Something is different this year with the suction

[lkae4]

Pool was new last year. We had the double floor drain and the two skimmers all open and there was suction from all four places. The skimmers were drawing in water and the floor drain would suck down small debris. The normal pressure was 20 and the red arrow showing when it was time to backwash was at 30.

This year if I have the floor drain open the two skimmers barely skim at all and if I close the floor drains then they are fine. The return water is vigorous and seems the same as last year. The pressure on the filter is actually less than last year it is about 15.

So my question is - did everything work so well because it was all brand new last year or is something wrong this year. The guys who opened the pool filled the filter with new DE but that was about it. I don't think my filter is dirty and the pressure indicator is no where near where the red arrow is. When the pressure goes up does that mean it is time to backwash the filter. What does it mean if the pressure is less.

 

[jblizzle]

The pressure could be less due to a partial blockage on the suction side or if the impeller is slightly clogged. Or maybe the gauge is going bad? Or maybe less DE was added.

One reminder is that we recommend backwashing when the pressure rises 20-25% over the clean pressure. Given your clean pressure of 15 psi, you should clean it between 18 and 19 psi ... not waiting for a 10 psi rise.

 

[lkae4]

Jason,

You might be right about there not being as much de as last year. When the pool guys were opening the pool, just as they got to the part where you put the de back in, the heavens opened up and the rain was crazy. That was the end of that and I wonder if they didn't put enough de in there.

The pool was really clean when it was opened up this year so there hasn't been a lot of dirt going through there. We were worried because of the hurricane but we seem to have come through fine pool wise.

The pool guy set a green arrow thing and a red arrow thing on the pressure gauge. Last year they set the green arrow to match the start up pressure and then the red arrow for when we were supposed to backwash. They never set the green arrow to the lower pressure this year.

We actually never had to backwash once last year. We don't have leaves or dirt or sand to blow in the pool and we were always scooping out any stray leaf or bug that got in the bottom of the pool. I really didn't even have to vacuum too often (certainly not every day the way we did years ago when we had an ag pool). Just about at the end of the season the pressure started to rise to the point where we would backwash but it was time to close the pool for the winter anyway so we never had to do it till the close.

Can I stick my fingers in the hole in the pump basket when the power is off and be able to tell if something is clogging it. This sounds silly but, what does an impeller look like and will I be able to see it when I look in the hole in the pump basket.

 

[jblizzle]

You should be able to feel for some debris, but would be best to pull the motor off to inspect the impeller. Google for it and you will find pix, looks kind of like a disk.