Today I decided to brave the Texas heat and clean my DE filter. I disassembled it and hosed off all the grids - no tears that I could find. Reassembled everything and started loading up the DE. After adding half of the DE I noticed that there was no more water in the skimmer was sucking air. I rushed over to the pump and shut everything down.
Everything looked fine so I turned off the skimmers and turned the main drain to full. Started up the pump again and the pump was just about primed and then psssss.... lost it again. Did the start/stop thing a couple of times for good measure but still no luck.
In desperation I took apart the multiport valve to make sure the spider gasket was still intact. It was but was a bit gooey - like the rubber was beginning to melt. But it was still in one piece.
Reassembled everything and gave it one last try but still no prime. Frustrated, I shut everything down and decided to try again in the morning.
Then it hit me. I left the mutliport on Backwash . Checked the pool and sure enough, down 2 inches of water. That explains the skimmer being sucked dry.
I filled up the pool and once flipped the multiport back to Filter. Presto! The pump took hold! But then I noticed a plume of water shooting out from a large crack in the body of my inline chlorinator (must have whacked it with something when I was disassembling the filter). I turned the dial to Off and the raging torrent was reduced to a slight trickle.
I started loading up the DE for the second time. Once again I got halfway through and happened to glance at the pool. The entire pool is now a murky mess from the DE.
So after that long saga I have a couple of questions:
1) What's the deal with the DE in the pool
2) Do you think it's possible that I ripped one of the grids when I reassembled everything
3) Can I just remove the chlorinator and plug the hole or do I have to replace the darned thing which I have never used
4) Do I need to replace the spider gasket
Any help would be deeply appreciated.
Everything looked fine so I turned off the skimmers and turned the main drain to full. Started up the pump again and the pump was just about primed and then psssss.... lost it again. Did the start/stop thing a couple of times for good measure but still no luck.
In desperation I took apart the multiport valve to make sure the spider gasket was still intact. It was but was a bit gooey - like the rubber was beginning to melt. But it was still in one piece.
Reassembled everything and gave it one last try but still no prime. Frustrated, I shut everything down and decided to try again in the morning.
Then it hit me. I left the mutliport on Backwash . Checked the pool and sure enough, down 2 inches of water. That explains the skimmer being sucked dry.
I filled up the pool and once flipped the multiport back to Filter. Presto! The pump took hold! But then I noticed a plume of water shooting out from a large crack in the body of my inline chlorinator (must have whacked it with something when I was disassembling the filter). I turned the dial to Off and the raging torrent was reduced to a slight trickle.
I started loading up the DE for the second time. Once again I got halfway through and happened to glance at the pool. The entire pool is now a murky mess from the DE.
So after that long saga I have a couple of questions:
1) What's the deal with the DE in the pool
2) Do you think it's possible that I ripped one of the grids when I reassembled everything
3) Can I just remove the chlorinator and plug the hole or do I have to replace the darned thing which I have never used
4) Do I need to replace the spider gasket
Any help would be deeply appreciated.