Help Hayward stops pumping. Air building up

Elementalwindx · Jul 6, 2015

This may sound like a stupid question but what is the process of back washing?

What I imagine it being is turn off the pump, open the pressure valve at the top of the filter, bump the bump handle several times, open the flow release at the back of the filter housing to let the water drain out, maybe even turn on the pump for a few seconds till water shoots out clear. Rinse and repeat as needed.

That sound about right?

pooldv · Jul 7, 2015

Nope, no dumb questions. Here is an article in Pool School about filter maintenance, Pool School - Maintenance and Cleaning of Pool Filters

Hayward Pool · Jul 9, 2015

Happy you solved the problem. Here is a link to the Perflex EC filter. It has the procedure for bumping and draining of the Perflex filter.

http://www.hayward-pool.com/pdf/manuals/Perflex-EC65A-EC75A.pdf

Elementalwindx · Jul 12, 2015

Man this thing is a pain in my side. After MANY bumping/back washing cycles, the pump would only keep return water going for like a hour or so. So I decided to take the filter tube nest back out, sprayed it completely down to where nothing was on it, put it back in, this time without adding any DE at all. Noticed a difference in pressure of return water, however now instead of a hour or two, it lasts 24 hours with it gradually decreasing force in return, however the PSI on the gauge slowly rises to 22~psi when it finally stops returning water. Everything sounds like it is running fine at that point as well. I open the top bleeder valve on the filter and no water is coming out and you hear no air escaping.

Sigh... Any more ideas?

*edit* just in case I didn't say this. Replacing the PVC piping and seals on the pump seems to have cleared up the air bubbles in the pump basket issue. So I guess this pool had several issues that I seem to be tackling one by one. The last guy that owned this pool was up in age 70+ so I guess he just completely let it go.

Texas Splash · Jul 12, 2015

Sounds like you are giving your pool and equipment some much needed TLC. One thing at a time. That's all you can do. :cheers:

Hayward Pool · Jul 13, 2015

It is possible the fingers of the filter are clogged and a simple cleaning may not solve the problem. You may need to acid soak the filter incase there is any minerals imbedded in the material.

Elementalwindx · Jul 14, 2015

The thing is, I did acid soak it for nearly 48 hours. I didn't use muriadic acid, but I did use that filter cleaning solution with the right ratio of water to solution. I am wondering if that is the problem though. Maybe somehow I did not do it right.

Mike1162 · Jul 18, 2015

Elementalwindx said:
So I decided to take the filter tube nest back out, sprayed it completely down to where nothing was on it, put it back in, this time without adding any DE at all.

That was a mistake. This filter should never be run without DE. You've clogged up the fingers & need to soak them in muriatic acid. I let mine soak overnight. Do this outside and stay upwind to avoid inhaling the fumes.

Mike1162 · Jul 18, 2015

It sounds like you already have something but this is what I use to soak the fingers. The 3rd pic is my pressure 3 weeks after completing a slam & cleaning the filter. You will love the filter once the pool water is under control. Did the test kit arrive?