Im new to doing questions here but hope someone can help me . I have a 27 foot pool and I have a hayward power flo lx 1 horse pump and a star de filter. The issue im having is I opened my pool n I added shock n chlorine the water is blue cloudy whats going on is my filter stops working I flushed it out several times n it takes only a few minutes after cleaning it stops filtering n the return line has only a little flow like its clogged up . I have vaccumed the pool by opening up the flush line coming out of the filter just because it stopped filtering oh ya n yes I lost allot of water by doing it like this but im so upset about this issue n not to tell you my health issues but im a bone cancer victim right now so this is not helping me . Please im new to forums so can somebody help me with ideas to fix this before I really have bigger problems.
New to troublefree filter issues
- Thread starter dorisnrod
- Start date
Welcome! 
You've just discovered that the greatest attribute of a DE filter is also it's biggest liability: it filters really well.
If it's just normal dust, no problem. But a big load of debris will clog it in a big hurry.
Where you say, "I have vaccumed the pool by opening up the flush line coming out of the filter just because it stopped filtering" what exactly do you mean?
What style of valve do you have?
If multiport and set on "waste", no problem. You did the right thing.
If push-pull, you may have just terminally clogged your filter screens. In normal operation, the stuff you filter comes to the outside of the screens and gets filtered. Clean water passes to the inside and exits through a small opening. On backwash, the flow is reversed. The dirty water gets dumped out the waste line. If you vacuum on backwash, the debris you vacuum up goes in through a small opening and packs the grids full. As soon as you go back to filter, it gets blown back into the pool, except the big pieces that are trapped because of the small opening. You'll never get it all out. Probably not what you wanted to hear.
If you haven't messed up the filter, then you just need to keep brushing, vacuuming, adding bleach, and backwashing as the crud gets filtered out. We call that a SLAM Process The pool didn't turn into a swamp in only a couple days, so it will take more than a couple days to clear it up.
You've just discovered that the greatest attribute of a DE filter is also it's biggest liability: it filters really well.
If it's just normal dust, no problem. But a big load of debris will clog it in a big hurry.
Where you say, "I have vaccumed the pool by opening up the flush line coming out of the filter just because it stopped filtering" what exactly do you mean?
What style of valve do you have?
| Multiport |
|
| Push-pull | 
|
If multiport and set on "waste", no problem. You did the right thing.
If push-pull, you may have just terminally clogged your filter screens. In normal operation, the stuff you filter comes to the outside of the screens and gets filtered. Clean water passes to the inside and exits through a small opening. On backwash, the flow is reversed. The dirty water gets dumped out the waste line. If you vacuum on backwash, the debris you vacuum up goes in through a small opening and packs the grids full. As soon as you go back to filter, it gets blown back into the pool, except the big pieces that are trapped because of the small opening. You'll never get it all out. Probably not what you wanted to hear.
If you haven't messed up the filter, then you just need to keep brushing, vacuuming, adding bleach, and backwashing as the crud gets filtered out. We call that a SLAM Process The pool didn't turn into a swamp in only a couple days, so it will take more than a couple days to clear it up.
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