Hi Everyone! I'm brand new to this site and this is my first post. I'm writing in because I need help cleaning up my pool. I think I've been taking the right steps, but now
I purchased a home last fall and the 22000 gallon in-ground vinyl liner pool had not been used in about four years. On the day I started cleaning it, the pool looked like a pond (see photo). The tarp that was covering it had deteriorated and come loose and lots of leaves had fallen in over the years. Frogs, tadpoles, etc. were living in it too.
I've done a lot of reading on how to clean up the pool on this site. So far, I've purchased the TF-100 kit, I've added CYA (at about 25 now), I've adjusted the pH to about 7.2 and I've been maintaining the chlorine at about 14-16. I've been scooping leaves and debris from the water with a large leaf net and making good progress with it. Every time I use the net I stir up the water and then it becomes really murky again with small solids floating in the water. In some cases I'm pulling up material approximating mud from the bottom of the pool.
The reason for my post is that I'm struggling with my Hayward EC65A DE filter. There are so many solids in the water that the filter clogs up really fast. I'm having to change the DE itself at least daily and having to "bump" the filter hourly. After bumping 3-4x in a single day, the filter will reach high pressure again within about 15 minutes after which I flush and refill with new DE. I'm finding that I'm unable to run with the filter unattended for more than about 60-90 minutes even with fresh DE in it. During the day when I'm at work, I just bypass the filter and run the pump on recirculate mode. However, this means I'm only running the filter for a few hours a day, usually at night, and at this rate it's going to take forever to clear the pool.
So I need some advice as to which filter I should buy or switch to for the clean up. I assume that I need something with a lot more capacity than my current filter. I've been thinking that a cartridge style pleated filter would be less likely to clog as fast as my current filter, especially one with larger capacity. The EC65A filter is rated at only 27 square feet of filtration area. I could easily pick up a 120 sq. ft. cartridge filter such as the Hayward C1200 for about $300. I know I can hose down the filter to clean it and I'm guessing that because of the larger surface area (about 5x greater), I should be able to run it a lot longer without it clogging up (compared to the DE filter). After the clean up I could then switch to the DE filter exclusively and sell the cartridge filter, run them in parallel with shut-off valves (to allow maintenance on the DE filter) or just keep the cartridge filter in case I ever needed it again (next year?).
Thanks in advance!
Andrew
I purchased a home last fall and the 22000 gallon in-ground vinyl liner pool had not been used in about four years. On the day I started cleaning it, the pool looked like a pond (see photo). The tarp that was covering it had deteriorated and come loose and lots of leaves had fallen in over the years. Frogs, tadpoles, etc. were living in it too.
I've done a lot of reading on how to clean up the pool on this site. So far, I've purchased the TF-100 kit, I've added CYA (at about 25 now), I've adjusted the pH to about 7.2 and I've been maintaining the chlorine at about 14-16. I've been scooping leaves and debris from the water with a large leaf net and making good progress with it. Every time I use the net I stir up the water and then it becomes really murky again with small solids floating in the water. In some cases I'm pulling up material approximating mud from the bottom of the pool.
The reason for my post is that I'm struggling with my Hayward EC65A DE filter. There are so many solids in the water that the filter clogs up really fast. I'm having to change the DE itself at least daily and having to "bump" the filter hourly. After bumping 3-4x in a single day, the filter will reach high pressure again within about 15 minutes after which I flush and refill with new DE. I'm finding that I'm unable to run with the filter unattended for more than about 60-90 minutes even with fresh DE in it. During the day when I'm at work, I just bypass the filter and run the pump on recirculate mode. However, this means I'm only running the filter for a few hours a day, usually at night, and at this rate it's going to take forever to clear the pool.
So I need some advice as to which filter I should buy or switch to for the clean up. I assume that I need something with a lot more capacity than my current filter. I've been thinking that a cartridge style pleated filter would be less likely to clog as fast as my current filter, especially one with larger capacity. The EC65A filter is rated at only 27 square feet of filtration area. I could easily pick up a 120 sq. ft. cartridge filter such as the Hayward C1200 for about $300. I know I can hose down the filter to clean it and I'm guessing that because of the larger surface area (about 5x greater), I should be able to run it a lot longer without it clogging up (compared to the DE filter). After the clean up I could then switch to the DE filter exclusively and sell the cartridge filter, run them in parallel with shut-off valves (to allow maintenance on the DE filter) or just keep the cartridge filter in case I ever needed it again (next year?).
Thanks in advance!
Andrew