New Pool with SWG - Filter pressure not decreasing

[SundeepH]

Good afternoon Guys,

I am new to TFP. I had my pool built about 3 months ago. My filter pressure was at 10 when pool was opened. I have been getting the water tested at my local pool store. The first time I went in, I was giving stabilizers, calcium plus, and PH down. After about 2 weeks or so, I start get a lot of calcium flakes in the pool. Thinking nothing of it, I would brush and vacuum. After a month of doing this, I saw filter pressure was at 13PSI and I decided to clean it. And there was a lot of calcium flake in there. I put everything back together and filter pressure remained at 13PSI. At this point, I stopped using PH down and started using Muriatic Acid to control the PH level. The amount of calcium flakes reduced by a lot. I dont see them much at all anymore. 3 months in, my filter pressure is now at 16PSI. I just cleaned it and it is still at 16PSI. I am using a filter flosser to clean the filter.

Would the calcium flaking in my pool earlier cause the SWG to create blockage? Should I be cleaning that now.


I have Pentair superflo 2HP, Clean and Clear Plus 420, Mastertemp 400, Ichlor i30 for a 11340 gallon pool.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Your biggest issue is gong to the pool store. Their products, testing, and advice are usually off the mark. Do you have your own TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C test kit? If not, please make that a priority. Even though your season is coming to an end, you'll use it in the spring. Vinyl requires no calcium. It's possible you have a different chemistry issue (algae), but we need to see a full set of your own testing first.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[SundeepH]

Understood. I'll order a test kit.

 

[mknauss]

Understood. I'll order a test kit.

See these threads from members in Canada. Check to be sure it is still valid.

• Order from TFTestkits.net into Canada (Step-by-Step)
• Guide to get Test Kit in Canada
• Help with Tf-100 / tftestkits.net for Canadians

Poolsupplyhaus.ca (by Ottawa Pool Works) have the Talyor K2006 for sale at $148.35 and they can ship within Canada. If you are in Ottawa, you can pickup, the shipping fee to Southwestern Ontario is very reasonable for less than $14, they also supply reagents too. The customer service is very helpful and answer questions very promptly.[6]

 

[SundeepH]

See these threads from members in Canada. Check to be sure it is still valid.

• Order from TFTestkits.net into Canada (Step-by-Step)
• Guide to get Test Kit in Canada
• Help with Tf-100 / tftestkits.net for Canadians

Poolsupplyhaus.ca (by Ottawa Pool Works) have the Talyor K2006 for sale at $148.35 and they can ship within Canada. If you are in Ottawa, you can pickup, the shipping fee to Southwestern Ontario is very reasonable for less than $14, they also supply reagents too. The customer service is very helpful and answer questions very promptly.[6]

Thanks for the help. I ordered Taylor K2006 from poolsupplyhaus.

 

[SundeepH]

Here are my results. Again, when i got my filter, PSI was at 10. I cleaned it when it got to 13psi, and it stayed at 13psi. Now its at 16psi and i cleaned it and its stayed at 16.

CYA was difficult measuring with Taylor kit. Couldnt tell if i was doing it right but i added some stabilizer since.

 

[mknauss]

Great. Odd on the filter pressure. It should go back to the base of 10 psi. Does the gauge go to zero when the pump is off?

When you do FC test, use a 10 ml water sample, one heaping scoop of R0870, and each drop of R0871 to clear is 0.5ppm FC. Saves reagents.

The CYA test is a challenge:
Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

The chemistry data you show is fine. Watch the FC level, follow the FC/CYA Levels. Your SWCG should not be scaling with those results.

 

[SundeepH]

Yes it does go back to 0 when the pump is off.

Thanks for the tips on testing. Very new to this stuff.

My SWG is not scaling anymore. I think the cause was using PH Down. I stopped seeing it as soon as I switched to muriatic acid. Maybe just a coincidence, I dont know for sure.

 

[mknauss]

Something is not right with the filter pressure. How are you cleaning the filters?

 

[SundeepH]

Something is not right with the filter pressure. How are you cleaning the filters?

I took them out and used a filter flosser attachment on a hose. They are new and have only been used for 3 months.

 

[Texas Splash]

It sounds as though your psi was 10 as a new pool, then about 3 months later you cleaned the filters, but the psi never went down. In fact it increased to about 16. I can't help but wonder if there's something going on in the filter itself. You seem to be cleaning the carts fine, but double check the manifolds to ensure they are seated well. You might also try flushing out the air relief tube assembly in there in case some debris or that old calcium floated up in there and it's skewing your psi reading.

 

[bligh]

The same thing happened to me this year, this is my second year with a SWG. I watched carefully as I put DE into my system and my filter gauge read 12 lbs.
Some months later my filter gauge read 15 lbs. Also if I turned my VSP motor below 32% I got a error reading "no flow" turning up the VSP motor relieved the no flow but not for long. Cleaning my filter in the normal fashion .. the way I had done for years .. produced a drop in pressure of 1 lbs. and a intermittent no flow error. OK, so I took the filter apart and cleaned the filter methodically with a high pressure but finer mist from the hose, every square inch until the filter looked new. This was uncommon for me to clean the filter so methodically, but that is what the Hayward guy said to do. Do not run your system without DE even for 30 min the fine particles become embedded in the filter and another cleaning will be needed. This resolved the high pressure reading on the filter gauge and the no flow error at low rpm's.
Best of luck