Pressure gauge not working?

[silver02gt]

I have a hayward 1hp pump with cartridge filter. I can't quite remember exactly what the pressure gauge read when I put the new filter in and first started it up or put the second new filter in for the first time, but I'm pretty sure that it was right at 17 psi. But my pressure gauge never seems to rise above 20 psi, even though my return water flow is super slow. So I change back to the other clean filter and the gauge still shows like 19 psi, but the return water flow is amazing. It seems to blast out of there. But then after a while the return water flow begins to slow down until it is barely flowing out, but the whole time the pressure gauge reads right at either 19 or 20 psi, never higher. The pressure gauge has readings way past 20. Is there something wrong with the pressure gauge? Does the pressure gauge only read up to 20 even though it has marks well past that? I'm quite confused! Thanks in advance for your help!!!

My cleaning process for my cartridges are as follows. Take dirty one out and hose it down, then let it sit in a bucket of bleach/water mix for up to a day, then hose it down again before placing it back in the filter.

David

 

[Bama Rambler]

Does the gauge go to zero when the pump is off?
How old are the cartridges?

The gauge should read all the way to the max span. They're pretty cheap if you wanted to buy a new one for peace of mind.

Sounds like you're cleaning your cartridges correctly. Are you using the small stream nozzle recommended in Pool School? I don't know that soaking them is doing any good but it probably isn't hurting anything.

 

[silver02gt]

The cartridges are only a couple of weeks old. The gauge does go to zero when I shut it off. And yeah i'm using a nozzle as per pool school. I figured on pool school it says to soak them in tsp, dish liquid, or cartridge cleaner, and since I don't have any of those, except for dish liquid of course, I would use bleach. Especially since I am dealing with swamp, the bleach would help kill any living algae that made it into the cartridge. And I don't like the whole idea of dish liquid, in case I don't happen to get it all out and the foaming bubbles getting into the pool. But if someone tells me to, I will surely switch to dish liquid soak. Thanks!!!