Can't get the pressure to go down

[mred1994]

I have a Hayward 3020 cartridge filter on a 19000 gal in ground pool. I had to recently replace the bottom and top manifolds as they were cracked, falling apart, and allowing debris to renter the pool. It was a struggle to get the bottom manifold in, but it is snug and in place. When I first started the pump, the pressure was fine at about 15 psi. Eventually, it started to climb up to 35 psi.
This weekend I took every thing apart that I regularly handle, cleaned it all out, lubed all the O-rings, checked the connections on the manifold, and put it all together. When I turned the pump on and cleared the air, It stayed at 10 psi. About an hour later it was at 15 psi. 4 hours later is was at 30, and the flow from the jets was slow, which tells me it's not a bad guage. There is no air in the system. I turned on the booster pump to see how the polaris was moving, and that was running fine. After Turning the pump off and waiting a while, there is still no air in the system, so I know it's pretty much air tight. Although, now when the system is turned back on, the PSI goes straight to 30 rather than a gradual climb.
I know if I take it all apart, it will probably go back to a normal level only to climb back up later.

Please help me! I'm at my wit's end.

 

[OldPoolMan]

Try cartridge filter cleaner. Possibly your cartridges are so saturated that you will need new ones. There comes a time when hosing down the cartridges no longer works and they should be replaced. Your narrative seems to imply that that's the case.

 

[Richard320]

What does the water look like? If it's at all cloudy, loading up the filter in a big hurry is typical and expected. That's what the filter is supposed to do, strain out any microscopic particles.

And cloudy water is almost always a chemistry problem, not filtration.

 

[mred1994]

It's cloudy. It's been a struggle to get it clear this year, due to heavy rains in the area as well as the other issues.

So are you saying, I need to fix the chemistry and get it clear, and that should solve the problem?

 

[Richard320]

It's cloudy. It's been a struggle to get it clear this year, due to heavy rains in the area as well as the other issues.

So are you saying, I need to fix the chemistry and get it clear, and that should solve the problem?

What happens is algae grows and you add chlorine and it kills it and bleaches it. The bleached algae carcasses are the cloudiness. The filter clogs up with them. The problem is, you haven't killed it all. So more grows to replace what was killed. And the process repeats endlessly. Your pool never clears and your filter constantly loads up. So... you need to kill the algae off faster than it can reproduce until it's all dead. And then you filter out the last of the dead algae and the pool is clear and as long as you keep it maintained after that, the filter ought to be good for weeks or months between cleanings. Some people just do an annual cleaning whether or not the pressure rises. But first you fix the water. I suggest you start a new thread in Algae - Prevention and Treatment complete with test results and how you got them and maybe even a picture showing us what the water looks like.

 

[mred1994]

Thanks, I tested the pool today, and my CYA was at 0, which would explain why my FC and TC were pretty much 0 as well.

My TA is 100 & pH 7.4

My hardness is 430.

So I've drained the pool some, to reduce the hardness. Next I put in some CYA, and then I'll add chlorine in the morning.