drop in pressure

[delchip]

Hi all,
the pressure has dropped by half in the filter giving problems with the auto cleaner moving very slowly. Any ideas please

[Watermom]

What kind of filter do you have? I know that when my filter needs cleaned, my vac won't move much either.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[delchip]

Hi thanks it has a sand filter changed the sand about six years ago, does it need changing again?

[Watermom]

No. You do not need to change sand unless you get it gooped up using something like Baquacil. I recently bought a new sand filter but the one I replaced still had the same sand in it that has been used for the past 12 seasons and it is just fine. I sold the filter to somebody and they are still using that sand. Sand does not wear out.

Have you backwashed the filter recently? If not, try that and see if it helps. Also, after you backwash, note what your clean filter pressure is so that whenever you see an 8-10psi rise in pressure, you'll know it is time to backwash again.

[PoolDoc]

You also want to check your pump basket, and if you can reach it, the throat of the impeller, to make sure it's not jammed up with leaves and twigs that slipped round the pump basket.

If you have a multiport valve on your filter, with a "recirculate" position, you can test to see if the problem is the filter or the pump, but putting the valve in that position. If you get normal circulation, the problem is the filter. If you still have weak circulation, the problem is the pump.

By the way, I hate addresses manufactured by builders and real estate agents. Obviously, England's got a leg up, having addresses that are 100s of years old. But, still, living next to "Polecat Woods" is nice! In British English, is a "polecat" a type of skunk? I'd assumed the term was an Americanism.

[delchip]

Hi thanks will check these points.

As for your last sentence my name is Derek which has been shortened to del[as only fools and horses the tv programme]and I am a carpenter namely a chippy in Uk. No a polecat is a type of ferret used to flush rabbits out of holes!!!P.S. We don`t have any skunks in the Uk nearest thing is a banker!!

[PoolDoc]

Ok. That makes sense -- a lot of our names for common animals were brought over and then applied to any likely candidate! There are ferrets in the US, but they are much less common than skunks. It made nonsense out of some nursery rhymes, since our "robin red breast" actually has a rusty orange chest, and is a thrush, unrelated to the true robin you have.

"Chippy" -- never heard that one, at least with that meaning. I won't say what I thought it was.

[TomC]

My grandfather used the term chippy as slang for women!

Tom

[PoolDoc]

My grandfather used the term chippy as slang for women!

Uh. yeah. that's the one. But he probably didn't call them that where they could hear!

[TomC]

Nope he didn't, he would just say it to his grandsons. He had a bit of an accent and for the longest time I though he was saying chickies. When I was a kid we used the slang word chicks, and I thought he was just saying that word with an accent.

Tom