I would suspect many here would say what I'm doing wrong is....using biguanide, n'est-ce pas?
What sort of DE filter cleaner should be used when on chlorine?
- Thread starter anthonypool89
- Start date
If you are not doing anything wrong, then you have no ability to fix the problem.
No, you have been saying this for 10 years.
Honestly, I don't really care what you do.
Do it, or don't, whatever.
I try not to give up on something till as many avenues as I feel are realistically possible to try to solve a problem have been exhausted. I haven't gotten to that point till this year. I have NO problem with how the water looks and would probably not convert if it weren't for this filter issue. Logic dictates that the next step - to account for a few variables - is to see what happens with chlorine. If it's as troublefree as most report here, fine. I'll go with it UNLESS the filter pressure problem remains. That's what I need to find out since then the only solution would appear to be continually buying new grids for each season, which seems a bit ridiculous.
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Not really...I've been saying for probably close to that long that I DON'T want to convert until trying everything I can to see if I can make baqua work successfully by experimenting with several different chemicals. I don't think there are any other products out there to try that I haven't already UNLESS a different cleaner would be worth it. Thing is, why would the existing cleaner - soft swim or baqua filter cleaner - have worked so well up until the last few seasons? Fresh fill went in back in '14 when the pool was renovated, so perhaps things were going well filtration-wise several years later due to whatever might have been in the old water (algae issue?) that was drained out.
Asking a dumb question - what is filter cleaner? If I'm understanding the previous posts, it sounds like it's something intended to get the baqua goo off the filter grids? Now that's a strange product.
For what it's worth, I pulled apart my DE filter at the beginning of summer to give it a deep cleaning and it was very obvious nobody had been in there for a while. The previous owner said he couldn't remember ever having anyone take it apart and it was a real jerk to get apart. The grid had been replaced, and according to the tag on the grid, it was from 2016 which was right before they bought the house. So it was very likely nobody was in there in 6 years. It just had backwashes and an unspecified amount of DE added during the last owner's tenure. There was a lot of buildup in the grids, but the filter still functioned fine and even after serious cleaning the grids, my max pressure only went up 2 psi. To sum it up, unless you've massively jammed things up with flocculant, I can't imagine ever needing this in a chlorine pool.
For what it's worth, I pulled apart my DE filter at the beginning of summer to give it a deep cleaning and it was very obvious nobody had been in there for a while. The previous owner said he couldn't remember ever having anyone take it apart and it was a real jerk to get apart. The grid had been replaced, and according to the tag on the grid, it was from 2016 which was right before they bought the house. So it was very likely nobody was in there in 6 years. It just had backwashes and an unspecified amount of DE added during the last owner's tenure. There was a lot of buildup in the grids, but the filter still functioned fine and even after serious cleaning the grids, my max pressure only went up 2 psi. To sum it up, unless you've massively jammed things up with flocculant, I can't imagine ever needing this in a chlorine pool.
VinnyinNJ
Bronze Supporter
- Jul 20, 2022
- 1,052
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
In the 20 years of owning my DE filter which consisted of grids I just cleaned them with a hose, I was using chlorine and perlite as the medium. Never had an issue but needed to replace the grids after 17 years. I can't speak of what to do with the Hayward fingers. It was an AG pool, never used anything else except Polyquat 60 at closing. The grids went from white to beige but functioned great.i don't necessarily think you need a cleaner once you get rid of the Baqua residue from the filter.
Why? I've always been told it's good to do this at least a few times a season - with biguanide anyway. This is why I asked what it typically done for DE grids with chlorine.
The thing is, by the time I'm done, unless this stuff is invisible to the eye, there would appear to be nothing on those grids, especially after spending over an hour scrubbing each one on both sides. Been using filter cleaner for 22 years with no issues until the last few. Yes, the filter pressure does increase moreso than with chlorine - I was told that from day one when starting to use biguanide - but nothing like these last 3 seasons where sometimes I only get 2-3 days per cycle. The pressure goes up that fast. A baquacil lab technician (as referred to in another thread) mentioned that the grids become "blind" and that the process is irreversible.
The vast majority of the time all I do IS simply take the grids out and hose them off real well. Most seasons I only chemically clean them once, or twice at most. Doesn't seem to make much difference at this point. I could experiment with using other means of "cleaning" the grids, but since I'm converting to chlorine anyway, it'd be introducing too many variables at once to switch to chlorine AND also use some different method of chemically spraying / cleaning girds. OR another option is to stay with baqua but use a different cleaning system. That's not my first choice.
Yeah...same here. Never thought about the grids. They just did the job year after year. So, rather unprecedented to have bought 3 new sets of grids in the last 3 years. The brand new set is really only effective during the first season they're used in. The following season results in short cycling. So the change is that...something is either coagulating against and clogging the grids that didn't before OR the grid material is inferior to what it used to be.
I just meant it's strange coming from the chlorine pool perspective to need a product such as that. In a Baqua pool I get why it's necessary but what an annoyance.
This is what I need to find out and, again, the reason for starting the thread. So it sounds like there is no need for any sort of chemical cleaning of DE grids using chlorine? I could buy into that real quick. One less product - already using Oxidizer, Sanitizer, Algicide, Ahhsome, and Baquacil Line Clean....and filter cleaner. For a few seasons experimented with Aqua Finesse tablets - but all that seemed to do is constantly jack up the pH. Had alot of that stuff left over so sold it on eBay. People snapped it up within a few days.
VinnyinNJ
Bronze Supporter
- Jul 20, 2022
- 1,052
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Yes, I used Aqua Perl which is perlite. It is a fine powder just like DE and seemed to be just as good filtering as DE. It claims to be 1/2 the weight as DE so I bought 12 1/2 lb bags (actually bought it as a 2 pack so 25 lbs) and used the same amount of scoops as DE. When my last AG pool was removed I had 2 unopened boxes and I think another slightly used box in the garage ... I couldn't give it away!
Now I own a sand filter with my new pool and keeping it in reserve if I need to add some to it for finer filtering.As far as the grids, I can't say if the Baquacil person is correct or not. I needed to replace my grids because after 17 years they were starting to develop tears, they were good in the beginning of the season then were bad 3 months later. AG grids are fairly inexpensive so I just bough new ones and the pool liner ripped 2 years later, I was keeping the DE filter in case we got a new pool but the package included a sand filter so I'll be tossing it at some point. I will say that using regular bleach or liquid chlorine really adds nothing to the pool so it's not gumming up anything; at one point Clorox apparently changed their "regular" bleach and added chemical brighteners to it that made it unfit for pool use.
I looked in Baqua when I bought the first pool and it sounded like a great product but was way more expensive to run vs chlorine and decided for us chlorine was the way to go.
You got it, then. Backwash as normal, maybe once a season open up the filter and spray things out if you want. After I saw mine go multiple years without it, I'll maybe do it when the lowest pressure I can get from a backwash is 2-3 PSI higher than it is now.
You will not need any chemicals or taking VA-52 cartridge apart. I had an identical filter for many years. It required backwashing every 4 - 6 weeks. At the end of the season I just removed the cartridge assembly and hosed it with cold water. The only time I took it apart was when replacing grids with torn fabric.
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