waste said:
Alice, it would be VERY hard to oversize a residential DE filter
A larger filter results in better filtration (as opposed to one that is at the max gpm for the pump).
Have you been offered a great deal on a monster sized filter? If you'd tell the folks like mas and Jason the pump and filter specs, they could help reassure you
Thanks much, much, much. :-D Boy I wish someone would make that kind of offer on the one I want. I've been needing to go pick up the Pentair Quad DE 80 for several weeks now, but things come up. Just doing some more rereading today about head, pipes, flow, etc... and doing a rough estimate of my head loss and gain, I was just wondering if could maybe even move up to the Quad 100. Of course that would mean digging down a little deeper to get the vertical clearance for it.
My pump is a 1.5, SF 1.5, so essentially a little more than a 2 HP. My limiting factors are the pipe sizes. BTW... with the tiny 36 DE filter in this pool for 28 years it's a wonder the grids last as long as they do.
I'm going to be starting a thread with pictures of my pumping station for advice on the Flex pipe I need to run from the pad to the new filter which will be about 5 ft away from the pad and down the hill a bit, with multi valve about 36" lower than the push/pull on old filter.
I have two suction side, 1.5" each, main drain and skimmer, that connect to a 3-way valve, leaving valve via 2" to pump. From pump is a 2" going to filter valve.
One (1) 1.5" leaves the filter.
There is a reducer on the valve, reducing from 2" to 1.5" where the one
line goes to four pool returns. The 1" or so hose for 3/4 hp booster comes off the return line at one point, goes to pump, and leaves pump through same type of hose to 3-way valve and then to 1.5" dedicated return. I use a Polaris 280 on that.
Before I added the two (2) PoolSkims and reducer eyeballs to get more water to the PoolSkims the clean starting pressure on filter was usually around 13 (after good clean/soak of grids and fresh DE). After a couple of backwashes (2-3 times a week) and adding less media to compensate for retained media in filter, the starting pressure is 15. It's been this way for the 23 years we've lived here.
Putting the two reducer eyeballs on returns for PoolSkims' success now makes the starting pressure at filter 19 psi. Now that I have the PoolSkims I can't imagine how I ever managed without them. I have to have one of the cleaners running about 12 hours a day to keep the large, small, tiny, and teenicy debris cleared from pool. Our "silt" is so tiny I'm thinking it probably works with the cellulose for filtering. It sure does raise the psi quickly though. This year we acquired the three puppies that are, now, in and out of the pool all day, dragging in more sand/silt than the other dogs we've had who didn't swim as much. In addition this has been the worst year ever for flying silt but it is much better now that we've gotten about 20" of rain since early Oct. I just switched to cellulose end of summer and I'm pretty sure it is filtering finer, also, than DE.
Would the larger filter reduce some of the head at pumping station? I can't increase pipe sizes. I am happy with the pressure and suction but only doG know how much energy I'm wasting with big pump, undersized filter, and small pipes.
When I run the suction cleaner, Tracker 4X, I can usually start with main drain partially open but as filter psi increases (lots of fine stuff going to filter) I have to close off most of the main drain. It is the only cleaner that will get the really, really, tiny stuff to the filter fast enough for me without getting stirred up, as it does with the Polaris. BUT it does a lousy job on the leaves as compared to the pressure side Polaris-280.
I'm not going to go any smaller than the Quad 80 but I was wondering if there would be any disadvantages to getting the 100 other than up front cost. I guess that's a question.
Thanks, I'm working on marking up the pictures for when I start the topic on pipes and fittings for new filter.
gg=alice