I am a new pool owner (new pool and never owned a pool before) and quite frustrated that I can't keep our new Hayward DE filter clear and flowing through the SWG and heater for more than an hour at a time, i.e. the pressure increases by more than 10 psi from start in under an hour. It was disassembled and filter fingers cleaned in muratic acid once about a month ago and it ran better for only a couple days (i.e. only needed to bump every four hours or so). We went away for a couple days and I came back to a cold, green pool.
I have seen conflicting directions about which way to bump the filter -- the filter label and owner's manual says push down slowly and pull up quickly, but the Hayward website says push the handle down quickly and pull up slowly. I have been doing the former -- is that correct?
In order to help it run a bit longer, I have been removing the gauge from the front of the unit, after draining it, and hosing off the filter fingers as best I can, but this only allows it to run for a couple hours at a time. From what I can see through the gauge hole, the fingers appear to be covered in rust-colored slime. We have well water. If the rust-colored slime is from the well water, I am in a vicious cycle of bumping and draining the filter, then having to top off the pool again due to water loss from draining, which adds rusty water back to the pool and clogs the filter. Comments?
I have added a platform under the filter to elevate it and help it drain more efficiently as I suspected that it was not fully clearing. This does not seem to have helped much, if at all.
Is it possible that I don't have enough DE in the fingers? This seems counter-intuitive given that the filter seems to be clogging. Perhaps I don't understand well enough the way the filter functions.
My pool company suggested a "Metal Trap" to remove the metals from the well water when topping off the pool. Will this help? This is about the only suggestion that they have had -- they keep telling me that I shouldn't have gone with a DE filter because they just require a lot of babysitting.
I feel like I've lost half my summer to battling the pool filter. I would very much appreciate any suggestions or comments that would help free me from my DE filter chains! Please let me know if providing more of our equipment information would help.
I have seen conflicting directions about which way to bump the filter -- the filter label and owner's manual says push down slowly and pull up quickly, but the Hayward website says push the handle down quickly and pull up slowly. I have been doing the former -- is that correct?
In order to help it run a bit longer, I have been removing the gauge from the front of the unit, after draining it, and hosing off the filter fingers as best I can, but this only allows it to run for a couple hours at a time. From what I can see through the gauge hole, the fingers appear to be covered in rust-colored slime. We have well water. If the rust-colored slime is from the well water, I am in a vicious cycle of bumping and draining the filter, then having to top off the pool again due to water loss from draining, which adds rusty water back to the pool and clogs the filter. Comments?
I have added a platform under the filter to elevate it and help it drain more efficiently as I suspected that it was not fully clearing. This does not seem to have helped much, if at all.
Is it possible that I don't have enough DE in the fingers? This seems counter-intuitive given that the filter seems to be clogging. Perhaps I don't understand well enough the way the filter functions.
My pool company suggested a "Metal Trap" to remove the metals from the well water when topping off the pool. Will this help? This is about the only suggestion that they have had -- they keep telling me that I shouldn't have gone with a DE filter because they just require a lot of babysitting.
I feel like I've lost half my summer to battling the pool filter. I would very much appreciate any suggestions or comments that would help free me from my DE filter chains! Please let me know if providing more of our equipment information would help.