Hayward SwimClear Drain Plug issues

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

sleepingbeauty

0
Nov 18, 2008
9
Phoenix Metro -- sunny AZ
I am new here....Hello everyone!!!

I did a search and could not find immediately this issue/solution. We moved into this house in August and I have been re-educating myself on pool maintenance. The pool is Hayward equipment, salt water. It has the MDC5025 filter. I noticed that it started leaking at the drain plug (1st one-original) and replaced it. The replacement (#2) leaked again, I think that I actually over-tightened it. There were some issues that I found because it was losing pressure and the repair guy said that I had a cracked basket in the motor unit (replaced that) so the area behind that had a huge clump of leaves, etc clogging it. So, with the culprit removed the pool pressure returned to normal and then the 2nd drain plug broke and I replaced it. Now my third one is leaking also. There are no issues with the pressure that I am aware of....except now the filter housing clamp appears to have leaks. No one has touched that part of the equipment. Would this cause new pressure issues that would cause my drain plug to blow? It's hard to explain where these plastic drain plugs keep breaking, but it is really odd. Anyone know how to approach this problem and fix it?

The repair guy told me that I am going to have to pull it apart and clean the filters soon....in reality, I am afraid to since I have a knack for breaking stuff. But I know that it does need to be done.
 
What's the PSI reading on the filter pressure gauge? If it's high you may need to clean the carts. This may also be the cause of the leaking and broken drain plug.

P.S. try some teflon tape or teflon putty on that drain plug.

HTH,
Adam
 
launboy said:
What's the PSI reading on the filter pressure gauge? If it's high you may need to clean the carts. This may also be the cause of the leaking and broken drain plug.

P.S. try some teflon tape or teflon putty on that drain plug.

HTH,
Adam
Click to expand...

I am sorry for the delay in responding. I backwashed the pool and I don't see the leaking from the housing closure clamp. I am not sure if the tape or putty will work on the drain plug, it's not breaking on the threads, but on the top of the plug near where you hold it to screw it closed.

When the pool came on last night, the PSI reading was 29 for the blue hand and 39 for the red hand. Please excuse my newbie-ness, I am not sure if that is bad or good. The previous owners left nothing regarding the pool. The house was built in 2004, I am sure the pool is near the same age.
 
Hmm, never seen a pressure guage with two hand on a filter before. When the pump is off do they both go to zero? I'm going to guess that the blue hand is the current reading and the red is the max pressure the gauge has been to. 29 psi operating pressure seems a little high but it might be normal depending on how your plumbing is set up. Hopefully someone with more knowledgr about your particular pump/filter combo can help you out more than I.

HTH,
Adam
 
Hi and welcome :sleep: beauty!!

The black indicator tells you what the pump pressure is. The blue (I call it green) indicator is the clean or 'baseline' psi - the red is to indicate when to clean the filter (these 2 are just points to compare where the black 'hand' is - if I'm right :shock: there is a black knob on the face of the gauge which will allow you to adjust where the green and red hands are - they will always stay ~ 8 psi apart) :) The idea is that when you first fire up the system and bleed the air out of the pump, you adjust the green finger to the psi # that the black hand points to and then you know to clean the filter when the black hand gets up to the red one.

If I'm correct in assuming that you have a cart filter, you would do better by cleaning the cartridges when the black hand is ~ 1/2 way to the red.

I hope my assumptions are correct and, even if not, this gives you a better idea of how to deal with your filter.

Again, welcome here and if you need any further help from me - feel free to ask :wink:
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my pool issue and for the warm welcome :-D !! Yes, I agree that I do need to open it up to clean the filters and it does have cartridge filters.

I came home today to a new issue. The pool now has too much water in it. It has one of those auto levelers that has seemed to go haywire. No recent rains enuf for this. I was wondering why my suction to the vacuum wasn't working, I failed to pay close attention to the water level. :rant: I am hating the thought of having to get someone out here to look at it, but I might have to (might have them clean the filters too).
 
Beauty,

Do you have a good reason for the auto fill? It seems like you could just shut the fill valve off and just turn it back on to bring the water level up if the water gets a little low. Sounds like the float on it is stuck down or has shifted up a little (most of these operate like the float in your toilet)

In Pool School (a MUST read for everyone here!) there is this article that tells the basics of cleaning filters. I know Waterbear wrote has a post out there on cleaning cart filters, but I couldn't narrow the search down enough to find it :oops: If you need help on cleaning the carts yourself, just ask :)

As for the plug, it's an SP-1022-C 1 1/2" threaded plug with an o-ring - the part that I think keeps breaking is the lip that secures the o-ring to the tank, this can be caused by age or overtightening. I would get a new one <3$ and apply some teflon tape, as per Adam, so you don't have to screw it in as tight as you have been to seal.

I hope you won't have to pay someone to take care of these issues! - You can do this yourself!

If you've any more questions about this, we'll talk you through any trouble you encounter :-D
 
Well, technically, in the summer time it is a good thing to have (the auto water leveler). It worked just fine for the last few months. The compartment where it is (next to the skimmer) has water that covers the leveler from its overfilling. You are right in that it looks like the toilet thingies when I googled it. Last night, I turned it counter clockwise and back to the position that it originally was...sadly, I am hopelessly clueless on that thing also. I am not even sure how to "turn it off".

I backwashed the pool late last night to try to empty some of the water and the suction started to work again. I will get some of that tape that you guys are talking about. The part that keeps breaking is not the threads themselves, but the outside of the plug on the smooth/flat part. Yes, it very well could be because I am screwing it in too far. I turn it until the bubbling stops.

I certainly hope that I do not have to call the service guy back out. I could use that money for Christmas.

I will search the forums for schooling on cleaning the pool filter.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
JasonLion said:
waste said:
I know Waterbear wrote has a post out there on cleaning cart filters, but I couldn't narrow the search down enough to find it
Click to expand...

How to Clean a Cartridge Filter

One good place to look for things like this is in the Further Reading article at Pool School.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jason! :goodjob: I wondered where the old stickies had gone - that'll teach me to read a little deeper into Pool School :hammer: :oops:

Ted
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply