pressure up, can I still run the pump?

[grrltraveler]

I won't be able to clean my filter until this weekend but it's been a few days since the pump has been run and I want to know if it's OK to run even though it's up 10 psi since I cleaned it last. I'm not sure why the PSI jumped so much as it's only been 3 months since I cleaned but that's another story for another day.

Can anyone tell me if it's ok to keep running it? Started at 6 and now I'm about 18.

Thanks for a quick response.
anne

 

[Melt In The Sun]

You can still run the pump. It's not going to explode or anything.

 

[grrltraveler]

Oh good, no explosions is good. I just wondered if it would damage it.

Thanks!
Anne

 

[duraleigh]

If your starting psi was indeed 6 (that's very low) then your pump will not be pushing nearly as much water through the system at 18.

Clean it as soon as you can, you are not operating very efficiently and it is very likely quite dirty.

 

[Johnny B]

You can still run the pump. It's not going to explode or anything.

I always wanted to know this. So a psi too high is merely a filtering-effeciency issue & a less than desireable flow/return issue, not a safety issue?

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Correct; however, if your pressure is so high (filter is so clogged) that you aren't getting any appreciable flow, you could conceivably damage the pump since it depends on moving water to cool it. Filters/plumbing can spectacularly fail; it's very rare but it does happen (just last week there was an exploding filter thread here on TFP). In short, I wouldn't worry about running the pump, but would clean the filter as soon as I had time.