Drain and refill. What about DE?

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gsheltonlhc

gsheltonlhc

0
Nov 3, 2012
15
Lake Havasu City, AZ
Hi All, I just completely serviced my filter during the last week but then discovered that my CYA was over 200. I have now drained my pool and I'm wondering about the DE in the filter. I switched the flow valves to spa and used a sump pump to drain pool completely. I did an acid wash and started to refill the pool then drained the spa. When doing so I noticed the cloudiness of new DE in the last of the water being drained from the spa. So my question is what to do now? Open filter and take out all DE and replace with the proper 6 lbs, run the filter as is, or somehow make a guess as to how much DE was lost and add more? Any help would be appreciated.

Fill Water
FC - 0
CC - 0
PH - 8.0+
ALK - 150
CH - ?
CYA - 0

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
The DE should not have been able to get into the pool or spa water, unless there is a problem with your backwash valve or a tear in the grids.

Are you sure it was DE?

Safest bet would be to tear down the filter to check everything out and then start fresh on everything.
 
Thanks for the quick response jblizzle. I sure looked like DE, but not much. Last week I removed, degreased, and acid washed the grids. I did not see any rips or tears and for the last week it has kept the pool looking good and there was no DE present in the pool or spa. I have the standard push pull valve plumbed at the filter and it seems to function. I know that when a heater repair guy came out and had pulled the flow valve you could see DE leaking into the pump filter basket. Is that not supposed to happen?
 
The only a few ways for DE to flow backward out of the filter:
1. There is air in the filter that is compressed when the pump is on and when the pump turns off, the air expands and pushes the water/DE back out
2. There is a leak in the filter that allows air into the filter when the pump turns off, thus allowing the filter water/DE to drain back to the pump
3. A solar system on the roof drains down backward through the filter to the pump (usually there is a check valve to prevent this).

So, When your pump is running, do you open the air valve on the top to get all the air out of the filter?
Do you hear water draining out of the filter when you turn the pump off?

Or maybe I am misunderstanding your statement.

If you just cleaned the grids and notice very little DE leaking, I might just ignore it and see if the DE shows up again ... and then re-investigate the grids.
 
After I put it all back together I opened the air relief valve until only water was coming out. I have done so on occasion after that as well as after the flow valve was replaced but have never had anymore air come out.

The replacement of the flow valve was the only leak of the system that I'm aware of and I don’t hear any water draining out of the filter after it is shut off.

I don’t have solar panels at this house yet.

And it doesn’t seem like you are misunderstanding my current situation.

When the flow valve on the heater was replaced you could hear air and water gurgling and DE back washed into the pump strainer basket. Could the DE I found when draining have come from just that?

I appreciate your time. The removal of the filter housing is labor intensive as a roof has to be removed to do so. I just bought this house am pretty sure the filter housing had not been off in a very, very, long time.

If I add half a pound of DE and my pressure is still at 23lbs (where it was after cleaning) then might I be okay, maybe? What do you think?
 
You can get away with adding a little more DE without any issues.

BTW, I am used to seeing lower pressure numbers than you listed, now I see you are running a 2HP motor. Is that motor also used for the spa jets? It would be pretty over-sized if it is not.

I had my first house and pool/spa built. After learning here, I would have done the equipment much differently. For example, better to have a separate plumbing loop for the spa jets so you are not running all the water through the filter when the jets are on.
 
Thanks for that. I am about 1/2 hour away from having the pool filled and need to get the PH down then add Chlorine tonight. I had read somewhere not to run pump without DE but even if (somehow a little got out?) I should still have plenty.

My last house had a new filter pressure of 10 lbs. When I got here it was operating at 34 and after the filter clean it's now 23. But yes just the one pump for the whole system. After the filter clean I have a lot more flow and aeration to the spa. I'm thinking the next upgrade will be a variable speed pump to save electricity. Could that also increase the flow to the spa when cranked up?

It would be nice to build one from scratch. Separate plumbing for the spa would be great.
 
Going to a 2-speed or a variable speed would certainly help save $ on electricity when you ran on low and were not needing the high flow rates.

But, your spa flow rate might be limited by what you filter is designed for. Even though the VS might be a 3 HP pump, your filter may not be able to handle much more than you have now and you would damage the grids. Although figuring out the actual flow rate is not that easy, but there are experts here that could help estimate it if you wanted.

A couple possible options would be to add a blower to the spa return or decrease the spa eyeball sizes which would make the jets feel more powerful.
 
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