Missing my DE Filter -Cartridge not cleaning - pool leak

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jblizzle said:
There are many members here that love their cartridge filters ... especially for those with SWG or expensive water as your do not need to backwash. BUT, they have properly sized (or over-sized) filters and if the chlorine is maintained and no algae starts, they only need to clean them once a year.

Once algae takes root ... cartridge filters are the worst to deal with it.
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This. I like my oversized cartridge filter. I only have to clean it once a year and following the advice here I've never had an algae problem. But if had your issues it would be a different story. If I had to clean the four cartridges in my filter repeatedly during an algae battle I'd be very PO'd.
 
Hi... Thanks for your help. I think my issues center around only having a three month swimming season. The pool is closed most of the year. The cover is mesh and sring loaded...not practical to take on and off to allow for chlorine additions. The result...a green pool every spring startup. So i could by a new $2000 solid cover or open in March. Or, I can have a filter that can handle MY startup issues. My opinion, Cartridges are not for big pools in the Northeast. Spring can bring some sunny days that algae just loves.
 
Great news!!! New Pentair DE filter works great. Woke up to a sparkling clear pool for the first time since last August. Thanks to this site, I was able to stay with the issues, articulate them well to the PS and have the confidence to push for what was the right thing to do. In the end, thank God, they came through with a replacement. :whoot:

Great new #2- this morning showed NO water loss, where other mornings showed 2-3 inches of water loss! Why, you ask? Because Jblizzle was able to identified the leak location by reading my posts. The PS and the leak detection company both said that the leak was located in the return lines. We have cracked through the concrete pad, dug two feet down and three feet wide by hand, only to find out, the leak is on the suction side, NOT the return lines. (Jason, I used the correct terminology! ) :party: I have closed the line at the equipment room AND placed a gizmo inside the skimmer to block the water from each diection.

I still need to pinpoint the leak location and do a repair, but I can ask the leak detection company to come out and redo their test, with a more narrow scope of where to look. I feel confident we will be able to fix it. In the meantime, I can stop wasting hundreds of gallons of water a day and the chemical loss that have frustrated me and my pocket book over the last two months. I will just run with one skimmer until its fixed.

This is a milestone in this "perfect storm" pool saga.
Wrong type and size filter + leak + algae plagued spring startup + powdering paint job = 40,000 gallons of cloudy water.

P.S. As another move motivated by this feasco, I have contacted the "15 year guanteed" paint manufacturer and they have agreed to refund my $2,000+ paint purchase, after three failed attempts to repaint the pool in 7 seven years! That's another thread!

Thank you, Jason and TFP for all the threads, pool school and the encouragement to do my own testing and use the pool calculator. :cheers:
 
New DE Filter was installed on last Friday. It seemed to Work fine for three days. I had very cloudy water after a family swim party on Sunday, two days later. That night, I mistakenly used an outdoor bleach , which made the water even more cloudy, so following the advice of the wonderful folks on TFP, I kept chlorine levels high for three days. There was very little improvement, so I back washed and then ran the filter...put the auto cleaner in the pool. When I removed it, DE was caked on my auto cleaner. When I Checked the returns, there was DE blowing Out into the pool. Two days later (today) the PS shows up at 3:00 and at first told me that I had put too much DE in the skimmer after I back washed. "Three corange containers was too much".????. They took the unit apart. Cleaned the grids. Checked the plumbing. Put it back together saying nothing else seemed out of order.

They started the filter back up, but DE was still coming out the four returns! The we're very puzzled until they called the PS General Manager. He said for them to check the chlorinator connections.... That the DE could be getting to the pool through the chlorinated. They think that's the problem and are coming back tomorrow morning to replumb....

Has anyone heard of such an issue? Are they on the right track? Yet another week of the season has been lost. :cry:
 
The PS came again this morning as promised. They left before I got back from an errand. quite an impressive pluming masterpiece I must say. They included a new type of black round valve new the furnace line.

Started up the pump and began to manually vacuum. All the small debrie from the bottom of the pool started coming out the return lines. Added a pail of DE in the skimmer and it immediately came out the returns.

It wasn't fixed.... I am out of patience and next steps. seems like they are trying... Can anyone guess why a new filter " plumbed correctly" could be passing DE and small debrie back into the pool? Have any of you seen a bad filter or dial come from the manufacturer?

Please help.... Thanks
 
:?: Can I run the DE filter without DE? (it dosen't stay in the filter....blows right out.) in this way the water will be circulating the chlorine. I can swim. Wil it hurt the malfunctioning filter anymore? I never got a call back today from the PS guys. Now they are as frustrated as I am.

I think I have a bad multi-port or filter..... OR my pool professionals are clueless on all levels! :hammer:

Also, when the pool techs came today... They found the heater lines, both IN and OUT steaming hot. I had turned on the heater early this morning so i could swim after they fixed the pool. One is copper, the other is PVC . The PVC joint was actually soft and could be moved. They looked at me and said that they were so hot,they couldn't work on the plumbing until they cooled down. They also said the PVC pipe was so soft that it was in danger of blowing off. I had never noticed that before the new filter was installed. Whatever was done wrong, was corrected with their re-plumbing today, because I have the heater running and the pipes are fine to the touch. Not super hot. What could have caused the pipes to overheat that way?
 
The last techs didn't solve the problem, DE and dirt was coming out the return lines. Today they sent two different techs. They left a note saying everything was fixed...one of the filters was not seated in the manifold.

I ran up to the pool to manually vacuum and there was NO SUCTION in my skimmer! It wouldn't even hold the vacuum hose. I went to see if any water was coming out the returns and I couldn't feel any flow of water at all. The filter pressure was at 32, so there is pressure, but where is the pressure coming from if there is no water going in or out????

I turned it off and on a few times. Ran a series of backwashes... Water seemed to be flowing backwards, but there was no DE that I noticed in the little window. I may check that again tomorrow morning.... Look at the skimmer while it's back washing.... Then I'll see if the pump is pulling the water.

Any clue to my latest issue? I have a crowd coming for the 4th and I have a pool that isn't filtering. I am beyond tears.

I hope you say it's a new problem.... That my pump needs to be replace. I can't bare to think that the filter puzzle hasn't been solved.

Thanks for helping.
 

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I did a visual check earlier and the valve stems (handles have been stripped)on my two return lines were in line with the pipes. I will get my wrench out and turn it tomorrow morning. Maybe something has happened to the valve. That would be such an easy fix!

Boy, I hope this is it!! Thanks.
 
Jason, thanks again. You got me to concentrate on anything that would shut down the return flow. This morning it took about 20 minutes of trying things that didn't work, then i hit the bingo!! :party:

I started at the last pipe the water flows through before exiting the pool equipment room, worked backwards. It didn't take long to see that the newly re-installed in-line chlorinator was the obstacle standing in the way of the flow of water back to the pool. I turned the dial on the chlorinator from half way to fully opened. The water immediately began to flow out to the pool. The chlorinator was acting like a shut-off valve! The pressure gauge returned to 22, which was my normal pressure.

The pool techs came out this afternoon and replaced the chlorinator with one that was appropriate for in-line operation. When they re-plumbed the DE filter, they didn't know the chlorinator couln't

Everything seems to be working properly! The water is sparking clear. Thank you, Jason...it was so much easier to get the PS to respond because I knew (with your help) what was wrong. Too bad, the young pool techs didn't test their work before they left my house. They actually left a note saying everything was fixed. I hope there are lessons for this staff of "techs" and they learn. I wil not be using them again.
 
No way! BBB all the way! I love my ipad pool calculator. I am forever empowered.

No chlorine in the chlorinator....Especially since I just read that it shouldn't be plumbed into a copper pipe without something called check valve due to chemical corrosion and it is!
 
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