I replaced my the air bleed on my DE manifold because the screen on the old one kept coming off letting DE medium through the returns and back into the pool. However, the new one is doing the same thing. I am so frustrated because I cannot clean my pool up and taking the filter apart to put the screen back on takes a toll on this old girl. It seems to happen mostly when I back wash. How can I prevent this from happening every time I backwash? I am still trying to clean up my pool from the hurricanes here in Florida, which requires frequent backwashing, but that is very difficult because the DE medium keeps flooding back into the pool.
Pentair FNS Plus Internal Air Bleed Screen Keeps coming off
- Thread starter ivymasters1
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 24,428
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Is it the white mesh material or stainless steel material? Can you post a picture of it next time?
Hal3
LifeTime Supporter
I am not an expert!
I had a similar problem which I traced to a large crack in the frame that holds the fabric "sails" in place. Pool water flows through the frame and DE was leaking through the crack.
I confess that I "glued" the crack closed. It wasn't a simple glueing. I ground out the crack a bit and cleaned the surfaces with acetone. Then I used quite a bit of a waterproof epoxy product in several layers. I don't recall the brand. It worked. Unless you are adventurous and thrifty you might want to just replace the part.
The crack was on the bottom and not really visible unless the whole frame was removed.
Another possible cause is a tear in one of the sails. These can be replaced.
Again, I am not an expert.
I had a similar problem which I traced to a large crack in the frame that holds the fabric "sails" in place. Pool water flows through the frame and DE was leaking through the crack.
I confess that I "glued" the crack closed. It wasn't a simple glueing. I ground out the crack a bit and cleaned the surfaces with acetone. Then I used quite a bit of a waterproof epoxy product in several layers. I don't recall the brand. It worked. Unless you are adventurous and thrifty you might want to just replace the part.
The crack was on the bottom and not really visible unless the whole frame was removed.
Another possible cause is a tear in one of the sails. These can be replaced.
Again, I am not an expert.
It has basically nothing but a small ridge at the end of the tube even though the black rubber neck has threading to screw it on. I would glue it but I dont know of a rubber to plastic cement that would hold with pool chemicals.
This is the screen on the air bleed on the manifold that keeps popping off each time I back wash. Thanks so much for responding to my problem.
I am trying a marine grade epoxy, that I got from the local hardware store, to fix the screen to the tube. I am hoping this permanently solves that problem. Pentair support suggested using silicon, but my thought was that after backwashing so often, it would eventually pop off again.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,428
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I'm not sure I would do that just yet ...
The screen is popping off for a reason when you backwash and I would say it's not because "it doesn't fit right" but more likely because there's something wrong with the system. Perhaps it is your pump being too powerful or because you filter grid fabric is clogged up. Honestly, during a backwash, the majority flow of the water should go through the filter fabric and only a trickle should go through the air bleed tube. If the air bleed tube is handling more water than it should, then it's going to pop off.
Question - when was the last time that the filter grid assembly was completely taken apart and each screen independently cleaned? Has the fabric ever been inspected for scale deposits?
Permanently gluing something together when it's not intended to be is simply a band-aid to mask the potentially bigger problem. It's your pool and filter so you can do as you like, but I think that this solution is "missing the forrest for the trees" ...
any back pressure while backwashing could cause this, or vacuuming while in back backwash mode.
The grids might need to be replaced.
What pump do you have?
What speed are you using?
Do you have pictures of everything?
When is the last time you took the grids out and cleaned them really well?
What is the normal filter pressure?
What pump do you have?
What speed are you using?
Do you have pictures of everything?
When is the last time you took the grids out and cleaned them really well?
What is the normal filter pressure?