i just bought a house and it came with my first pool (y'know, i've read about 100 posts that start this way) and i'm having trouble keeping any kind of flow from the filter. it comes out at what feels like "medium garden hose" strength. the pool previously had bacquacil, which i almost continued to use until i did some research. the home had not been occupied since october of last year. it's a 21' round above ground vinyl pool, about 3.5' deep (9600-10k gal) with a hayward ec40 DE filter and a ge 1hp pump.
when first starting out, i checked the baq levels, and they were very low to the point of nearly not registering. i had a lot of algae, or at least something was green in there. there was a cover on the pool, but some of the muck and debris fell into the pool during removal. i cleaned out as much as i could and started the pump. i've been bleaching the heck out of the pool for several days, although with my work schedule, i'm not able to hit it as often as i'd like. in the past couple days, i am finally able to keep very high CL levels overnight (12-15ppm measured with an OTO kit). my pool is tealish, not quite green, certainly not blue, but i am now able to just see the bottom. so at least i know i'm making progress. i have some scummy looking stuff on top, not nearly as bad as the pics i've seen from other baq conversions. it looks a bit like algae clumps. actually, some of the nearly finished conversion pics look similar, so that gives me a little relief.
now, here's where it gets fun: when i turned on the pump for the very first time, i'm am not sure whether or not it had any DE in it. the more i think about it, i'm thinking it did not as the pump had been unhooked for the winter, and it would only make sense to have drained the thing. then again, the previous owners seemed to not take very good care of things, so who knows? anyway, i ran the pump for several days, probably without DE, and it's always had the same low flowing feel at the nozzle. since then, i've put DE in, taken it out, put in more, etc, and still have not gotten it to keep good flow for more than a few minutes. it seems to run anywhere from 23 to 30 psi, but has never shown lower since i've used it. after changing out the DE, it had great flow prior to putting more DE in, and after adding 2-3 lbs, it starts slowing down. at the moment, i've got 3 lbs of DE in there because i know i'll be changing it again soon. i've backwashed it, opened it up, hosed off the fingers, and soaked the fingers in a rough 5:1 water/muriatic acid mix for 3-5 minutes. unfortunately, today i've read that you need to soak the fingers in dishwasher detergent for 4 hours prior to using acid.
apparently, i'm bound and determined to do this wrong. nevermind the look my wife gave me when the acid solution ran off into the lawn giving me a nice dead spot. :x
so, the questions at hand: did i mess up my filter by running it for several days without DE? or by soaking in acid before cleaning? as it stands, it's nearly impossible to use the pool vac... it just can't move enough water. from what i read, it should be moving enough water to filter the whole pool in 5-8 hours, but i can't see that as possibly happening at the moment. i'm going to attempt to soak it in dishwasher detergent on my next day off just to see if it'll help. the confusing thing is when there is no DE in there, the flow seems pretty good! so i know the flex tubes aren't completely clogged. also, the pump does make a little noise, but i'm not sure what's normal. it sounds like it could be a bearing or cavitation, but it's not in the motor, it seems to be in the pump mechanism itself. i put my finger in the inlet side and did not feel anything weird, but i could not really tell what's going on in there. is some noise normal?
hopefully, we can figure how to make what i have work properly. if i've got to buy a new filter/pump/whatever $$$, i think the pool will just end up being taken down and sold.
thanks to everyone who dared to read my first post/novella, and thanks in advance to anyone who can help me get a clue!
greg
when first starting out, i checked the baq levels, and they were very low to the point of nearly not registering. i had a lot of algae, or at least something was green in there. there was a cover on the pool, but some of the muck and debris fell into the pool during removal. i cleaned out as much as i could and started the pump. i've been bleaching the heck out of the pool for several days, although with my work schedule, i'm not able to hit it as often as i'd like. in the past couple days, i am finally able to keep very high CL levels overnight (12-15ppm measured with an OTO kit). my pool is tealish, not quite green, certainly not blue, but i am now able to just see the bottom. so at least i know i'm making progress. i have some scummy looking stuff on top, not nearly as bad as the pics i've seen from other baq conversions. it looks a bit like algae clumps. actually, some of the nearly finished conversion pics look similar, so that gives me a little relief.
now, here's where it gets fun: when i turned on the pump for the very first time, i'm am not sure whether or not it had any DE in it. the more i think about it, i'm thinking it did not as the pump had been unhooked for the winter, and it would only make sense to have drained the thing. then again, the previous owners seemed to not take very good care of things, so who knows? anyway, i ran the pump for several days, probably without DE, and it's always had the same low flowing feel at the nozzle. since then, i've put DE in, taken it out, put in more, etc, and still have not gotten it to keep good flow for more than a few minutes. it seems to run anywhere from 23 to 30 psi, but has never shown lower since i've used it. after changing out the DE, it had great flow prior to putting more DE in, and after adding 2-3 lbs, it starts slowing down. at the moment, i've got 3 lbs of DE in there because i know i'll be changing it again soon. i've backwashed it, opened it up, hosed off the fingers, and soaked the fingers in a rough 5:1 water/muriatic acid mix for 3-5 minutes. unfortunately, today i've read that you need to soak the fingers in dishwasher detergent for 4 hours prior to using acid.
apparently, i'm bound and determined to do this wrong. nevermind the look my wife gave me when the acid solution ran off into the lawn giving me a nice dead spot. :x so, the questions at hand: did i mess up my filter by running it for several days without DE? or by soaking in acid before cleaning? as it stands, it's nearly impossible to use the pool vac... it just can't move enough water. from what i read, it should be moving enough water to filter the whole pool in 5-8 hours, but i can't see that as possibly happening at the moment. i'm going to attempt to soak it in dishwasher detergent on my next day off just to see if it'll help. the confusing thing is when there is no DE in there, the flow seems pretty good! so i know the flex tubes aren't completely clogged. also, the pump does make a little noise, but i'm not sure what's normal. it sounds like it could be a bearing or cavitation, but it's not in the motor, it seems to be in the pump mechanism itself. i put my finger in the inlet side and did not feel anything weird, but i could not really tell what's going on in there. is some noise normal?
hopefully, we can figure how to make what i have work properly. if i've got to buy a new filter/pump/whatever $$$, i think the pool will just end up being taken down and sold.
thanks to everyone who dared to read my first post/novella, and thanks in advance to anyone who can help me get a clue!greg
!!!! We will be here for you if you ever need any help with the pool! :-D
