Perflex EC75 Knowledge?

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Gracie714

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Apr 17, 2017
13
Indianapolis
Lost my pool guy and doing this myself this year. Opened it this year and turned on the pump. The filter was leaking around the top. Bought new diaphragm gasket (genuine Hayward, but it is white instead of the original black if that matters). Bolts that hold the tube sheets together were rusted. Bought same size bolts and nuts (got phillips pan head instead of original that look like a hex head). Missing c-clip on bump shaft, bought new set and replaced the tiny o-rings on the shaft, washers and c-clip. Chem cleaned the fingers. Put it all back together and still leaking around the top. Few things I noticed:

1) New gasket didn't sit exactly inside the ridge it should. Maybe 1/4" out of it on one side. Meaning get it to sit right on one side, it moves out that 1/4" on the other side. Should I take the 16 bolts out of the tube sheet again and try to adjust there?

2) Because of this misfit on the gasket, one of the 15 screw holes for the top has the gasket 1/2 way covering the bolt hole. Do I definitely need to fix this or get out the darn drill and drill through the rubber? (Don't laugh, I'm desperate)

3) Possible that the problem is not gasket but the pan head bolts?

I usually have no problem with trial and error, but I'm sick of each trial requiring me to remove then replace 15 bolts on the outside and 16 bolts on the tube sheets, just to flip on the pump and flip it off again. Sigh. So if anyone has any words of wisdom I would greatly appreciate it. Gave up last night...about to go undo the 15 bolts AGAIN. If I don't get this running soon, I'm on the verge of a complete and total cesspool. Double sigh.

Thank you!
 
Sorry I do not know much about that filter type.

I would NOT drill through the gasket.
I am concerned you may not be able to get enough torque on a pan head with a screw driver.

Also, it is not the filter that prevents a cess pool ... it is chlorine that does that. You can still keep the correct FC level (see the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]) in the pool by adding bleach and brushing to mix it in, even without the pump running.
 
I don't have a quick fix for you, but when you've had enough of the hassle with that filter, there is a better option I've been recommending.
Pentair makes a DE filter called EasyClean 90. It is built like a silo style, single cartridge filter, has about the same square feet (40) filtration area as your current one

The best feature is that you can open the tank, remove the DE cartridge, clean it, and have the pump back running all in about 15 minutes, no tools required! Yes you read that correctly.
 
jblizzle and Mayorb: Thank you both for the replies! I did not realize I could pour chlorine in without the water moving. Thanks for the tip. And about that filter, I wrote it down!

So, I'm going to go ahead and put a few tips I have learned during this process.

1) First, and this may be common knowledge, but my pool guy never showed me that the bump handle could be detached and the cap come off to reveal the tube sheets and gasket. I always thought it was one piece and would pull the whole thing out to clean the fingers. But a youtube video on how to clean these solved that right away. The problem I apparently had was not paying close attention to how the gasket sat before I took the old one off. The new one, while genuine Hayward as I said, did not look the same to me.

2) Don't put the gasket on upside down. I can't stress this enough. Doing so, will have you crumbling into a pile knowing you have to take those 15 bolts off again, then running into the house to BEG someone at TFP to help, only to have to come back and admit you put the gasket on upside down. While there is no video that I found to explicitly say which way it goes, the best advice I have is that the top tube sheet should be above the gasket when holding the nest. Not recessed into it. When bolting the tube sheets back together, be careful to push the lip of the gasket into place between the tube sheets as you tighten bolts. The best way i can explain this, is to look on the nut side...there is a lip on the gasket, if it has worked its way out, you will see it. Use a butter knife or similar took to push it into place. Check often...you don't want to have to take the bolts out AGAIN. :)

3) DO NOT buy the tube sheet bolt and nut set sold for this filter. They charge $8 EACH (yes, 1- 1" bolt and 10 24 nut 8 bucks!). And who would spend $128 on those, really? But it needed be said. You need 16 - 10 24 1" stainless steel bolts and 16 - 10 24 stainless steel nuts. You can get 16 stainless steel bolts and 28 stainless steel nuts for $6 TOTAL at Menards. They are fine. There is no magic in the $8 set.

4) Do replace the o-rings on the bump shaft while you have it apart. The bump shaft is not going to go through the hole in the tube sheets with the o-rings on there. Don't force it, cut them off and remove shaft before putting on new o-rings if you need to. I found a set that included 2 washers, 3 o-rings and a c-clip for $13. You can probably find all of that a lot cheaper at a hardware store, but I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Now I know. Pro tip: If you're going to use a steak knife to try to pull the o-ring out enough to cut it, watch out for your thumb.

5) EDIT: Do NOT do this. Use a silicone grease. "Slather the gasket and o-rings with vaseline. Ran into a pool guy while buying nuts and bolts. This was his suggestion. I did it."

6) A kitchen island is a good place to work on the tube nest. Lay it on its side and roll it to tighten the nuts and bolts. ;-)

Hope this helps someone someday. I always have to learn everything the hard way. If there is a right way and a wrong way, you'd think I'd be right half the time. But nope.
 
jblizzle said:
Sorry I do not know much about that filter type.


I am concerned you may not be able to get enough torque on a pan head with a screw driver.
Click to expand...


Missed this part. Now that I have it running, I think these were fine. it is bolting 2 pieces of plastic together, so I tried to get very tight with wrench on nut and hand-screwed, but also was weary of cracking the plastic. That's how I ended up with a leak in my pool last year after a liner replacement...someone did a little too much torque with their power screw driver on the plastic light niche. :(

Thanks again for your help!!

- - - Updated - - -

jblizzle said:
5. Never use Vaseline. That is petroleum based and will ruin the o rings. Use silicone grease for seals and o rings.
Click to expand...

Ugh. So you're saying I should not call this pool guy I met then? I was hoping someone with knowledge would speak up if that was wrong. I will edit post. I will want to clean the fingers again after it runs overnight, do you think I'll be ok to clean it off then?
 
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