Here is a puzzler for you guys.
For reference I have this filter http://www.poolcenter.com/parts_filters ... arPLUS.htm
Story starts a few weeks ago. It is still pretty cold up here in Rochester NY (but well above freezing) so we are still weeks away from opening the pool. However, I noticed that the pool had started turning green despite the cold. I took part of the cover off, reconnected all my equipment, and got the system up and running. Shocked the pool, killed the algae, everything was good. I would run the pump on and off whenever I thought of it, just to keep the circulation up, but otherwise I pretty much left it alone till I was ready to open fully.
Fast forward to a few days ago. I came home and noticed that the pump was not running, even though I had left it on when I went to work. Uh oh... I go outside, and I can see that the ground is soaked, and the top half of the filter is slightly cockeyed, with part of the rubber O ring pushed out the side. I go inside and notice that the breaker has tripped on my pump. Obviously, the pressure had overwhelmed the filter clamp, blown out the gasket, and the gushing water eventually flooded and short circuited the pump, causing the breaker to trip.
I immediately assumed that my filters had gotten too clogged from all the dead algae, and that I maybe hadn't tightened down the clamp on the filter as much as I should. Perhaps I hadn't been paying enough attention and it was slightly cockeyed when I put it on. So I cleaned out the carts, reset the breakers, and was very careful to set the clamp just right and tighten it down very securely.
I hit the pump, it primed, water filled the filter, bubbles poured out of the returns, everything was as it should be. Gauge climbed to around 15psi, right where it normally goes. Job well done, I fixed it.
Just as I was about to head inside.... KAAAABOOOOOOOOOM. The top half of the filter housing takes off like the space shuttle, rockets 10 feet up, smashes against the roof overhang, spirals through the air, and lands right in between me and my shocked Boston Terrier, not 2 feet away.
So after I changed my underwear, I started to try to figure out what the heck could have happened.
Way I figure there are two possible culprits, or perhaps both together.
For one, the automatic pressure relief valve at the top of the filter obviously didn't do its job, so I figure that must be broken.
The other possibility is a clog in the lines after my filter and before the jandy valve that directs the return flow to either my spa seat or the normal pool returns. There is a heater in between there. The mystery is how could anything possibly get clogged in that part of the system, after it had been through the skimmer basket, pump basket, pump impeller, and filter? Theoretically nothing smaller then 15 microns could get to that point, much less a dead squirrel or whatever is big enough to cause a clog. Incidentally, there is a very bad odor coming from somewhere near the pool equipment, that smells like something decomposing. It could just be stagnant water in the filter from before liftoff, or could be coincidence.
So, could this be that there is no clog at all, its just a failed pressure relief valve? Could the air relief tube in the filter itself be at fault? Anyone have any ideas how my pool could become so murderous?
Wish I had video, I bet it would get a lot of hits on youtube.
Thanks for the help guys.
For reference I have this filter http://www.poolcenter.com/parts_filters ... arPLUS.htm
Story starts a few weeks ago. It is still pretty cold up here in Rochester NY (but well above freezing) so we are still weeks away from opening the pool. However, I noticed that the pool had started turning green despite the cold. I took part of the cover off, reconnected all my equipment, and got the system up and running. Shocked the pool, killed the algae, everything was good. I would run the pump on and off whenever I thought of it, just to keep the circulation up, but otherwise I pretty much left it alone till I was ready to open fully.
Fast forward to a few days ago. I came home and noticed that the pump was not running, even though I had left it on when I went to work. Uh oh... I go outside, and I can see that the ground is soaked, and the top half of the filter is slightly cockeyed, with part of the rubber O ring pushed out the side. I go inside and notice that the breaker has tripped on my pump. Obviously, the pressure had overwhelmed the filter clamp, blown out the gasket, and the gushing water eventually flooded and short circuited the pump, causing the breaker to trip.
I immediately assumed that my filters had gotten too clogged from all the dead algae, and that I maybe hadn't tightened down the clamp on the filter as much as I should. Perhaps I hadn't been paying enough attention and it was slightly cockeyed when I put it on. So I cleaned out the carts, reset the breakers, and was very careful to set the clamp just right and tighten it down very securely.
I hit the pump, it primed, water filled the filter, bubbles poured out of the returns, everything was as it should be. Gauge climbed to around 15psi, right where it normally goes. Job well done, I fixed it.
Just as I was about to head inside.... KAAAABOOOOOOOOOM. The top half of the filter housing takes off like the space shuttle, rockets 10 feet up, smashes against the roof overhang, spirals through the air, and lands right in between me and my shocked Boston Terrier, not 2 feet away.
So after I changed my underwear, I started to try to figure out what the heck could have happened.
Way I figure there are two possible culprits, or perhaps both together.
For one, the automatic pressure relief valve at the top of the filter obviously didn't do its job, so I figure that must be broken.
The other possibility is a clog in the lines after my filter and before the jandy valve that directs the return flow to either my spa seat or the normal pool returns. There is a heater in between there. The mystery is how could anything possibly get clogged in that part of the system, after it had been through the skimmer basket, pump basket, pump impeller, and filter? Theoretically nothing smaller then 15 microns could get to that point, much less a dead squirrel or whatever is big enough to cause a clog. Incidentally, there is a very bad odor coming from somewhere near the pool equipment, that smells like something decomposing. It could just be stagnant water in the filter from before liftoff, or could be coincidence.
So, could this be that there is no clog at all, its just a failed pressure relief valve? Could the air relief tube in the filter itself be at fault? Anyone have any ideas how my pool could become so murderous?
Wish I had video, I bet it would get a lot of hits on youtube.
Thanks for the help guys.