When the filter turns on, DE cloud blows out!!?!??!?!?!

[waste]

Bob, I would be loath to reprimand a pool owner that didn't know they had to do some care for their system :!: But once you know, it's all on you

I wrote a care for De filter post here which might have some useful info for you. I hope you can gather some useful info from it, and if you have any questions, I'll answer them :-D

Hope the rest of your pool season is 'trouble free'

 

[pairadocs]

i just wanted to post a reply/followup answer to why my filter turns on and DE cloud blows out.

As the veteran members predicted, my filter screens had holes in them. Holes are an understatement! the entire seam of every single screen had been blown out. It was laughable after i realized the problem.

overall problem = neglect and amateurish upkeep.

at least i've learned from my mistakes.

all is well now that i replaced all the filter screens.

the funniest thing about all this is that we have severe sandpaper scale on 2/3 of the pool floor, and we spent 2 months brushing the pool and watching the dust move with each brush stroke - we thought we were brushing off the scale, but in the end, i was just pushing around DE that had blown out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now the scale, that's incurable.....

 

[waste]

Bob, thanks for the update Ripped grids will certainly lead to DE in the pool

Acid washing the pool will remove the scale, but I'm pretty sure that adjusting your water chemistry would also allow the scale to be 'reabsorbed' into the water (I'd talk to Jason, chem_geek and/ or waterbear about this )

 

[JasonLion]

Acid washing the pool will remove the scale, but I'm pretty sure that adjusting your water chemistry would also allow the scale to be 'reabsorbed' into the water

Acid washing is sure to work. The other approaches work some of the time, but don't work most of the time.

 

[pairadocs]

i tried dropping the ph really low for awhile and brushing all the time, 3 times a day, but to no avail.

i even would hold my breath and spend endless amounts of time trying to stay on the bottom and rub with a giant pumice stone, and still little improvement, b/c just too much surface area to cover.

tried the purple/blue/whatever color stuff from Jack's, still scaley.

it's awful stuff. i always wish it would resorb.

i'm afraid to run the ph really really low for too long.

Jason, i'd love yours, and others, thoughts on this. seems as if low ph is the main component along with brushing, but i still couldn't make it go away

 

[JasonLion]

To do a non-drain acid wash you want to lower the calcium saturation dramatically, so that calcium starts to be drawn out of the scale, and plaster, and into the water. You also want to add a calcium specific sequestrant to the water. That combination will eventually cause the scale to start to soften and constant brushing can eventually break it up. The primary way to lower calcium saturation is to lower PH, but lowering TA and CH levels also helps the process along.

The big problem with this treatment is that it also attacks any plaster that is not covered with scale. Often, if you are aggressive enough to make progress against the scale you will also start damaging the plaster that is not scaled. The other problem is that thick scale can takes weeks, or even moths, to dissolve and break up. The low PH used will also damage copper heat exchange coils. This treatment is most effective when the scale is brand new and can be removed quickly.

 

[pairadocs]

Jason,

thank you for the reply. very informative. at this point, the scale has been building for 3 years, or more - shallow end entirely, transition too, not much of the deep end (9 ft), some of the walls are covered too. steps are all bad.

sounds like it won't work to acidify and brush with my degree of problem. may consider acid wash, not sure if it would be better to do at the beginning or end of the season though? meaning, should i take the cover off, not bother with fixing the water chem and color, and just get it drained and washed, or does the water need to be balanced prior to this job (not sure why if they'd be draining it)

thanks again,

bob