DE, Problems AGP

[tickertamperer]

Hello, I’m new to TFP. First post so forgive me if this isn’t the right place.

I have a Hayward, EC 40 DE pool filter. and a one horsepower pump. My pool is above ground and is about 3000 gallons.

Last year I didn’t winterize the pool. We had a lot going on and the pool stayed open and the pump and filter connected all winter. Come summer, the case for the Hayward was cracked so I had to replace it. After doing so and cleaning the fingers and putting new DE. Everything ran fine temporarily.

My issue is as follows:
every time I turn on the filter, it runs appropriately for about 5min and then the pressure coming out of the return dies down significantly. It happens gradually over the 5min. I’ve taken out the fingers multiple times, and hosed them down.
I have soaked them in acid overnight and then put them back in which made the duration that the filter works longer.
Now it’ll work for like 20min before dying down slowly.
I even went as far as taking apart each finger and soaking the finger cases in soap and acid for 3hrs and then putting everything back together. They looked fine, no tears or anything.
Same thing. Over the span of 20-30min, it dies again. I noticed that when I turn it off and pump the handle and then turn it back on it runs for a little longer before dying. When I look at the pressure gauge, it reads about 18-19 at the point that the filter pressure dies.

At this point do I need to replace the finger cases? Or can it be something with the pump? It’s not that complicated of a system but I can’t figure out what it is. I thought for sure after soaking and cleaning the fingers it would work properly.

Any advice is appreciated thanks!

 

[Mdragger88]

Is the water cloudy or have visible algae?

 

[Mdragger88]

Lemme call someone… @HermanTX @zea3
Until a DE person comes along here’s some good reading

DE Filter Use and Care - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[tickertamperer]

The water is cloudy yes!

So when I first opened it this year it was green! I put 1 lb of shock which is 3x as much as is called for for my size pool. It became much less green and just cloudy. And that’s around the time time the pump issues happened so it never ran long enough for the cloudiness to clear. And then I started noticing a hint of green again so I put another 1/2 bag of shock.

When I tested the water today with a strip it showed that the chlorine was almost 0 which is strange because they’re 3 tablets floating in the pool. And the pH was low 6.8-7.

 

[tickertamperer]

Until a DE person comes along here’s some good reading

DE Filter Use and Care - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Reading through some of the stuff, it looks like part of my mistake was running the filter for a little bit after I reassembled it while I weighed out my DE. it seems as if since there is algae in the pool, running the filter without any DE initially while I got my DE prepared could have messed up the fingers again

 

[HermanTX]

Do you have a Multiposition Valve on the filter? Can you set it to recirculate? If so then try that and see if your return pressure is constant. Basically this bypassesthe filter.

I suggest you clean the fingers again and then put DE again.

 

[wireform]

What you have there is the Hayward Perflex EC40 filter which does not have any sort of multi position valve. It has nothing to do with letting the pump run while you get the DE ready although not a good practice but all to do with the fact you clearly have algae in the water and by virtue it's clogging because it's trapping the algae coming through. This is a pita whenever you have a DE filter and this one is small so X10 your troubles till the water is cleared.

 

[Mdragger88]

You have two options with the algae-
Either go right into the
SLAM Process with liquid chlorine which may be impractical considering your filter problems & pool size. This also requires that you have a tf100 or Taylor k2006 test kit- strips won’t cut it.
Test Kits Compared
Or
Assuming this is a temporary style pool (intex,bestway etc)
drain, scrub, & refill the pool then follow this guide

Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

Smaller seasonal pools can see just as much enjoyment as their larger counterparts. In this guide we'll show you how to maintain your temporary pool.

www.google.com

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! As Wireform says you have algae. DE filters are both a blessing and a curse. They will filter out very fine debris very well, however that same ability means your DE filter will fill up quickly when there is a heavy debris load in the pool. When you have algae you have a heavy debris load that will require cleaning and recharging a DE filter multiple times a day in the initial stages of a slam.

Since you have a small pool I would recommend draining and refilling to get rid of the majority of the algae. Once the pool is refilled you balance the chemicals, raise the FC to slam level and run an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if you need to do a full slam. The debris load in the pool will be much smaller and won't overwhelm your filter so quickly.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I had a DE filter and although I hate to say this - it's doing its job. I can't speak of Hayward fingers but I had a Pentair with grids and when it would clean up a messy pool I would have to bump or recharge the DE quite a few times a day. My filter didn't have a multiparty valve so it was a manual process with the filter drain. Once you get the algae killed off you will find the pool will start clearing up and the recharging of DE becomes less and less.

 

[1poolman1]

Hello, I’m new to TFP. First post so forgive me if this isn’t the right place.

I have a Hayward, EC 40 DE pool filter. and a one horsepower pump. My pool is above ground and is about 3000 gallons.

Last year I didn’t winterize the pool. We had a lot going on and the pool stayed open and the pump and filter connected all winter. Come summer, the case for the Hayward was cracked so I had to replace it. After doing so and cleaning the fingers and putting new DE. Everything ran fine temporarily.

My issue is as follows:
every time I turn on the filter, it runs appropriately for about 5min and then the pressure coming out of the return dies down significantly. It happens gradually over the 5min. I’ve taken out the fingers multiple times, and hosed them down.
I have soaked them in acid overnight and then put them back in which made the duration that the filter works longer.
Now it’ll work for like 20min before dying down slowly.
I even went as far as taking apart each finger and soaking the finger cases in soap and acid for 3hrs and then putting everything back together. They looked fine, no tears or anything.
Same thing. Over the span of 20-30min, it dies again. I noticed that when I turn it off and pump the handle and then turn it back on it runs for a little longer before dying. When I look at the pressure gauge, it reads about 18-19 at the point that the filter pressure dies.

At this point do I need to replace the finger cases? Or can it be something with the pump? It’s not that complicated of a system but I can’t figure out what it is. I thought for sure after soaking and cleaning the fingers it would work properly.

Any advice is appreciated thanks!

A very common mistake is using acid to clean any kind of filter without first removing any oils that may be on the media. Acid bath will cause the oils to form a coating that cannot be removed and the fingers will have to be replaced. This greatly reduces any area that can be filtered and if there is algae as well . . .
Note these instructions from a manufacturer of filter media, both cartridge and DE. While the instructions are for a cartridge filter they also apply to DE:

1. If the filter has a coating of algae, calcium carbonate (residue from calcium hypochlorite), iron, or other minerals, soak the cartridge in a solution of one part muriatic acid to twenty parts water until all bubbling stops. WARNING: Failure to remove all oils and cleaning solution before acid soaking will result in a permanent restriction of water flow and cause premature cartridge failure.

Unicel - Clearly the Best - Unicel is the nation's leading manufacturer of swimming pool filter replacement cartridges. Finding the exact filter cartridge you need is easy.

www.unicelfilters.com

 

[phonedave]

As others have said, welcome to the blessing & curse of the DE filter. They really clean the water, and they also clog up if the water is dirty.

One thing that helps is a slime bag. Home - The Slime Bag It goes on your return and is basically a very fine filter.

You run your filter with the slime bag on. When it starts to get clogged, turn off the pump, bump your filter, and restart it. This will get you an other 20 min or so of run time. - repeat as necessary.

When you bump it, you redistribute the DE inside the filter. This will put some of the really fine particles into the water. The slime bag with then catch them. The slime bag clogs a LOT slower and is a lot easier to clean than your filter. You basically use the slime bag to help filter out the dead algae in your water.

I do this all the time - I have the same filter/pump setup you do.