DE Filter Back Wash Question

Texas Dobie

0
Gold Supporter
Sep 10, 2016
171
Frisco, Texas
Good afternoon TFP!

We have been maintaining our own water with the TFP method since shortly after the pool was finished in March with fantastic picture-perfect results thanks to the help from everyone on this forum. Our PB has been sending one of his guys to our house for the past 6 months to perform a weekly equipment check, back washing our DE filter when necessary, brush the pool, etc. with strict instruction NOT to add any other chemicals to the water apart from occasional DE when necessary. Now that we are reaching the end of the summer weare ready to give the PB the final boot and take over full maintenance of the filter as well. I asked the PB how much DE to add after back washing but I still want to ask the TFP experts prior to taking the PB recommendation. So, my question is? We have a 60 square feet Jandy DE filter with a maximum DE capacity of 6 pounds of DE, according to the label on the side of the filter. Our pump is a Jandy variable speed pump that runs at 3250 rpm during back wash. Our PB suggested we run the back wash for a maximum of 45 seconds and then add DE after completion. Where he gets sketchy is when he talks about how much of the DE remains in the filter after back washing for 45 seconds and how many pounds of DE to add back in. Any advice from the TFP community would be appreciated.

PS – I have read the DE filter cleaning tutorial but did not see any reference to interval backwashing and/or the correct amount of time required to back wash.

Thanks in advance,

R
 
TD,

I gave up backwashing as soon as I got variable speed pumps. I have cartridge filter at my house, but have two DE filters at rent houses. For all three pools, I open and clean the filters twice a year and never backwash. I just cleaned them a few days ago, while still warm enough to get wet, and will do the same again before opening the pools next season.

The reason I do this is because you can't backwash forever.. Backwashing does leave old gunk in your filter which needs to be cleaned out from time to time. I found it just easier to break the filters down twice a year.

With a VS pump, my clean filter pressure is only about 5 lbs. for my DE filters and about 2 lbs. for my cartridge filter. My pumps run at 1,200 RPM, most of the time..

But, when I was backwashing I'd add about 80% of a full DE load after each backwash.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
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