Screwed-up backwash, DE all over the place

[Bendra]

I'm getting too old for this. I back washed yesterday. Instead of returning the valve to "filter" after "rinse", I accidentally returned it to "backwash". Didn't notice until I saw the water level get low (not too low to run the pump). So I reset the valve to "filter", and (thinking that most of the DE put in after the backwash had gone out) I added more DE and water. 2 things happened that puzzle me: 1) The pool clouded up with DE. I couldn't see where it was coming from. 2) I checked the filter psi after an hour. It was 0. I added more DE twice (didn't measure it out this time). Finally saw the psi rise to the minimum level.

The pump and filter are 1 season old. A pipe dumps the waste water into a lake. It was clear, since I've lowered the water level from rain recently.

What did I do that so much DE flushed into the pool? It's all over the floor after clouding the pool after I "corrected" my mistake.

I just want to understand what happened here.

 

[jblizzle]

When you added DE while in backwash mode, all the DE ended up in your grids instead of on the outside. So when you switched to filter, you blew at least some of it out into the pool from inside the grids. Then you added more DE on the outside.

At this point you need to take it apart and clean it out. I made a tutorial sticky for that.

 

[Richard320]

What he said ^^^

Normally, dirty water fills the tank and presses through the layer of DE and clean water goes to the inside of the filter screens and then back to the pool. Backwash reverses the flow in so the pool water blows outward from inside the grids to loosen the De and then it goes to the waste pipe. You poured DE in so it filled the clean inside of the grids. Then on filter it went right back out the filter as if it were clean water. So vacuum up what you can and clean it all up and try again.

 

[Bendra]

Richard320 and jblizzle, A BIG thanks to you both for your quick, clear responses. :queen:

I'm going to read that sticky for better understanding. But I'm calling in the pool guy to clean out the filter. In the meantime...filter psi has steadied at 6, where it's supposed to be, and I hope that means that I'm not doing damage. I'm trying to extract as much DE as I can from the bottom without using the pool filter until I find out when the pool guy can come. I put the Aquabot in and inside of 30 minutes it was too loaded to climb the wall. I'll do it again tomorrow. But right now, I see no reason not to take a dip while I wait for the cal-hypo to dissolve.

Again, thanks.

 

[Bendra]

OK. Went looking for the tutorial and drew a blank. Please direct me.

 

[Bendra]

Found it.

 

[jblizzle]

DE Filter Cleaning Tutorial

And this could be helpful too:
Use and Care of DE Filters