Pump running at high speed/ not priming fully / filter at 33psi ! / low water flow ??

[mose]

Yesterday, I noticed our waterfall trickling and my vacuum style Hayward Navigator was not moving at all. I went over to the equipment and saw that the pump was running full speed but was only half full. I checked the filter pressure gauge and saw 33 psi. Normally 20 psi.

I just cleaned the filter last month but did not add DE because I wanted to add a Black Algae treatment. I spotted 10 or 12 small button size dark spots on the gunite surface so I added the algae treatment to my pool and the water started to bubble up on the surface as if I had added soap. It has been a week since I added the algae treatment and all the bubbles have now disappeared. I checked and cleaned all filter baskets, no joy. I added silicone to pump lid o-ring and verified a good seal.

Could this be an impeller issue? If so how can I be sure? What else could cause this, any ideas appreciated?

My pump is a: Hayward SP3400VSP EcoStar Variable Speed Pool Pump (2 years old)
Filter is: Hayward DE6020 with a 2-position backwash valve (10 years old)

Let me know if you guy's need more information.

 

[prs]

My guess is the algae treatment has blinded off your filter elements.

See paragraph 3 in the link below about never running a DE filter without DE.

http://www.poolcenter.com/dePoolFilter

Let's hope you can backwash the grids clean.

 

[prs]

On second thoughts backwashing might not be such a good idea. If there's still stuff in your pool water you could end up blinding off both sides of the elements.

 

[jblizzle]

Your grids are likely all messed up now. Time to take it apart for a good cleaning and soaking; hopefully they are not beyond recovery.