DE leaking out into my pool

[Wlundin]

First Post. I have read allot on this forum and it has made my pool life much easier so I want to thank everyone for that.

The issue I am having is DE is slowly coming out into my pool through the discharge outlets. It doesn't happen all at once but it starts building up on bottom of the spa and pretty much everywhere I have a discharge that my polaris has trouble reaching. In trying to fix this problem I have taken apart my filter and cleaned all the grids and inspected them twice in the last two months. I cannot find any holes or tears in the filter grids and I believe that I have correctly reassembled the filter. Any Ideas?
Filter = Pentair FNS Plus 36

 

[tenderfoot]

Other than torn filter screens, I have seen others say that this could also be caused by a crack in the filter manifold.

 

[Dave_NJ]

Are you sure it's DE? I had dead algae collecting on the floor of my pool, looked a lot like DE but then I realized I had an algae issue. You can try and tie a sock or some type of filter to a return jet and see if anything collects inside so you can get a better look.

 

[Wlundin]

thanks Tenderfoot, I will inspect the manifold and see if I see a problem.

Dave, No I am not sure it's DE. It's just white and the only thing I could think of would be DE. My chlorine levels have seemed pretty good, it was a little low yesterday but we have had an unbelievable amount of rain in the last week so I assumed that was the problem. It collects thick enough that I could probably get a sample out of the spa. Thanks for the response.

 

[Dave_NJ]

Not sure if you are experiencing the same thing but a few weeks ago I had what looked like dark grey dust on the bottom of my pool, especially in the creases and seams of my liner.

Water looked crystal clear but when I did an overnight chlorine loss test I was losing chlorine, even at night. It turns out algae was being consumed by my chlorine and the dead algae was accumulating on the bottom and this was the source of the dust I was seeing.

Did a SLAM for a few days and everything cleaned up with no more dust on the bottom of the pool.

 

[MITBeta]

Can you post a picture? I'm with DAVE_NJ. I thought I had leaking DE and it turned out to be (dead) algae.

 

[Wlundin]

I'll post a couple of pictures this evening.

 

[Wlundin]

This is one of the locations it builds up. This is not the thickest spot but was the clearest picture of whats going on. I am starting to think you guys are right about the algae. I had algae a couple months ago which drove me to this website. I tried a slam after already starting what Leslies told me to do but I never did the overnight loss test. I think I may have not solved my algae problem after all. I will try a slam the correct way this time.

 

[WilliamD]

If you are 100% sure it is DE....a possible cause of DE coming through the outlets is too much DE added to the filter....excess DE is notorious for leaking out of returns when too much is built up in filter. Just my 2 cents and a personal example.....I have a 5Lb DE Filter.....If I backwash it I only add about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 Lbs DE since there will always be some residual DE in the filter. If I take it apart and wash it out with a hose completely; then I add 5 Lbs of DE....All the Best!

 

[Wlundin]

Thanks William. That's what I thought at first but then I vacuumed it all up and it just kept building up. The texture of the material seems to be courser than DE. I am thinking it is dead algae.