brand new hayward s244s won't backwash, psi goes up to 20-25

[garybtru]

Hi all,

I just installed my brand new Hayward S244S, filled it with 150 lbs of Zeosand, and uncovered my pool yesterday. This morning I tried backwashing but nothing much was coming out of the flat backwash hose and the psi slowly climbed to 20-25 before I freaked out and shut it off.

Here's what I did:

1) Made sure my suction lines were open
2) Connected flat backwash hose
3) Opened the filter's air pressure release valve on the top of the filter
4) Poured a bucket of water in the pump to prime it
5) Flipped the switch

I saw water flowing into the filter from the pump (have a clear pipe connecting the two). The release valve started hissing air and I was looking for water to come out of it when I saw the psi climbing. After shutting it off I realized the flat backwash hose had a kink in it.

Am I doing everything correctly here? Could a kink in a backwash hose cause the filter's pressure to climb like that? If so, why wasn't any water coming out of the pressure release valve?

Probably going to give it another go now that I know to make sure my backwash hose is laid out straight w/o any kinks, but am I doing everything else right? I wanted to double check here before flipping it back on again.

Edit: just read this part of the "Opening Your Winterized Pool" article:

If using a sand filter, carefully add water to filter prior to attaching muti-port gasket

I only filled the filter about half way full w/ water (before adding the sand)... Do I need to take off the top gasket and fill it to the top with water before backwashing again?

Thanks!
-Gary

 

[duraleigh]

You have zeosand, right? did you rinse it thoroughly before using it?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Dave has a very good point. It's extremely important to rinse the Zeosand according to the instructions that came with it in order to have any chance of a satisfactory installation of it.

A kink in those flat hoses will indeed cause a pretty good blockage to the flow, and they don't easily straighten themselves out.

Since you said that you filled the pump basket with water to prime it, and that you only put a little water in the filter, and that the hose was kinked; I suspect that you didn't wait long enough for the filter to completely fill with water and that's why you only got air out of it. The pump would easily overcome that small air bleed on the filter and build pressure pretty quickly.

Also, don't worry about over-pressuring the filter with the pump. Your pump should only be able to produce about 40 PSIG (if that much) and the filter should be rated to withstand 50 PSIG.

 

[garybtru]

You have zeosand, right? did you rinse it thoroughly before using it?

Yes, I have ZeoSand. I read somewhere that you're supposed to backwash for 2-3 mins before rinsing, is that not accurate? So I should rinse first? Here's what I did since filling it half way with water & dumping in the sand: I backwashed it for about 10 seconds last night, realized I needed a backwash hose clamp, let everything sit overnight, screwed the clamp on this morning, backwashed for about another 10 seconds before realizing nothing was happening, and that's where I'm at!

@Bama what did you mean by "didn't wait long enough for the filter to completely fill with water" - would this happen during a rinse? Edit: Ohh, I see what you mean... so I just didn't wait long enough for all of the air to escape.

So is my next step to take off the top of the filter and fill it with water? Or just let the pump fill it with water? Then make sure the backwash hose is straight, open the filter pressure release valve, set the valve to Rinse, close the pressure release valve after a steady stream of water is coming out? How long should I rinse for? And do I backwash after that for another 2-3 mins before switching to "Filter?"

Usually new sand filters operate at about 10 psi (20 if it needs to be backwashed) correct?

Thank you so much!

 

[Bama Rambler]

You don't need to remove the valve. Just run the pump until it's full, and there's water spurting out of the air relief.

I think we have a disconnect on what we mean by rinse and what you mean by rinse. We mean rinsing the zeosand to clear it of any fines, which actually means to put the valve in backwash and backwash the filter, then put the valve in rinse, and rinse the zeosand really well before putting the valve into filter mode.

There should be instructions on what the particular mfg. recommends when installing the Zeo into the filter vessel. It's all pretty similar, but different mfg's handle things a little differently.

- - - Updated - - -

You're right, sand filters usually run about 20 PSI or less, but there are installations where they run a good bit higher (I.E. Infloor cleaning systems).

 

[garybtru]

Ohh okay! Yeah, I thought you literally meant "Rinse" - my VariFlo valve has a "Rinse" setting.

So I'll make sure my backwash hose is kink-free and give it another go on backwash + rinse before throwing it into filter mode.

Another quick question: do I need to open the air relief valve every time I turn on the pump, or only after I open my pump's basket and/or filter top gasket (if there's air in the system)?

Thanks!

 

[borjis]

Once it's all fully primed and filtering you shouldn't have to open the relief valve until the next
time you lose prime like cleaning the pump basket etc...

 

[garybtru]

Okay cool, thanks!

 

[garybtru]

Okay, I made sure the backwash hose was straight as can be - this backwash hose is pretty finicky! It kept trying to kink itself. So I had to pick it up and re-lay it down.

Finally I was able to backwash for a few minutes until the water was clear-ish. (Did I mention I just opened my pool? Hehe.) The pressure stayed around 9-10psi. Then I let it sit for 5 minutes, per the Zeosand instructions... backwashed again for another 2 mins or so. Then started to rinse for about 30 sec and noticed the pressure at the top of the filter started dipping a bit - looked like maybe some air was in the pipe from the pump to the filter's valve. I wonder if it's because my water level is getting kind of low or I just need to re-prime the pump. Anyway I have to get back to work but I'll try to finish the rinse + flip it to "Filter" later tonight!

Edit: actually, I wonder if the reason I started to lose pressure on the rinse is because while I was letting the sand sit for 5 mins with the pump off, I kept my valve setting on "Backwash" instead of "Close". Keeping it on "Close" would probably keep everything primed better, right?

Thank you all for the hand-holding and quick responses! I really do appreciate it.

- Gary

 

[Bama Rambler]

If the water level in the pool is getting low, you could be sucking air in the pump and that would cause the pressure to go down a bit. Just fill the pool back up and you should be fine to continue. I'd backwash the Zeo a little more and then put the valve in rinse and run it that way a couple of minutes, just to be sue it's clean.