Hi All,
After reading many posts on this forum I figured I should probably join and help contribute to the community through some of my own experiences. I bought my first home 5 years ago that included an IG 20x40 vinyl lined pool sporting the trusty Hayward EC65 DE filter coupled with a Hayward 1.5HP pump. Having not owned a pool prior and only watching family members in the past operate and maintain their own pools, there was much to learn. After getting over the learning curve of the DE filter, chemistry and winterization, I have to say that besides the maintenance, it really does leave a crystal clear pool throughout the year.
This year was a bit of a curveball. In an attempt to get ahead of the warm spell we had early last year that had me fighting algae blooms - we decided to open up at the end of April this year. Water clarity was much better, however our metals were way off according to the local pool store where we have water samples tested at the begging of the season. (I test weekly thereafter to make any necessary chemistry tweaks.) After adding chemicals, our water turned cloudy and won't clear. My trusty filter has been becoming clogged after a few hours, and even after bumping, has required backwashing and even two disassembly's already in the past few weeks to remove anything that could be clogging things up. I have gone through over 25 lbs of DE ALREADY this season due to high filter pressures... that's nuts.
A few things of note:
I am an engineer by trade and this year's experience has me thinking about designing a type of "prefilter" I can plumb into the system for future seasons to aid in removal of larger particulates prior to hitting the DE filter itself... Anyone had any luck with something like that?
Thanks in advance folks.
After reading many posts on this forum I figured I should probably join and help contribute to the community through some of my own experiences. I bought my first home 5 years ago that included an IG 20x40 vinyl lined pool sporting the trusty Hayward EC65 DE filter coupled with a Hayward 1.5HP pump. Having not owned a pool prior and only watching family members in the past operate and maintain their own pools, there was much to learn. After getting over the learning curve of the DE filter, chemistry and winterization, I have to say that besides the maintenance, it really does leave a crystal clear pool throughout the year.
This year was a bit of a curveball. In an attempt to get ahead of the warm spell we had early last year that had me fighting algae blooms - we decided to open up at the end of April this year. Water clarity was much better, however our metals were way off according to the local pool store where we have water samples tested at the begging of the season. (I test weekly thereafter to make any necessary chemistry tweaks.) After adding chemicals, our water turned cloudy and won't clear. My trusty filter has been becoming clogged after a few hours, and even after bumping, has required backwashing and even two disassembly's already in the past few weeks to remove anything that could be clogging things up. I have gone through over 25 lbs of DE ALREADY this season due to high filter pressures... that's nuts.
A few things of note:
- Prior to starting the filtration system, I ran my pool robot a few times through to capture large particulate/debris off the bottom as to not overtax the filter.
- Filter is cleaned at the beginning of each season with a 10% muriatic acid soak overnight, and thoroughly washed thereafter.
- Filter is not ran without DE in the system
- 6lbs of DE for initial coating, 4 lbs added after for refill following backwash procedure.
I am an engineer by trade and this year's experience has me thinking about designing a type of "prefilter" I can plumb into the system for future seasons to aid in removal of larger particulates prior to hitting the DE filter itself... Anyone had any luck with something like that?
Thanks in advance folks.
