Sta-Rite® System 3 Air Bleed Filter

[meghanW]

Is the Sta-Rite® System 3 Air Bleed Filter necessary in the pool system? We have a dog who loves to swim and hair is constantly getting trapped at the air bleed filter causing the intellichlor to say low flow. The clog also does not allow the waterfall to work. I know the best thing is to keep the dog out of the pool but I wanted to know if there were any other suggestions that would allow her (the dog) to continue to enjoy the pool.

Would new filters for the pool possibly help with the accumulation of hair in the filter?

Thanks for the help

[PoolDoc]

These will help collect hair at the skimmer:

Poolmaster 16242 Poolmaster Skimmer Basket Liner @ Amazon

But, it's not at all clear to me how hair collecting on the air relief could block your filter. The air relief tube is shown in the image below, extending from #7 filter assembly header. Is that what you are talking about?

If so, blocking that would NOT block your filter flow!

[meghanW]

Thanks for the reply.

We have been using the basket liners already to help filter the hair. And our pool system is the Sta Rite S7M120. It's a variable speed pump and we also have a pentair salt chlorinator. I tried to attach the parts breakdown but I was unable. It is the #8 which is the Air Bleed Filter. When we run the filter our chlorinator says low flow only when the filter is going but it is fine when the cleaner is on. The filter is run at 1810 rpm and the cleaner is run at 2500 rpm. In the past when the chlorinator said low flow we thought it ment that the filter needed to be cleaned along with the air bleed filter. We would clean it and it would be fine. For the past few weeks the chlorinator moves to low flow as soon as the cleaner kicks off. So we would just assume that the filters needed to be cleaned. We tested it out and cleaned them and them turned it on and about 5 mins later it said low flow. We have had our filters for about 2 1/2 years and the bands around the filter are coming off. Could that be a sign that they need to be replaced. I have tried to search to see if there is a specific rpm speed for the flow of water with the filter and the cleaner and I have not come across anything. I'm not sure if it is the air bleed line that is causing the low flow we are just assuming.

We just want to figure out what's going on.
Thanks so much for you help.

[PoolDoc]

OK, I see. You have a cartridge filter, not the DE filter. I'll put the correction image below . . . but blocking the #8 "25021-0004 Air Bleed Filter" would have no effect on the flow rate.

So we would just assume that the filters needed to be cleaned. We tested it out and cleaned them and them turned it on and about 5 mins later it said low flow. We have had our filters for about 2 1/2 years and the bands around the filter are coming off. Could that be a sign that they need to be replaced.

Yes. Those System3 cartridge filters are, in my opinion TERRIBLE. I put 3 of them on a commercial pool, in an emergency filter replacement, and very quickly learned to despise them. After 2 years, I converted them to DE filters. Some people like them but it appears that people for whom the work well mostly live in areas where there's little or no pool debris from vegetation and thunderstorms

Here are the parts you need for the S7M120:

large outer cartridge
small inner cartridge
tank O-ring

The large cartridge is currently listed as unavailable from Amazon, but they are probably available from A1-PoolParts, nearly as cheaply:

S7M120 parts

And, here's the Pentair / StaRite page.

And, finally, the parts image from Pentair:

[meghanW]

Thank you again for the info.

You definitely seem to know what you are talking about and if you recommend the DE filter we would like to get those. Is it easy to switch over to them? If the De is the way to go then we want to change them. We just want our pool back to normal working order. It's starting to turn green and my husband is getting frustrated.
Do you know the best RPM's to run the filter and the cleaner at?

Have a great weekend.

[aylad]

If the pool is going green, then you need to shock it, and maintain your shock level, until it clears up--and you don't need to wait until you've changed filters to do so--the longer you let it go green, the longer it'll take to clear it up. The filter will remove the dead algae from the pool, but you need to kill it first. Your shock level is based on your CYA (see the "best guess chlorine chart" link in my sig for further explanation and the chart), but you'll first need to get a set of test results on your water taken with a drop-based kit (no strips!) in order to know what point you're starting from.

Welcome to the group!