Jandy cartridge filter leaking

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derekt75

0
Jul 17, 2012
15
I just received this email from my pool service company:

Hi Derek,
The filter is leaking pretty bad and yes we already replaced the o-ring but still leaks. We should install a new filter.
Please let me know.


cost is $1200 installed.

My filter is black, with about 6 different hand-tighten knobs around its perimeter.

Should I just pay them, or should I try to fix it myself?

thanks,
Derek
 
Hi Derek,
The pool is real green, and yessss we put chlorine in it,
but it's still green, we should build a new pool,
please let me know.


I don't know sometimes, one thing is pretty obvious he didn't want to hear anything from you about o-rings.
How did the filter start leaking all of a sudden, or has this been an ongoing problem with the filter?
Were they attempting to clean the filter, and after putting it back together it started leaking, then after they put a new o-ring in and it still leaked, this was going to be the limit of there effort to fix the leak before they jump to "you need a new filter"

What you need to do at this point, if this is some recent problem that just happened out of the blue, is question why they can't provide a better answer as to how they arrived at this decision to justify a new filter, okay it leaks, well why can't the leak be stopped? is the filter tank cracked? are the retaining clamps unable to tighten the tank halves together because they are stripped? there should be some reason to give you, as to why they recommend a new filter.

I would have to find out why i cant stop it from leaking, when it wasn't leaking before, but now after i was the last one to work on it, it leaks, i know that parts counter guys that place your order can lay out an o-ring that appears to be the one you need, and because you never have had an issue with being given an incorrect part from them before, you assume it's correct, only to discover it is not after spending all day trying to stop it from leaking, now my efforts to correct the leak have paid off, and i get the right o-ring now, learn that i can being given the wrong part, and move on, the difference in o-ring size can be so slight, but if its wrong, it can leak,

There is no reason to not expect a reasonable effort to determine if the leak can be stopped, or at least have them be able to explain to you why you need a new filter, other than "it leaks"
 
pool&spatech said:
Hi Derek,
The pool is real green, and yessss we put chlorine in it,
but it's still green, we should build a new pool,
please let me know.
Click to expand...
lol

My pool seems to require a lot of salt. They seem to add a bag every couple of months, and I'm always pointing out to them that it's low. So I asked where is the salt going. I think I found the real answer was that the float valve on the auto-fill was somewhat broken, so the pool level was high, and I think water might have been lost at an overflow hole near that auto-fill valve. but anyway the question of where the salt is going led him to answer the question with the leak around the filter. It has a constant drip. about one drop per second. doesn't seem like enough to lose 40 pounds of salt every couple of months, but I can see how it's not ideal. I think it's been like that since I bought the house in 2010, but the rate of the drips is probably a bit higher today than 6 years ago. It dripped with the previous pool management company as well.
I don't think the clamps are stripped.
 
I didn't really mean clamps could strip, i was just trying to provide some off the cuff examples of that filters features to contribute to my point i was making, i guess when you think about it, they could strip.
The salt levels could be effected by the auto fill overfill condition, even though salt water is slightly denser/heavier than freshwater, your diluting the chemicals in the pool also if you suspect water is going through overflow pipe, as far as the water leak at the filter, it doesn't seem to bad, since you have been living with it that way, I still think it could be repaired.

I have to wonder though why the salt level can't be brought up to the level it needs to be at, all
they need to do is bring enough bags next trip and its done,
 
pool&spatech said:
I didn't really mean clamps could strip, i was just trying to provide some off the cuff examples of that filters features to contribute to my point i was making, i guess when you think about it, they could strip.
The salt levels could be effected by the auto fill overfill condition, even though salt water is slightly denser/heavier than freshwater, your diluting the chemicals in the pool also if you suspect water is going through overflow pipe, as far as the water leak at the filter, it doesn't seem to bad, since you have been living with it that way, I still think it could be repaired.

I have to wonder though why the salt level can't be brought up to the level it needs to be at, all
they need to do is bring enough bags next trip and its done,
Click to expand...

not sure why salt is chronically low. I think part of it is a difference of opinion on a target. I was thinking 3400 ppm was recommended. They target 2800 ppm, probably because extra bags cost them a few dollars more. I think part of it is that they think one bag will raise the ppm more than it does. They feel one bag = 300 ppm. Experience seems to be more like one bag is a bit under 200 ppm. My deep end is more than 9' deep because the previous owner I guess liked deep pools. There's a 6' high waterfall next to it, and if you dive off the waterfall, I guess maybe you want extra depth? Personally I find it annoying that it hurts my ears when I collect diving rings from the bottom. Anyway, the salinity oscillates between 2700 ppm after they add a bag to 2500 ppm when I complain that they need to add more salt to keep the AquaPure running. The previous pool company was the same way.
My CYA levels are always low, too. (undetectable on my cheap test strips that have no intermediate value between 0 and 50). I don't worry too much about it as long as the chlorine levels are okay, but running the AquaPure 1400 at 80% for 12 hours a day might be more than I'd need to run it if the CYA levels were higher. Again, the previous pool company was no different.
 

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This media cartridge shouldn't break, if there is a leak, then there is something minor that needs to be done correctly. Maybe new o-ring is needed. I have the same system since 2006 and it's fine. Most probably the filter cartridge is not sitting correctly preventing the upper half from coming all the way down and seal correctly.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
Opened up the filter yesterday. Didn't see anything strange. O-ring feels like it could be new. Cleaned O-ring mating surfaces with water and my finger, but they felt clean. Re-seated the media cartridge. Mixed up clamps. Turned clamps over so that writing was right-side-up instead of upside-down.

Still leaks at the same rate from the exact same place.

Also a noticeable drip where the filter mates to the inlet pipe in addition to where the two halves of the filter meet.
 
Main source of drips is coming out from under one of the clamps. It's about 1" from the edge of the clamp. Water drips from the bottom (gravity and all).

I live in Northern CA where it does get below freezing at night, but pools are not "Closed" for the winter. In the winter, I run the filter 12am - 6am because that's when my electricity is cheaper. The system is also supposed to turn on whenever the air temperature gets below freezing. It is possible that something froze at some point, but I don't know when that might have happened. The pool temperature never drops below 45° or so.

When you place the top of the filter on, it looks like it might be mating directly to the bottom half of the filter, without feeling like there's any O-ring getting compressed.
 
Nice, I have the pool open only three months a year here in Boston.

Do you see any fractures? Could it be over-tightening that could have caused some fracture?

I'd try to locate the leak and if I can find a fracture I would try to seal it with strong epoxy.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
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