Leaking around bottom of filter housing

[tigerucla]

Hi All-

I noticed about a week ago that the bottom of one of the filter housings is wet and there is water leaking around it. I do not actually see water dripping from the seam, but I'm guessing it must be leaking there for it to be uniformly wet at and below the seam all the way around.

I cleaned the filters yesterday, hoping that would solve the problem, but there is still water around it tonight.

I hope these photos clearly show what I'm talking about.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Steve

 

[JamesW]

There are multiple possible areas for a leak to happen. Try drying the whole filter with paper towels and then carefully check for leaks or wet areas. If the main housing is cracked, it should be replaced.

The Intelliflo pump is a very strong pump if operated at full speed and could be too much for the filters. What is the maximum rpm that you use?

 

[tigerucla]

Thanks James.

I mostly run it at 1500 RPM, but go to 3000 one hour/day for the sweep.

If I do need to replace it, would you recommend replacing just the one unit? Or should I replace the dual filters with one single filter? If so, which filter do you recommend?

 

[JamesW]

3000 is probably too much pressure for the system. If you do replace the filters, I would suggest a single 60 sq ft de filter.

 

[tigerucla]

I looked at it again just now, and the water is leaking all around at the seam at the top of the ring which is wider than the rest (just as it looks in the photo). Is this something which is possibly fixable? Is the cartridge maybe not seating properly at the bottom?

If I do need to replace the filters, I would prefer to stay with cartridge- I'm lazy and cheap, and here in California, I don't want to waste water. Plus, I think our pool is more than clean enough. Do you have a recommendation for a cartridge filter?

Thanks!

 

[JamesW]

It might just be a leaky gasket. Try cleaning and lubricating the gasket. If the gasket is bad, then it should be replaced.

There is also an O-ring at the top, which could be leaking. The pressure gauge is another possible leak spot.

If you wanted to replace the filters, I would suggest a CCP320 from Pentair.

 

[tigerucla]

The o-ring on top and the gauge appear to be fine. If there is a gasket on the bottom, I'm assuming it would be on the inside? I don't know that my arms are long enough to reach all the way down there. And the diagrams I've seen don't show anything down there.

Thanks for the recommendation on the CCP320 from Pentair.

 

[JamesW]

There isn't a lower gasket.

Regarding flow, I would think that 1500 rpm would be sufficient. I would think that 3000 rpm would over pressure the filters. What is the filter pressure at 1,500 rpm and 3,000 rpm?

Note that 3,000 rpm would probably not exceed the rated pressure of the filters. However, in most cases, most equipment does not do well at anything over half of the rated pressure.

 

[tigerucla]

So if there's no gasket at the bottom, then I've likely got a leaking housing and a new filter in my future?

I don't feel like 1500 runs the sweep very well. At 3000, the pressure is 22-23 psi.

A friend who has a pool service (but doesn't get my business, of course) recommends the Hayward C4030 (430 sq. ft.) filter- something about the manifold being on top of the cartridges so that water fills with water fully even at low pump speeds (not sure why that makes a difference). What do you think of that one? Is 430 way overkill? Is 320 just barely enough?

 

[jblizzle]

I would recommend at least 275 sqft as plenty big. No problem going bigger though.