Pressure issues, need help

Pressure issues, need help

I have a pool and spa attached that has a fountain with DE filter. The spa/fountain is flowing water back into the pool.

I noticed the fountain has no pressure (no water flowing back into the pool). Pressure gage reads 30. I have backwashed and the pool runs great for an hr or so (starts at 20psi). Then back to no pressure. It appears looking at the motor; the strainer and basket are not completely filled with water. So appears it is losing prim.

I can open the strainer/basket and screw it back on. Again runs great for an hr or so then back to no pressure.

So I open the strainer/basket, took off o-ring and cleaned it, clean the strainer/basket and lubed o-ring and strainer/basket. Cleaned skimmers and started the pool back up. Pressure read 20. Again runs great for an hr or so then back to no pressure.


Any ideas?

Thanks Steve

Update.

Another user from another forum gave me an idea of what could be wrong.

"Are you fighting an algae bloom? If you are filtering a lot of algae out of the pool then the filter will clog quickly and shut down the flow rate from the pump."
It was a good call. I open my filter and found a nice shade of green. I cleaned the filters and I will update in future if all is good.

Thanks!

Yeah, live algae will plug a DE filter very quickly.

I have very clear memories of a night spent babysitting a 300,000 gallon commercial pool with a below water-level vacuum DE filter. They were preparing to open, and had let algae get started. The filter would plug in 15 - 20 minutes, and have to be cleaned or it would start draining the pool. It was a great system when it worked, but a total pain the rest of the time.

You'll get much longer filter runs if you will KILL the algae. If your stabilizer is not too high, a 10 - 20 ppm dose of chlorine will usually do it.

PoolDoc