I've been chasing my tail on this. About six weeks ago, I fired my pool guy. He did a mediocre job. All he did was skim the pool, shock it, and keep up the water and pH levels. He didn't do much, but looking back, I had zero pool issues. But I was confident I could do his job with less money and hassle.
The sad truth is, those menial tasks are the least of my worries. I long for the day I can return to them. Since I took over the job, I have spent every weekend fighting pump and filter problems. It's true: I've made some good progress, deconstructed some of the system, and learned a lot about my pool and how it works. Ultimately, I have a pool full of DE that just comes out the returns, and a system that, when a vacuum is attached won't consistently pump water because it appears to pull in air.
Generous amounts of persistence and way more money spent than I would have saved keeping the pool guy have produced only small victories, most of them moral. At least back then I had water my kids could swim in.
I worry that I will have to bring in a new pool professional who will charge me out the ying-yang to fix this. He's gonna tell me I need a new pump, filter, or something else. And I won't be able to disagree. All my efforts have not solved anything.
So, if you'll entertain me one more time, I'll describe the problems and see if you can offer any suggestions. My current situation is this:
About three weeks ago I posted pictures of my filter here:
No Suction
This filter was identified as a DE filter. It had a lot of white sandy material on the inside, a bunch of grids with the same material, only dirtier stuck to them. I removed, cleaned, and replaced the grids. I added about 5 lbs of DE. The boneheaded move I made was to add it to the filter tank. I looked back on another poster's advice and saw that I glossed over the part where he said to put it in the skimmer intake. The fruit of my oversight was that the majority of the DE got pumped into the pool.
I managed to get the pump and vacuum working together. I was sure that the vacuum attached to my pump would pick it up (it did), run it through the system (it did), and be caught by the grids (it did not). Instead, the DE and other dirt simply moved through the system and back out the returns, completing the circle of life.
This morning, with the pump turned off for quite some time and the pump basket off, I opened my filter. It seems to be holding pressure well because I just couldn't remove the top. There was too much pressure. I had to open the bleeder valve and wait for air to be sucked in enough to remove the pressure. Then I pulled it off.
Inside I saw the grids as I left them. The DE is unevenly stuck to the outside of the grids. Some grids have large clumps of DE. Others have a thin layer, and others have very little. The innermost grid has no DE at all. There is DE at the bottom of the tank. Not much, maybe an 1/8" deep in places.
The inside part on the bottom of the tank that holds the grids, I believe that is the manifold, will spin in place, but I can't remove it or tighten or loosen it.
I've read in other posts that leaking DE can be the result of the grids being improperly seated. I replaced the grids after cleaning the same way they came out. It wasn't hard. There are eight holes in the manifold. I just put them back in there. There was no struggle getting them out or putting them back in. They are all the same size. They all stay in with a modest press fit.
I'd love to show you pictures, but TFP only allows 250K of images to be posted, and I can't delete them to make room for others. Maybe I can post my new photos elsewhere and provide links to them.
So that's where I'm at. I'm gonna go back outside and hose off the grids, put them back, run the pump and see if I can pick up any of that DE in the pool. If you have any suggestions, I'd welcome them. I hate my pool. Thanks for listening.
The sad truth is, those menial tasks are the least of my worries. I long for the day I can return to them. Since I took over the job, I have spent every weekend fighting pump and filter problems. It's true: I've made some good progress, deconstructed some of the system, and learned a lot about my pool and how it works. Ultimately, I have a pool full of DE that just comes out the returns, and a system that, when a vacuum is attached won't consistently pump water because it appears to pull in air.
Generous amounts of persistence and way more money spent than I would have saved keeping the pool guy have produced only small victories, most of them moral. At least back then I had water my kids could swim in.
I worry that I will have to bring in a new pool professional who will charge me out the ying-yang to fix this. He's gonna tell me I need a new pump, filter, or something else. And I won't be able to disagree. All my efforts have not solved anything.
So, if you'll entertain me one more time, I'll describe the problems and see if you can offer any suggestions. My current situation is this:
About three weeks ago I posted pictures of my filter here:
No Suction
This filter was identified as a DE filter. It had a lot of white sandy material on the inside, a bunch of grids with the same material, only dirtier stuck to them. I removed, cleaned, and replaced the grids. I added about 5 lbs of DE. The boneheaded move I made was to add it to the filter tank. I looked back on another poster's advice and saw that I glossed over the part where he said to put it in the skimmer intake. The fruit of my oversight was that the majority of the DE got pumped into the pool.
I managed to get the pump and vacuum working together. I was sure that the vacuum attached to my pump would pick it up (it did), run it through the system (it did), and be caught by the grids (it did not). Instead, the DE and other dirt simply moved through the system and back out the returns, completing the circle of life.
This morning, with the pump turned off for quite some time and the pump basket off, I opened my filter. It seems to be holding pressure well because I just couldn't remove the top. There was too much pressure. I had to open the bleeder valve and wait for air to be sucked in enough to remove the pressure. Then I pulled it off.
Inside I saw the grids as I left them. The DE is unevenly stuck to the outside of the grids. Some grids have large clumps of DE. Others have a thin layer, and others have very little. The innermost grid has no DE at all. There is DE at the bottom of the tank. Not much, maybe an 1/8" deep in places.
The inside part on the bottom of the tank that holds the grids, I believe that is the manifold, will spin in place, but I can't remove it or tighten or loosen it.
I've read in other posts that leaking DE can be the result of the grids being improperly seated. I replaced the grids after cleaning the same way they came out. It wasn't hard. There are eight holes in the manifold. I just put them back in there. There was no struggle getting them out or putting them back in. They are all the same size. They all stay in with a modest press fit.
I'd love to show you pictures, but TFP only allows 250K of images to be posted, and I can't delete them to make room for others. Maybe I can post my new photos elsewhere and provide links to them.
So that's where I'm at. I'm gonna go back outside and hose off the grids, put them back, run the pump and see if I can pick up any of that DE in the pool. If you have any suggestions, I'd welcome them. I hate my pool. Thanks for listening.
