Screw On Collars to Filter - EMERGENCY

geekgranny · Sep 11, 2009

I have to disconnect my DE filter from system and lug it out from under the deck because there is not enough head room to take the top off. :rant:

:grrrr:

:grrrr:

The pool was here when we moved in 1986. I've just dealt with it. I can't afford to have that or whole pump station moved at this time.

In the past I just used piece of hardwood and hammer to loosen the screw on collar (pipes leading to the collar is 3", two of them, in/out). The pool was out of commission from late 07 till late 08 (frog pond). When we acid washed the pool last year, I fell and tore a shoulder rotator tendon when we were almost finished. I did not remove the filter for good cleaning, soak, inspection, etc. of grids because my visiting, out-of-town friend/helper was called back to work early. I couldn't do the job myself so soon after injury.

I've always been able to get the collar unscrewed pretty easily. I spent way too much time trying to loosen them yesterday without success. Well, I did get them to turn about 30 degrees. I even got out a heavy metal log spitting wedge and heavy mallet but was afraid to be too heavy handed and risk breaking off the grab nibs. HELP PLEASE.

Any ideas? I'm going back down there right now after my Aleve and glass of wine take affect. :wink:

I just switched over to B & B and now the my beautiful pool has been sitting for 24 hours. I am running a submersible pump in shallow end with hose going back in to pool on deep end and my Verro (like Aquabot) to keep some circulation going. Also adding small amounts of chlorine here and there to keep FC up. I wasn't going to let puppies have swim time yesterday but neighbor's dog followed hubby, when he came home and waited at door to go in and play with puppies. How can you say "no" to our favorite "foster child"? They were driving him crazy inside so he let them out on deck. Of course they had to swim as the pool is 15' from deck. I have a good excuse (in our minds) to keep them out of pool today because of approaching storms.

Please help me get these collars off. I'll be eternally grateful. :-D

geekgranny=alice

zea3 · Sep 11, 2009

Get some rubbermaid shelf liner and wrap it around to improve the grip. If you keep banging on it you may damage the threads and nothing good comes from that! Have you tried turning the collar with both hands? You could get an adjustable wrench and try that as well. I guess prying a few boards off the deck is out of the question! :lol:

geekgranny · Sep 11, 2009

zea3 said:
Get some rubbermaid shelf liner and wrap it around to improve the grip. If you keep banging on it you may damage the threads and nothing good comes from that! Have you tried turning the collar with both hands? You could get an adjustable wrench and try that as well. I guess prying a few boards off the deck is out of the question! :lol:

Thanks. There's no way to move it with my hands. I did get one unscrewed (and was able to turn it by hand towards the end) but I think the other is cross threaded as I have gotten it to the point where I can now turn it all the way around but the collar is not slipping back.

No way to pry boards up. It is Trex attached to steel beams with heavy screws underneath and to each other (Trex boards) with invisible clips every 12 inches. Don't think a tornado could budge this deck.

geekgranny=alice

ntrsandman · Sep 11, 2009

Are the fittings that the collar threads onto permanent to the filter housing, or removable? I had a similar situation with a pentair cartridge filter housing. The fitting the collar threads on is threaded into another fitting inside the housing. Ended up unthreading the housing fitting and taking the housing apart to reassemble. I now use some pool/spa lube on the threads for the collars to prevent a repeat.

A very large pair of channel locks may help. I have had success with an adjustable strap wrench. The strap wraps around the collar and into a handle. Seems to distribute the force around the collar.

As for the housing under the deck. Depending on the location, it may be worth cutting out an access opening in the deck and re-engineering the deck for a lift out area. May be a PITA now, but, you will never know when the next time you need to deal with the filter housing again. JM2C

geekgranny · Sep 12, 2009

ntrsandman said:
Are the fittings that the collar threads onto permanent to the filter housing, or removable? I had a similar situation with a pentair cartridge filter housing. The fitting the collar threads on is threaded into another fitting inside the housing. Ended up unthreading the housing fitting and taking the housing apart to reassemble. I now use some pool/spa lube on the threads for the collars to prevent a repeat.

As a matter of fact the housing fitting may be removable. I'll check that today. Thanks. We are having several days of rain and lightning got so scary last night I had to come in.

A very large pair of channel locks may help. I have had success with an adjustable strap wrench. The strap wraps around the collar and into a handle. Seems to distribute the force around the collar.

My channel locks barely won't go around the collar but might fit the housing fitting. I do have a rubber strap wrench. Two things to try. I, also, have a collar wrench that I use for the spa jets but it is too small for filter collar. May ask a neighbor if he has anything that might work. Thanks.

As for the housing under the deck. Depending on the location, it may be worth cutting out an access opening in the deck and re-engineering the deck for a lift out area. May be a PITA now, but, you will never know when the next time you need to deal with the filter housing again.

Great idea but the steel purlins (beams) underneath deck are 12" centers. When I removed the old wood decking, which had 24" centers, I had to get a welding crew out here to add more purlins as the flexible Trex needs 12" centers.

JM2C

CRG_80cc · Sep 12, 2009

As ntrsandman says, a strap wrench would be your best bet. Or do you have any oil filter wrenches like these?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=36778

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=66568

If you need to get more grip on the collar, I would clean it as best as you can to remove anything greasy and then use a rubber dishwashing glove wrapped around to give you some grip.

geekgranny · Sep 12, 2009

CRG_80cc said:
As ntrsandman says, a strap wrench would be your best bet. Or do you have any oil filter wrenches like these?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=36778

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=66568

If you need to get more grip on the collar, I would clean it as best as you can to remove anything greasy and then use a rubber dishwashing glove wrapped around to give you some grip.

Thanks. I like to have lots of tools around. Even if I don't use it today, I've just got :roll:

to get an oil filter wrench. I'm going out in a little bit to try some more and see if I can remove the fitting assembly at filter. And, yes, check waters and add chlorine too. I'll take suggested gadgets with me. It is raining here and over most of Texas. Left spa cover off last night and water is up about 3". Hubby looked out window and saw the water flowing in to pool from submersible pump in shallow end. He looked at me with that "are you crazy look?" and warned me I was going to have water coming over the edge pretty soon. He didn't know I had the pump in the pool. :roll:

It is cold, at 71 F. :shock:

It's usually 90-100 F this time of year.

Thanks much, geekgranny=alice

waste · Sep 12, 2009

Alice, can you tell us the model # for the filter?

I know it's a Nautilus but can't remember a DE filter with the 'screw down' top, most of them have bands connected by 1 or 2 'bolts with springs' and you talk about hand loosening and stripped threads.

A pic would probably go very far in helping us help you with this issue :wink:

BTW - you're doing the right thing by having the pump in the pool to circulate the chlorine you're adding :goodjob:

geekgranny · Sep 13, 2009

waste said:
Alice, can you tell us the model # for the filter?

I know it's a Nautilus but can't remember a DE filter with the 'screw down' top, most of them have bands connected by 1 or 2 'bolts with springs' and you talk about hand loosening and stripped threads.

A pic would probably go very far in helping us help you with this issue

BTW - you're doing the right thing by having the pump in the pool to circulate the chlorine you're adding

Oh yeah. Although, surprisingly there is very little chlorine demand, and pH is holding steady (I've emptied 6 inches of rain out of pool since rain started Friday and puppies have had two swim times since pumps have been off perhaps seeing the value of good water balance ) I certainly know what standing water can do. The Verro (like aquabot) helps to keep the water moving too. I get a lot of use out of the submersible pump. Had two but one died last year.

Thanks. Glory Hallelujah, the rubber band wrench worked. :goodjob:

And fast too. It was heavier than it's ever been. Uh Oh, lots of gunked up DE still in filter.

It has been over two years since opened it for cleaning. :whip:

I took pics but too embarrassed to post them. The grids all looked good, with no tears, but three large ones and the small one are pretty brittle so I'm replacing those four (8 total=7 large + 1 smaller). Four good ones and manifold bottom soaked over night in Dishwasher detergent. It is raining pretty hard so I don't know if I want to do any outside work today, AND Cowboys game at noon. Go Cowboys. :party:

I'll soak grids in MA when I go out to pick up grids, hopefully tomorrow.

Top manifold has two little outside nibs, that help hold grids in place, that are damaged. One is broken off, the other cracked. I'm wondering if I have to replace that? Funds are pretty short right now.

Notes for pictures.

First shows the DE Filter. The blue thing is the old Nature 2 Express I tried three years ago after my third Nature 2 pro model vessel froze in winter. It didn't keep algae away as the pro models always did. I've just left it and will, at some point, take it off and repair hole in pipe.

Second shows what Filter does pretty quickly after it is reattached. It has always done this. The base for the filter is just a big hollow PVC tube that Filter sits in. It is not very rigid and is very light weight. Any ideas on way(s) to keep the Filter from twisting? I'm pretty sure that the twisting has caused the PVC assembly to shift (see third picture) and the difficulty removing the collars, this time, was probably due to the shifting going beyond a critical point. In past, I don't think I've ever gone over a year without taking filter off.

Third shows the misalignment of assembly fittings. Is this a pretty easy thing to readjust? If so, I would love some pointers.

BTW... I've been doing this myself for 23 years. On the very few occasions I've had PB's come out I always forget to ask them about the twisting. :roll:

Pictures below. Many Thanks, geekgranny=alice