air leaks. Priming is good. I just can't get around the fact that it just won't hold it's pressure. Checked all the obvious: strainer, basket, clogged lines, tear in filters ... everything is good. Does anyone out there know what I might be missing? I will say, if I shut it down, pump (clear) the filters, back wash, open primer filter top, etc, it will be up to 100% pressure. But then, will lose it again within a half an hour or so ... Any ideas?
Thanks!!!!

PS Is there a better pump out there that is less of a headache than a Jacuzzi DE? I have a 24' above ground pool.

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!

What are you using as a reference to determine your pressure? Are you talking about numbers on a gauge or are you talking about the force you feel when you put your hand in front of a return?

 

[Impromp2music]

Great question! My gauge is broken so I can only test pressure by hand from flow into pool ... Any ideas ?

 

[duraleigh]

Get a new gauge. It is very important to proper pool management. It sounds like your filter is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.....catching debris, getting filled with debris and the result is a loss of flow to the returns.

A working gauge will verify this. A clean filter will start at a certain psi and the psi will climb as the filter gets dirty and you will soon notice a resultant loss of flow as the filter clogs.

 

[Impromp2music]

Great! Sounds like good advice! I did find out that if I pumped the filter (to scrape the DE) and refresh, the flow was stronger. I think 7 cans is too much and there is just so much pollen & dirt being filtered out. I just need to keep cleaning and adding fresh DE ...

 

[Casey]

DE Filters are so great at picking up everything in the pool water that when you do have a dirty pool, it needs to be cleaned frequently. Some people prefer sand filters over the DE because of this. I like the DE because of it's great filtering abilities.

Once you get ahold of your pool and learn how to manage the chemistry and close it right at the end of the season, using the DE filter will be so much easier. The key is keeping the water superb at all times. It's not impossible.

 

[jblizzle]

Just don't get lazy with adding the DE. With a dirty pool, if you run the pump very long before adding DE back into it after a backwash, that can clog up the grids and require you to have to disassemble and clean the filter (which, BTW, you should be doing once a year any way).

Some reading:
use-and-care-for-de-filters-t4086.html