Filter not doing the job?

[392papa]

I feel your pain,,,,Although I am not an expert like many of the people who are helping you here with the chemical advice. I will say this ...I have way to much experience cleaning up dead algae with a poor working sand filter from the days before I joined the site.

I have found that turning the filter off for a few hours and vacuuming to waste helps get rid of the "dust'. Also when I have the fine dust in my pool I use "skimmer socks' on my skimmer basket. They are expensive and a pain,,,sometimes i would wash them out a couple of times a day. They do seem to help get rid of the small particles.

If you figure out whats wrong with your filter let us know.

Good luck!!!!

[Spensar]

Also when I have the fine dust in my pool I use "skimmer socks' on my skimmer basket. They are expensive and a pain,,,sometimes i would wash them out a couple of times a day. They do seem to help get rid of the small particles.

fyi, found a 10 pack for $9.75 on Ebay, $3.50 shipping.

[392papa]

thanks I'll check them out!!!

[gogolion]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into skimmer socks. Regarding vacuuming to waste... it takes me a couple of hours to vacuum my pool. That is a LOT of water to be dumping, isn't it? Seems to me I'd have to be filling at the same time and probably wouldn't be able to keep up.

[392papa]

Thats true .....I brush the walls, let the water sit for a few hours so all the sediment settles to the bottom of the pool(pump off) then while filling I quickly vacuum what I can(usually about 10-15 minutes),,,just hitting the heavy areas. Of course this was a last resort only when water was extremly dirty.

I wouldn't do this untill the algae was dead(blue color).

Water is cheep and plentifull here in Ohio....not sure what its like in your area.

As I said before since I started getting advice from this site on how to properly treat my water I have not had any problems.

Thanks everyone!!!

papa

[PoolDoc]

Regarding vacuuming to waste... it takes me a couple of hours to vacuum my pool. That is a LOT of water to be dumping, isn't it?

Why does it take so long? We vacuum a 45' x 75' pool in about 45 minutes. Granted, we use a 36" vac head. Do you need a better vacuum system? If you have good suction at the skimmer, this vac head is probably what you want:
Pentair R201286 222 Pro Vac Series Commercial Pool Vacuums

We use the larger model of that head, but you need REALLY good suction if you do. If you are careful, you can vacuum very quickly with that head. Unless your pool is rough, we could vacuum it in about 30 minutes.

[gogolion]

Hmmm, maybe I'm not getting good suction.

Is there a way to measure that? It feels pretty strong to me on my hand, but then again I have nothing to compare it to. I think I have a 24" vacuum head and I definitely do not get suction the entire length of the head. I really only cover a few inches wide with each pass of the vacuum. I plug one of my skimmers when I vacuum to get better suction. I guess I'll also try turning off my main drain. One thing I've never understood, which could be a cause of poor suction, is that air always seems to get air in my system when I vacuum. Air is always gurgling out of the returns. I have no idea where it comes from since no air gets in when I am filtering normally. I always make sure my pool is full (middle of skimmers) before I vacuum.

[PoolDoc]

One thing I've never understood, which could be a cause of poor suction, is that air always seems to get air in my system when I vacuum. Air is always gurgling out of the returns. I have no idea where it comes from since no air gets in when I am filtering normally.

Sounds like a suction leak. If it is, it will probably get worse when you close the main drain. And, a suction leak will definitely impair vacuuming.

However, using a 1 1/4" hose, instead of a 1 1/2" will mess vacuuming up, as well. Also, stiff vacuum heads sit too high above the surface, and not create the high flow / high suction necessary for good vacuuming. The ProVac heads conform to the pool surface much better than any others I've used.