Adding DE to sand filter

[justin-eller]

Looking for some advice on adding DE to my sand filter. I've been slamming for about 2 weeks. FC is holding pretty steady at this point and CC has been 0 for a week. Water has not cleared up though. I deep cleaned the sand and yesterday afternoon decided to add a little DE to help speed up the process. My pressure gauge sits in between 12 and 13 psi after a backwash so I added enough DE to raise pressure to 14. It stayed at 14 for about ten minutes so I went inside. Came back out 20 minutes later to check, so 30 minutes after adding DE, and pressure had risen to 24! I backwashed out immediately and have not added more DE. Did the addition just catch that much junk in 30 minutes or did I do something wrong?

 

[RobbieH]

I recommend not adding DE to your filter while slamming. It will cause you to have to backwash more frequently, and each time you do you have to re-add it. I would just leave it alone. And it appears you just found this out.

For me to add 1 PSI to my 600 lb filter, it takes 1 cup of DE.

 

[borjis]

you are running your pump 24/7 right?

if you have a main drain, open it up all the way, that does make a difference.

During a slam my pool went from unable to see 1 foot down clouded to crystal clear in
3 days with the pump running 24/7 and the main drain open.

 

[justin-eller]

Yes I'm running the pump 24/7. My main drain was open but I'm pretty sure it was covered with leaves until yesterday. I turned the main off for about 10 mins and ran my hose powered leaf catcher over it and filled the bag about half way. I think the suction was preventing me from getting them with the vacuum previously. I reopened the main yesterday afternoon so hopefully I'll see some improvement after work today.

Thanks!