Pool Filter turned Water powered Rocket! oops

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dissfigured

dissfigured

0
Oct 17, 2011
51
Denton, TX
I cleaned the filter and I guess I failed to tighten something properly. Turned the pump on, watched the pressure build and then... You remember those water powered rockets from you were a kid? I recreated that on a massive scale. A bit of water started to spray out and them a massive BOOM. The top half of the filter went somewhere between 30-40 feet in the air, over the house into the front yard. I would guess this thing weighs around 20 lbs. Neighbors came out and I hid inside out of embarrassment. When they went in, I retrieved my filter. Time to read the manual.

I am guessing I didn't have the gasket seated properly or I didn't tighten that ring enough.
 
Are you sure you didn't have a valve closed or set wrong? Sounds like more than normal pressure.

But it does give you a good story to tell!
 
Lershac said:
My filter runs 20 when clean and 30 when dirty! It marked on the gauge by the manuf, and accurate on my setup! It is a big un tho.
Click to expand...

Same here.

I have always circulated the pool separately from the spa but after yesterday, I opened one of the water features to the spa while filtering the pool and was able to bring the pressure down a bit to around 23-24. So now filtering the pool also does a spillover from the spa at the same time.
 

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What kind of filter was it? Seems odd that it would only use friction to keep the top seated. On ours, there is a band with a clamp on it that holds the flanges of the top and bottom together. It's designed such that the two flanges are captive inside the C-shaped band. I agree that is a VERY dangerous situation. You might have a pool pro come out to inspect it, especially since the filter may have been damaged from the explosion (esp. the lid when it returned to Earth).

BTW, in general, I try to keep my body away from the top of my filter, especially when starting it. There are apparently known examples of serious injuries from filters separating like that. At least that's what my filter's manual implies. Good thing you were at a distance when it happened.
 
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