DE Filter Problem

It all started early this spring. Because of the fecal material from my neighbor's trees, I always remove the filter element assembly and wash it out in the spring. The filter is a Hayward DE7220 with 8 elements.

Because of shoulder surgery, I wasn't able to remove the filter assembly by myself, so my friend was going to do it. Unfortunately, it didn't go well. The outlet elbow o-ring was stretched out and was visible below the top collector manifold. Not good. He tried several times to lift the assembly to no avail.

He then stood up on the rim of the lower filter body and pulled - it was really stuck. I told him to rock it from side to side. He did so, but did it vertically vs. the way I intended i.e. horizontally. I then cut the visible part of the o-ring and tried twisting it side to side and was able to lift it slightly. I then had him remove it all the way, and we cleaned it.

It has been a bad spring, algae problems, the pool water never looked really sharp, and there was a lot of dirt and sand in spite of backflushing and vacuuming frequently. I then noticed that there was a lot of DE on the beach entry. Something was wrong with the filter.

When I disassembled the filter, I found that the tips on 6 of the 8 elements were broken off, and several were stuck in the top collector manifold. Also the same manifold had a small crack in it. A new manifold and whole set of elements later and now the pool water is clear, and no junk on the bottom.

Two things I'm passing on: 1) Replace the outlet elbow o-ring anytime you remove the filter. 2) If the thing ever gets stuck, be gentle on trying to remove it. (Only twist from side to side horizontally.)

DE Filter Problem - Fixed