DE in pool water

[Kelleyaynn]

We had 7 inches of rain overnight a few days ago, and when the storm was over, my pool was filled with dirt. Started cleaning it out like I was opening it, and was slowly making good progress. I did what I hoped was my last backwash, and added new DE to the filter. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn filter off of backwash. I figured it out when I noticed there was no water coming out of the returns. I assumed I lost the DE I put in, so I made sure the filter was on "filter," and put more DE in. Almost immediately, DE started coming out of the returns into the pool. It appears that I did not lose much of the DE I initially put in. I backwashed a bit to try to get some of the extra DE out, the filter is now running at the correct pressure, and no more DE is coming out of the returns, so I think the filter now has the correct amount of DE in it. Unfortunately, a lot of DE ended up in the pool - it looks like watered down milk. You can't see the bottom anymore except in the shallow end.

My question is, what now? Will the DE eventually filter out of the water? But if there ends up being too much DE in the filter, will it come out the returns again? Will the DE sink so I can vacuum it out (but again, what if that puts too much DE in the filter? Should I backwash all the DE out of the filter first? I have no idea what to do!

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

Kelley

 

[zea3]

I would turn the pump off overnight so the DE can settle, then vacuum it to waste. If you can't vacuum to waste you should be able to vacuum to the filter and then backwash. It should not be coming out of the returns. Since you added DE while the filter was in backwash mode the powder did not coat the grids so that when the filter was switched to filter setting all that loose DE was blown into the pool. Since the second batch of DE was properly applied it will catch any DE that makes its way to the filter. When the filter pressure has risen 20% above the clean pressure it will be time to backwash again. The extra DE will just make the filter act like it is dirty and needs a backwash. If it comes out the returns there is something else wrong with the filter.