How much flow does a salt system need?

[D2creative]

Vacuum gauge screwed into the front drain plug.

However, be very careful as the drain plug hole is plastic and the pressure gauge is 1/4" NPT brass and it can easily crack the threaded plastic hole.

Ok, gauge arrived.
And I also tried to REALLY get the filter clean. I think clogged filter is the issue. I've been putting all kinds of granules like calcium into the pool, and thick liquid CYA into the skimmer to get everything balanced... so I'm probably just clogging it up.
Plus the pool was a freakin mess to begin with, with all the dirt and gravel and stuff at the bottom. The pool company vacuumed most of it out but still. Been cleaning the filter every day but maybe not well enough?

So yesterday when I realllllly cleaned it out good, the salt system was able to run at the 1725 rpm for about half the day, then I bumped it up to the next speed of 2300 rpm (I have not yet had time to manually play with settings between).
Today I cleaned it again and its back to running at 1725 rpm at the moment.

These are pics of the filter gauge and suction pressure gauge at 1725 RPM.
During the startup/priming, the needle on the suction pressure gauge was vibrating between 0-2.5 but then dropped to a steady zero at the 1725 rpm.

 

[D2creative]

So this morning it ran fine at 1725 rpm but by noon I had to increase the speed again.
At 2300 rpm the filter pressure is up to 9 psi. Suction pressure still at zero.

 

[JamesW]

Maybe try a new cartridge and check the cell for debris.

Can you check the wattage, filter pressure and suction pressure at these speeds?

3,450, 3,000, 2,400, 1,725, 1,000 RPM.

 

[D2creative]

Maybe try a new cartridge and check the cell for debris.

Can you check the wattage, filter pressure and suction pressure at these speeds?

3,450, 3,000, 2,400, 1,725, 1,000 RPM.

1000 41w 0psi -0psi
1725 126w 3psi -0psi
2300 270w 9psi -0psi
3000 586w 15psi -0psi
3450 895w 19psi -0psi but bouncy

 

[JamesW]

Note that the vacuum gauge is in inches of mercury (Black) or kPA kiloPascal (Red), not psi.

1 psi = 6.89476 kPa.

In any case, it's odd that it stays at zero.

The filter is a bit undersized in my opinion.

 

[JamesW]

1000 41w 0psi -0psi
1725 126w 3psi -0psi
2300 270w 9psi -0psi
3000 586w 15psi -0psi
3450 895w 19psi -0psi but bouncy

895 watts is only 3.89 amps at 230 volts or 7.78 amps at 115 volts, which is too low for that pump at full speed.

For the 1.65 HP model, the total wattage would be about 1,650 watts or an amperage of about 7.2 amps.

Is the power supply 115 volts or 230 volts?

Can you show the motor label and the pump label with the model number?

 

[D2creative]

Here's the pics. It's dark out but hopefully you can see what you need to.
No idea on the power supply.

 

[JamesW]

They probably wired it for 115 volts, which is stupid and lazy for a new pool.

I would tell them to wire it for 230 volts.

Can you show this label?

 

[JamesW]

The return pressures are too high and the suction should have some value, so the zero reading seems unlikely.

Maybe the gauge is bad?

Maybe see if the gauge registers if you use a vacuum cleaner to produce some suction.

The filter is undersized and maybe the cell is clogged.

At 115 volts, the pump won't run at full speed even if it says 3,450 rpm.

 

[D2creative]

The return pressures are too high and the suction should have some value, so the zero reading seems unlikely.

Maybe the gauge is bad?

Maybe see if the gauge registers if you use a vacuum cleaner to produce some suction.

The filter is undersized and maybe the cell is clogged.

At 115 volts, the pump won't run at full speed even if it says 3,450 rpm.

I can take a look at the cell. I did check the sensor yesterday and that was squeaky clean.
How can i tell how its wired?
Here's that label....

 

[JamesW]

What breaker goes to the pump?

 

[D2creative]

What breaker goes to the pump?

It's a double 20 (with one big handle, which google tells me is "double pole" not tandem.)
Single 20 for the light switch.

 

[D2creative]

Also, i can easily suck on the gauge and it moves. So that seems to be working fine.

 

[JamesW]

The vacuum gauge should have some reading, especially at full speed unless the pump is a lot lower than the pool.

So, it is odd that you are getting a zero reading the whole time.

The power is about what is expected if the pump is wired to 115 volts, but about half if wired to 230 volts.

Can you show the breaker and the wires where they connect in the pump?

Can you ask the installer if they wired the pump for 230 volts or 115 volts?

Can you measure the voltage with the pump off and then at full speed?

You can check the current and power in the Diagnostic menu.

The power divided by the current is the voltage.

For example if the power is 895 watts and the current is 3.89 amps, then the voltage is 230 volts (895/3.89 = 230 volts).

If the power is 895 watts and the current is 7.78 amps, then the voltage is 115 volts (895/7.78 = 115).

If the voltage is 115 volts, the speed is limited to about 2,725 RPM, even if the speed shows higher.

https://hayward-pool-assets.com/assets/documents/pools/pdf/manuals/maxflo-vs-IS23520VSP.pdf

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Could the impeller be partially blocked with junk? Perhaps with all the junk in the pool from start up, something got jammed in the impeller? Just spit-balling here …

 

[JamesW]

Could the impeller be partially blocked with junk? Perhaps with all the junk in the pool from start up, something got jammed in the impeller? Just spit-balling here …

Definitely possible.

Check the impeller and make sure the pump and skimmer baskets are clean and properly seated.

 

[D2creative]

I checked the impeller. Seems squeaky clean.
Haven't had time to check the voltage and stuff yet.

But i think I may have found the problem. Or confirmed what i was originally thinking.... clogged filter.

I watched this video:

I wasn't really noticing cavitation but there was some air bubbles in the basket.
So I did what the vid said and ran the filter with no cartridge. First pic below is the running pressure during priming with the needle reset to have green over black.
Second pic shows the pressure while priming with the cartridge back in. Way out of range!

So I'm just going to order a new filter and see what happens.

Our pool sat for 3 weeks before they came and got it all cleaned up and running. It was green and nasty during that time.

Oh and if I had to guess, our equipment pad does sit lower than the concrete pool deck. Maybe about a foot now that I'm looking at it.

 

[JamesW]

Did the suction pressure increase with the cartridge out?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

You can soak the cartridges in TSP solution to clean off any oils/organic then rinse and acid clean them in dilute MA to remove any mineral scaling that may have built up. That’ll probably only restore them so much. Sounds like they got pretty chemically damage during the startup phase. It’s a shame to throw out new cartridges so maybe you can clean them up enough to be useful as spares.

 

[D2creative]

Did the suction pressure increase with the cartridge out?

It did. I work from home and was trying to do this between other things and forgot to check that gauge when it was running at 1725, but at the priming pressure it was up around the -10 mark. A good 3x what it was before.