DE leaks into pool; and filter clamp leaks elsewhere

I am having this same problem, my filter is leaking at the clamp and causing the water to flow back through the skimmer into the pool. I thought about the check valve which would stop the back flow but I need the leak stopped. I tried replacing the o ring with lots of lube, but that made it worse. old o ring is back in and clamp is tight but still leaking. I am new to this so don't know much, so I have enlisted the help of a pool company (coming out today). So my questions are what could cause the leak at the clamp and approximately how much should it cost to fix?

Absolutely NO idea.

I don't know what filter you have or what what clamp you mean.

But, I'm spinning this off into it's own thread.

It's Hayward pro grid de4820 and leaks at the clamp that holds the two halves of the filter cover together, Sorry I should have given more info to you to help you better understand what I was talking about

Usually leaks in that location mean:

1. The filter was re-tightened unevenly. On many large clamps like that, you need to tap them with a rubber hammer as you tighten, so the clamp can slide and tighten evenly.
2. The O-ring has deteriorated.
3. The groove the O-ring was in OR the O-ring itself was not rinsed 100% clean before re-assembly.

Waterbear can probably think of some other reasons.

The manual for this filter has pretty specific requirements for closing the filter.

I do not have a manual for this filter. Pool was put in prior to us buying our house. I will have to look up the manual on the web and see if I can get one. Thanks for the advice guys. I am limited to the weekends to work on the filter due to the fact that my wife works during the day and I work at night and we have a 1 year old which I watch alone during the day. I have tried to fix it the past 2 weekends to no avail and my pool is looking bad. This is why I have enlisted a pool guy to help. He gives a free estimate and came by today to look at it. Said he will email an estimate to me but did tell me there would be a $60 service charge plus whatever else, which I assume will be parts and labor if I have him come back to fix the leak

I think your DEX-2400-K 0-ring may be shot :(

Unfortunately, Hayward stopped producing them in April of 2009. [I wrote a post on Trouble Free Pool about it here.]

Please check the o-ring for pinches and/ or squared off edges. For your unit, you may end up having to purchase the ~new S.S. replacement kit - but, it'll be less than a new filter.

** I've NEVER seen the S.S. replacement -- but I'll be happy to tell you what little i know.**

If you can locate an industrial O-ring house, and can take the existing O-ring in, they can make a replacement O-ring for you. I know where you'd go in Chattanooga to have it done, but I can't help you in Riverside. However, in any area with a large industrial base, there will likely be such a supplier.

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Originally Posted by Lowdown

I do not have a manual for this filter.

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Hayward Pro-Grid page

DE4820 manual

Thanks for the advice guys, it is much appreciated. So here's the update. The pool guy came to attempt to fix the leak, says it's the o ring like you guys suggested, so he replaced the o ring. Still leaking, he could not fix the leak with the o ring (still wanted service fee). He said it could be the clamp. If you move the clamp it always leaks at the two areas where the ends of the clamp meets. Any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by Lowdown

Any thoughts?

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Are you handy with tools? If not, you probably will need to EITHER ignore the leak if it's small OR get a new filter, unless you have access to another pool guy with better skills.

Giant O-ring seals are a pain. You have to make sure the O-ring is OK, the top channel is OK, the bottom channel is OK, there isn't ANY debris, that the O-ring isn't 'bunched up', that the clamp is compressing evenly, and so on.

I read through the manual, and reading between the lines on the instructions, Hayward has had some problems with that filter. Among other things, they explicitly warn AGAINST doing exactly what I suggested doing -- tapping the clamp with a hammer. That tells me 2 things:

1. Other people have had problems with the clamp compressing the O-ring evenly enough to get a good seal, and
2. The clamp is plastic, and can be broken if you tap on it (especially, if you don't know the difference between "tapping" and "hammering").

It's possible that your filter is un-repairable. But more likely, it's just balky. Those fiber type clamps will slip when new, and compress things evenly. But, when they are old and somewhat oxidized, they have a LOT more friction, and often have to be lightly tapped to get them to slide and compress evenly. Unfortunately, this is very much a "you have to know how hard to tap; I can't tell you how hard" sort of thing.

Most very experienced service guys could do that. Most young and in-experienced service guys could not. And some old service guys never get good.

So, you're kinda stuck. You could try a new clamp, if they are available. It might work. But, the friction MIGHT be from the filter body rather than the clamp, and then a new clamp wouldn't help much. And, of course it could STILL be a bad O-ring, or a damaged groove. The fact that the leak moves with clamp argues against that, however.

What you NEED is a service guy good enough to either fix, or recognize (and explain) exactly why it can't be fixed. But, you haven't got that.

Sorry.

I am fairly handy, I can't ignore the leak, it let's all the water an debris that is sucked into it flow back into the pool because it doesn't have a good vacuum seal, and there are plenty of pool services here, but few give free estimates and want $110 or more just to look at it. So say $100 for service call plus parts and probably charge me other things as well, and I will be out at least the service fee I'm sure, whether they fix it or not. I had to pay a service charge to this last guy although it wasn't as much as the others, and he didn't fix my problem. Shouldn't there be a "if we don't fix it you don't pay" deal, or is that just wishful thinking?
It now has a new o ring which Waste said is discontinued, so if that's the case and there is a replacement kit how do these places get an o ring for my filter? I mentioned that to this guy and he sounded surprised. I also mentioned to him what you had suggested about cleaning up the channel the o ring sits in of debris, he ignored that idea and did not clean that out.
The clamp is metal, and I was told by my local pool store that there should be a gap between the ends of the clamp, which looking at the clamps on the filters in the store they had about a 3 inch gap, mine is millimeters and very close to touching but are not touching. They said if the ends are touching it may not be getting tight enough to get a good seal which makes sense. Is it possible that I either have the wrong clamp or that the clamp is old, worn and beat up?
Let's hope it's just balky and with some perseverance I can fix the leak without having to buy a new filter.

[I wrote a post on Trouble Free Pool about it here.]

I just had the opportunity to read this write up. My filter is not a stainless steel filter and you posted that this only applies to the stainless steel filters. Not sure what the material my filter is made of, some sort of plastic material I guess

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Originally Posted by Lowdown

Shouldn't there be a "if we don't fix it you don't pay" deal, or is that just wishful thinking?.

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I didn't do that, when I did hourly service work -- it still took my time to get there; my tools and knowledge to check it out, and it wasn't my fault it was broken.

Update: got a pool company to replace clamp through our home warranty and no more leak. So I don't need a new filter

Great! Thanks for coming back with an update for us!

Just to make sure I understand: they replaced the entire clamp on the filter, and that fixed the problem?

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Originally Posted by PoolDoc

Just to make sure I understand: they replaced the entire clamp on the filter, and that fixed the problem?

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Yes the old metal clamp that has 2 bolts to tighten the clamp has been replaced with a new plastic clamp with 1 bolt that tightens the clamp, and no more leak

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for your help