White powder in pool

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I had this same problem - white powder at bottom of pool - a week or so ago. It would reappear again within a day after I vacuumed it up. The water was very clear, but that pesky white powder kept collecting at the bottom. After vacuuming several times with no success I concluded that it must be DE that was escaping the filter and making its way into the pool. I decided to take the Hayward EC50AC filter apart, clean it out, and inspect the interior components. All of the DE fingers appeared to be fine. There is a circular ring of 12 screws and nuts that hold the DE finger plates together. One of the screws and nut was totally missing, leaving a hole and major path for the DE to escape. Additionally, 2 other screws were loose. After a quick repair, reassembly, and recharge of the DE, all was well. I vacuumed any residual DE from the bottom and it has not returned.
 
FDSJr said:
I had this same problem - white powder at bottom of pool - a week or so ago. It would reappear again within a day after I vacuumed it up. The water was very clear, but that pesky white powder kept collecting at the bottom. After vacuuming several times with no success I concluded that it must be DE that was escaping the filter and making its way into the pool. I decided to take the Hayward EC50AC filter apart, clean it out, and inspect the interior components. All of the DE fingers appeared to be fine. There is a circular ring of 12 screws and nuts that hold the DE finger plates together. One of the screws and nut was totally missing, leaving a hole and major path for the DE to escape. Additionally, 2 other screws were loose. After a quick repair, reassembly, and recharge of the DE, all was well. I vacuumed any residual DE from the bottom and it has not returned.
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THANK YOU!!! I took off the ring and 3 bolts were missing and the others were loose. Replaced and tightened and everything is great. I wish I would have seen this post first. Spent hundreds of dollars draining and refilling my pool and adding chemicals because the "experts" told me it was dead algea. Should have went with my first instinct when I thought it was DE.
 
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jcdifi26 said:
Should have went with my first instinct when I thought it was DE.
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I suggest you read back and notice that you had very little handle on your water chemistry and were outright lying to us about your chemistry levels. In a case like yours 99% of the time it's a chemistry problem. And you most certainly had a chemistry problem. Your CYA was through the roof, draining your water was absolutely an "expert" move. I still doubt all the chemistry problems are fixed.

Now had you had your chemistry in check and had been properly testing and dosing your water we'd have gone along down the rabbit hole of other potential issues. But you didn't, so we weren't going to go chasing the least likely possibilities just because your "instinct" said it wasn't a chemistry issue. Sorry, you have to earn that kind of trust and dumping copper algaecides in the water and having a CYA of 140 doesn't foster much belief in your diagnosing ability.
 
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Donldson said:
I suggest you read back and notice that you had very little handle on your water chemistry and were outright lying to us about your chemistry levels. In a case like yours 99% of the time it's a chemistry problem. And you most certainly had a chemistry problem. Your CYA was through the roof, draining your water was absolutely an "expert" move. I still doubt all the chemistry problems are fixed.

Now had you had your chemistry in check and had been properly testing and dosing your water we'd have gone along down the rabbit hole of other potential issues. But you didn't, so we weren't going to go chasing the least likely possibilities just because your "instinct" said it wasn't a chemistry issue. Sorry, you have to earn that kind of trust and dumping copper algaecides in the water and having a CYA of 140 doesn't foster much belief in your diagnosing ability.
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"I accidently put too much DE in the system. White powder appeared on the bottom of my pool. I assumed it was DE. I've vacuumed several times, back washed the system, but I'm still getting the white power on the bottom."
That was in my first post, and was not a lie.!!! Yes, my water chemistry was not in check, but still that was not my main problem. My CYA has been high since I opened my pool 5 years ago, it was still high after I drained and refilled it!!! I've had no problems with my water for 5 years. If there is algea in there when I open it, yes, I use a half gallon of (please forgive me) "copper algaecides" and it's gone the next day. The other "potential" issue WAS the issue. If that was addressed first, my problem would have been solved. SOME people on this board believe EVERYTHING is solved with the SLAM process and if you don't do that or GOD FORBID you put in any chemicals that they don't approve of, you're an idiot. "In a case like yours 99% of the time it's a chemistry problem." I don't believe that my problem only happens 1% of the time. I think because you think that, your FIRST and usually ONLY advice is to SLAM your pool, and everythink will be OK. Unfortunatly, that's not always the case. I'd have more repect for people if they said, "Wow, that's unfortunate, sorry we missed that, now that this is fixed, let's work on getting your chemistry in check." I don't think that happens too much around here.
 

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