DE in the pool, then in the pump basket

[ZcottD]

DE Filter is a Perflex EC65A, fingers instead of grids.

So pressure went up a bit, 13 psi instead of 11 psi and I bumped the filter to get it down. The next day I noticed dirt in the pool and realized it was dirty DE, assumed one of the fingers got ripped, took the filter apart and cleaned it and saw no damage, there was a lot of junk tho, noticeably more than normal.

After putting it back together and recharging with DE I haven't noticed any DE in the pool, but in the morning when I look at the pump basket I see a small amount of DE at the bottom and coating the couple bits of debris in there.

I have a very small leak from the drain port of the filter, it might be able to fill a shot glass in a weeks time. Also instead of using a scoop to add DE I now have 6 lbs bags of DE so I don't have to measure.

I'm wondering if I'm adding too much DE now, even though the filter says 6 lbs, maybe over time the fingers don't hold the full amount anymore? This filter is very old. Or is such a small leak able to cause my issue? I only have 5-6 weeks of the season left and the earth is fresh so I'm not gonna redo the teflon tape on the filter right now, but I will at the end.

Thanks.

 

[ajw22]

When you backwash you should only add 80% of the DE assuming around 20% did nit get washed out.

After you breakdown the filter and totally clean it then yiu add the full amount.

Hard to say what is going on with your filter.

 

[ZcottD]

I did fully tear it down and clean it, I have figured out part of my problem. With a new pump this year my chlorinator is plumbed between the pump and the filter now. Last year the chlorinator wasn't plumbed in the line between them, it was connected directly to the old pump.

So now when I open the chlorinator I need to turn its flow setting to off so that the filter doesn't send its contents back into the pump basket. After the pump has been off for 12 hours, theres only a tiny bit in the pump basket, so little its hard to notice. That fits in line with the tiny leak for the drain port of the filter. Should be all is good once I fix that.

Yay for user error, much cheaper than a flex tube nest assembly.

 

[anotherpyr]

If DE is flowing back into the pump, the check valve on the filter may be bad. I actually found my old one on the ground near the filter drain.