Help! Can't keep Hayward DE EC65A filter flowing

[AmyL]

I am a new pool owner (new pool and never owned a pool before) and quite frustrated that I can't keep our new Hayward DE filter clear and flowing through the SWG and heater for more than an hour at a time, i.e. the pressure increases by more than 10 psi from start in under an hour. It was disassembled and filter fingers cleaned in muratic acid once about a month ago and it ran better for only a couple days (i.e. only needed to bump every four hours or so). We went away for a couple days and I came back to a cold, green pool.

I have seen conflicting directions about which way to bump the filter -- the filter label and owner's manual says push down slowly and pull up quickly, but the Hayward website says push the handle down quickly and pull up slowly. I have been doing the former -- is that correct?

In order to help it run a bit longer, I have been removing the gauge from the front of the unit, after draining it, and hosing off the filter fingers as best I can, but this only allows it to run for a couple hours at a time. From what I can see through the gauge hole, the fingers appear to be covered in rust-colored slime. We have well water. If the rust-colored slime is from the well water, I am in a vicious cycle of bumping and draining the filter, then having to top off the pool again due to water loss from draining, which adds rusty water back to the pool and clogs the filter. Comments?

I have added a platform under the filter to elevate it and help it drain more efficiently as I suspected that it was not fully clearing. This does not seem to have helped much, if at all.

Is it possible that I don't have enough DE in the fingers? This seems counter-intuitive given that the filter seems to be clogging. Perhaps I don't understand well enough the way the filter functions.

My pool company suggested a "Metal Trap" to remove the metals from the well water when topping off the pool. Will this help? This is about the only suggestion that they have had -- they keep telling me that I shouldn't have gone with a DE filter because they just require a lot of babysitting.

I feel like I've lost half my summer to battling the pool filter. I would very much appreciate any suggestions or comments that would help free me from my DE filter chains! Please let me know if providing more of our equipment information would help.

 

[zea3]

Take a sample of the water to a pool store to be tested and post the findings here. Tell them you have well water and need to test for metals as well as the usual pool water tests. Don't buy anything from the pool store until one of the experts here interprets the results for you. What have you added to the water so far?

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

How does the water look? The downside to DE filters is that they are so good at clearing the water that they can clog very quickly when the water gets a little off. It's not unusual to have to backwash them hourly in the middle of a mess. If your filter has a recirculate setting, you can use this to keep chemicals in circulation to avoid algae while you are away from the pool. The recirculate setting bypasses the filter and just pumps the water back into the pool.

Although it is somewhat counterintuitive, lack of DE can cause quick clogging of the filter. The grids themselves do the filtering, but the debris sticks in them and isn't realeased by backwashing or bumping.

One thing you didn't mention is replacing the DE. How much DE you are using, and the method you use to add it. This can be important. Your filter needs 6lbs of DE.

 

[AmyL]

Thanks for your fast replies. I will get the water tested. It is clear now and it is under this condition that I would NOT expect to have to clear the filter so often. The pool company did the muratic acid clean of the filters back in June, again when the water looked clear but the filter kept clogging, so I don't know exactly how many pounds of DE they added back in at that time -- they installed it, so I think they know how much to use. I have not, however, added any since then as the last time I added DE to try to help it run smoother, it clogged worse. When I purge the filter, I don't see any DE in the expelled water. What would the filter fingers look like if I didn't have enough DE in there? I wish I could get a better schematic or understanding of the flow of the water through the unit.

I've struggled all summer with pH levels and added several gallons of muratic acid to the pool. It now seems to be down a bit to more acceptable level. I have only a simple test strip kit and I don't have the kit in front of me at the moment to tell you the numbers -- I'll have to send when I get home. As we have a SWG, the pool store told me to ignore all the measurements on the dip stick other than pH. Comments? They said just to keep the salt at the correct level (I target 3000ppm) and add muratic acid to help with pH. The pool chlorinator is set to 55%.

I should probably also have mentioned that I live in southeast Michigan.

Thanks again.

 

[JohnT]

Hayward recommends replacing the DE whenever you are seeing a 10psi rise. I doubt you could see a difference in the grids easily.

When water is flowing through the filter, it goes out through the grids. If there is DE in the water as there is when you recharge the filter, the DE tries to go with the water but is captured by the grids, completely coating them. Any dirt trying to flow with the water is caught in the DE coating. When you bump the filter, it knocks the DE loose, and it then recoats the filter, allowing new edges and particles to do the filtering.

How big is your pump and pool?

You need a test kit. You need to test regularly for chlorine and pH, and you need to know what your Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness and Cyanuric Acid to protect your pool and equipment from damage or premature failure.

 

[waste]

Hi Amy - welcome to TFP!!

Please take a look at this for some info on caring for your DE filter. Try what I say there and, if it doesn't work, simply post here and I'll 'hold your hand' and walk you through getting your filter to work correctly

Again, welcome here -- you've found a place where 100s of folk are VERY willing to help you care for your pool, less expensively

 

[AmyL]

THANK YOU!!!!!, JohnT and waste, for your explanations -- especially the very helpful separate posting on DE filters. I had a fundamental misunderstanding of the direction the water flowed through the fingers of my filter (btw, it's a EC75A, not 65A as I had originally posted) and that somehow the DE filled the fingers. I'm the type of person that likes to know exactly how things work and all summer I've been looking for someone to explain to me the role that the DE plays in the filter and what 'bumping' does exactly, so that I could better understand the system and how to diagnosis it. I had thought that if I couldn't get the filter to run smoothly WITHOUT the DE, there's no way it would run smoothly WITH the DE -- that it would only make it worse. Now that I understand that the DE 'shields' the filter fingers from dirt and debris, it makes perfect sense -- and I've been doing exactly the wrong thing by bumping and purging and not replacing the DE. I've been trying to get the system to run basically without DE for most of the summer -- DUH!!! -- no wonder it wouldn't run for more than an hour at a time. I feel foolish now. And more unhappy with my pool company for not explaining to me this basic concept over the literally dozen conversations I've had with them this summer... I only wish I had looked for/found this website sooner!

Okay, so, yesterday I added the 7lbs of DE that my filter requires (after purging the filter once more and rinsing the filter fingers through the gauge port), and guess what? The system pressure has not gone up since! The water is crystal clear, and warm now that it has been allowed to flow through the heat pump continuously.

Thank you so much for your help. And all the other pool tips that I've found here will be extremely useful, too.

THANKS!!!

 

[waste]

Amy - I am sincerely happy that your filter now works correctly!!

I can't speak for John, but it gives me 'warm fuzzies' to know I was able to help you with your pool issue :-D

I hope you never need it, but we're here every day to help folks with their pool troubles - how about posting a couple of pics of your pool?