DE blows through Filter

[wizorack]

Hello all,
Have had a lot of rain here lately where I am in GA, and needed to vacuum pool more often. Also higher amounts of pollen on bottom of pool. Water has been crystal clear but I thought I would try putting to DE in hoping to have filter catch more of the pollen, etc. So followed the steps to add, and seems quite a bit of the DE blows out the return and clouded the water some. From what I have read, this means I have a Sand filter issue, correct? Where should I start?

Thank you!

 

[Richard320]

Yes, you are correct. Your sand is channeled. The fine sand has hardened into clods and the pollen and DE slip right between them.

Do a deep cleaning and gently poke around inside with the nozzle. Great tutorial here: Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

Wear old clothes.

 

[wizorack]

Great thanks! Looking forward to this.

 

[wizorack]

So finally got the time to do the deep clean as per the video instructions. Waited a day or 2 and then tried adding DE again, and some still shot out the return, just didn't seem as much. Does that tend to lead towards a possible Lateral issue?

Thanks

 

[Richard320]

So finally got the time to do the deep clean as per the video instructions. Waited a day or 2 and then tried adding DE again, and some still shot out the return, just didn't seem as much. Does that tend to lead towards a possible Lateral issue?

Thanks

I would think so; more likely something unseated. It doesn't really matter, the fix is the same. Open it up empty the sand (shop vac speeds it up) and see what's what.

The DE should form a layer on top the sand. It should never get near the laterals. If it does, it means the sand has big cracks between clods - which it won't if you just did a deep clean - or there is another path for the water from the tank to the standpipe and it brings DE and dirt along with it when it escapes. Somehow the dirty water is bypassing those curved blue arrows at the bottom.

 

[wizorack]

Thanks, just wanted to confirm!

 

[emike93309]

Out of curiosity Richard320, could the problem be the spider gasket allowing water to bypass his filter, and go straight to the skimmer and back out his pool? Or are the laterals a more likely culprit?

I ask because I'm having the same problem :-/

 

[wizorack]

I know for me I can rule that out as I recently replaced the whole valve. But I have read that air in your sand filter can possibly cause similar issues. But I am no expert. Can you hear air caught in the top of your filter? I could before I replaced mine.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Richard320]

I would think that a bad spider gasket would affect all settings, not just filter, so you'd likely see leakage out the backwash pipe when you weren't in backwash or waste modes.