No suction from the skimmer

[krc123]

Hi TFP friends!

I am newbie to pool and we just brought a house with an in-ground pool. I am learning to maintain the pool so please bare me!

The pool is using an old Apollo DE filter and has a Caretaker cleaning system. I started the filter yesterday and I saw the filter was running fine, water was flowing into the skimmer, the caretake jets popped up sometimes.

However, when I checked it today, there is barely not much water moving into the skimmer and the caretaker jets never popup, the pressure of the filter is around 22. I thought it was clogged at some place so I removed the caretaker to clean the strainer (pretty clean); I also opened the DE filter and clean the inside (pretty clean as well). I re-started the filter and it would work fine for a couple minutes but after then the skimmer lost suction again.

I tried a couple times, as long as I open the backwash valve to release some water and then close it, it will work fine for couple minutes (water flowing into skimmer, caretaker jets popup ) but not working after that.

Any suggestions on what I should try? Thank you all for your inputs!

Richard

 

[Jimrahbe]

Richard,

Sounds like a dirty filter.. If you have an MPV turn it to Recirculate and see what happens.. This basically bypasses the filter.

What does your water look like? Green or Cloudy?

Show us some pics of the input plumbing to your main pump...

You said you were new, so want to make sure.. Did you add new DE once you took the filter apart?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[krc123]

Richard,

Sounds like a dirty filter.. If you have an MPV turn it to Recirculate and see what happens.. This basically bypasses the filter.

What does your water look like? Green or Cloudy?

Show us some pics of the input plumbing to your main pump...

You said you were new, so want to make sure.. Did you add new DE once you took the filter apart?

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hey Jim!

You saved my life! Yes, it turned out that I didn't add the DE after I took the filter apart. I cleaned the filter again and added the DE this time. Now, it works like a charm!

Thank you so much!

Richard K.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Richard,

Maybe, Maybe not.. ??? I asked about the DE because you are new to pools. But... I can't understand why not having DE would cause the problem of no flow so quickly... Seems to me the filter should clog faster with DE inside.. The DE is what captures all the stuff and makes the filter... a filter.

Let's run it for a few days and see what happens

When you initially cleaned the filter, did you remove all the old DE before you cleaned the grids??

Anyway, let us know how things go in the next few days..

Thanks,

Jim R.