Catridge Question

[ke263565]

hello all

i have a vinyl pool 15 x 30 12000 gallon-ish pool that i've been losing my mind over since becoming a pool owner. I've had a tree fall in it, bought a new cartridge,, had my electrician burned my motor out and I finally figured out that my pump o-ring needed to be replaced.

I had problems with algae and bought the TF test kit, read pool school and realized my cYA was way high and drained some of the pool. My #'s were now all good bu tI couldn't get my pump to prime. Finally last week I thought I solved all my problems, I learned that my Jandy valve was completely missing its O-ring completely that switches it from main drain to skimmer and that air was getting in. Now the pump and pressure are perfect better than ever before but i still have algae. Normally, if i run the vacuum and then empty the pump strainer basket, i'd turn the pump back on and let the air out of the pressure relief valve and wait till the water spurts out and then bada-bing works good.

Of course, I had a small algae bloom on Thursday when i fixed the jandy valve after not being able to run the pump for a week and had to leave for vacation and i said screw it, I'll just super shock the pool when i come back because i don't have the time and deal with it this week. Now with my worst algae bloom and tons of liquid chlorine in there, I figured i'd just let it run and then clean the filter, rinse, repeat until its gone. But my filter doesn't seem like its holding the air in. I'll let the pressure relief valve disperse of the air and then tighten it once water spurts out. But then 10 minutes later, the air is all back in there and seems like the water is just not filling up. After running it for about 8 hours yesterday, i took the filter out to hose it off but it wasnt dirty at all. I dont think the water is filling up or at least once its filled up, staying in there. Does that make sense?

I want to cry/fill this pool in with dirt. I thought i was so close to finally figuring it out.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Getting air in the filter has nothing to do with the filter. It comes from a suction side leak on the pump. Since you've been fighting an algae outbreak, it's most likely the pump basket o-ring seal or the water level in the pool has gotten low and the skimmer is sucking in air.

The filter might be bypassing the water but that's not likely. What's likely is that you've gotten most of the stuff out and it's not clogging up very fast at this point.

What's your filter pressure running compared to what it used to run?

 

[ke263565]

I've replaced all of the o-rings i could find - the pump lid o ring, the jandy valve one and the two little ones on the handle, the filter big o-ring. The skimmer isn't sucking in air - the pump is working great - it just doesnt seem to fill up the cartridge any more or once it fills up and all the air is bled out, it seems that the filter isnt being totally soaked while the water is running.

The pressure used to be about 12 or 13 psi (maybe 15 tops) with a clean filter and its running right around therer. It just seems odd that all of sudden i can constantly let bleed air out for 12 or 15 seconds - wait 5 minutes, go back to the pump and do it all over again. Usually, when the pump was on, the water would spurt out in a second or two and it would stay in there. It seems like it fills up and then goes back down. Last algae attack, my filter was running at 20 then 25 and then i'd clean the filter and bring it back to 12 bleed the air out, rinse, & repeat.

I have a Variable speed motor that i run at like 70 % (EZ Tech or Eco Tech or something with a little digital display). I read somewhere that the water can bypass the filter if its too fast/high pressure but i don't see where that would be my issue. Maybe I'm just not waiting enough but usually with a dark green algae, the filter clogs up at least every 4 hours until i get rid of it. Maybe i'm just not waiting enough for it to start clogging up.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Getting air into the filter cannot be from the filter. It's on the pressure side of the pump and therefore in order to get any air in it, it has to come from the suction side of the pump. Have you checked the drain plug on the pump basket?

As for the filter bypassing stuff. It's possible if the cartridge isn't seated on the manifold correctly or there are tears in the pleats. You can tie a sock over a return and see if anything is coming through.