DE Filter Doesn't Build Pressure Even When Filter Helper Is Added. It Stays At 13 to 14 lbs.
by David
The pH is fine and the hardness was addressed. I added 4 bottles of shock, 5 pints of sanitizer, and 2.4oz. of algaecide. The pool turned blue, but couldn't see bottom. I vacuumed blindly and the pool turned green again. I had another sample tested and the shock was 0. I was told to add calcium hardness and add Filter Helper to skimmer. I did that, however, the pressure has stayed the same. In other years I always cleaned the filter because pressure would rise to 20/ 22 lbs. Any ideas? Thanks for the question David I would first ask if you could post your chemical readings (chlorine, pH, alkalinity, hardness) and the size of your pool. It's a little difficult to help when the question states only what was put in. It may not have been enough, or too much. Did you use a stabilized or unstabilized form of chlorine? What was the name of it? Dichlor is stabilized and has the (cyanuric acid/CYA) in it. If you used an unstabilized chlorine, some of it will consume the algae and some will be eaten up by the heat and sun. Why were you told to increase the calcium hardness? What was the level before you added it and what is it now? I believe Filter Helper is a kind of floc, which is used to clear up cloudy water. It allegedly helps bring particles together to form larger clumps that can be easily vacuumed or filtered out. Have you cleaned the grids and recharged with fresh DE? How much did you use? Turn your pump off and check the pressure gauge. If it drops to zero, the gauge is fine. We can troubleshoot after that. If the needle is stuck, the gauge is probably bad and needs to be replaced. To clear up a green pool, you can go here: Green Water/Algae Green Pool Water Swimming Pool Algae Cloudy Pool Water Water Testing Pool Water Testing Water Testing Kit If you could contact me with the above information, I'm sure I can help. There's also great posts and answered questions on the pool Q&A page about clearing up green pools and troubleshooting DE filters: Swimming Pool Questions and Answers Robert Follow Up Comment: By: Dave June 13, 2011 I use Baquacil. The pH is 7.7 and the calcium hardness was 100. I added 11 lbs. The pool size 16 by 32 and the pool volume 17,500 gallons. The guage seems to be fine. I have two DE filters and break them down and clean them when pressure increases, however the pressure is staying around 13 lbs. The filter helper is a flock. I added six capfulls to the skimmer, slowly, which in past years makes my pressure rise. Thats why I wonder if I have a suction leak. Any hints on ways to track that down? Follow Up Answer: By: Robert Date: June 13, 2011 Thanks for the follow up Dave First, I'd like you to read a question I recently answered in this post about Baquacil: Swimming Pool Algae With Baquacil Use I'm not really a big fan of Baquacil products and the above post goes into detail about that. Your calcium is a bit low at 100ppm. The range you want to hit is between 150 - 250ppm. By putting in 11lbs. you should be in that range. Allow for 1 complete turnover of the water and retest. A turnover is normally about 8 hours. If you checked the gauge and it drops to zero when the pump is turned off, then I would suggest this link that I just answered: Pressure Builds Up In 30 minutes And DE Flowing Back Into The Pool Be sure you're putting in the correct amount of DE and use a DE scoop, not a coffe can. Also, make a slurry and put that into the skimmer. If you scoop DE directly into the skimmer you run the risk of not evenly coating the grids. Basically you'll have large chunks of DE on the grids. The following links have very good information: D.E.Filter High Pressure How To Clean The DE Filter Grids With Oil & Residue DE Filter Problem..DE Coming Back Into The Pool.. WHY AM I GETTING DE BACK IN THE POOL? Concerning a suction side leak, here are good posts that I've answered. The first one is very good: Water Emptying Out Of My Pool Through Sewer Drain At All Settings... And the rest: Why Is Air Getting Into The Sand Filter & Pump? Sand Filter Draining When In "Filter" Position Pool Sand Filter Problem..Water Out Of Backwash Pipe Don't worry about you having a DE filter and some of the above posts are sand filters. The troubleshooting is basically the same, with some minor variations. Checking the skimmer, water level, pump lid and gasket, that's what I'm referring to. Hope this helps and let me know how it turns out for you. Robert |
