Filter delivers dirty de

[CarlD]

OK. It MAY NOT be that your pump is too big and you have another problem. But a too-big pump for the filter is ALWAYS bad, and always a potential source of damage to the filter, regardless of DE, sand or cartridge.

Again, I'm not a DE filter expert--I only know the general principles, so I cannot help with details of what might be wrong.

Unless you have metal pipes (and nobody has used that for a long time, PVC plumbing is very easy and very quick. I've replumbed my pool as I've changed things over the years many times...when I didn't like how the pump to filter flow worked, when we added a deck and moved the pump and filter about 15' (the tough part was re-routing the 240v wiring for the pump), and when I added the SWCG before the 2013 season (again, additional electrical work was the bear).

So PVC is easy to work with and TigerFlex, the flexible PVC, gives you even more options. PVC and/or TigerFlex, Schedule 40 fittings, cleaner, primer (or cleaner/primer), glue, and a hacksaw are all you need. Most of it, except the TigerFlex, are at Home Depot or Lowes. So I dry fit it all first, cutting my PVC to length. When I'm satisfied, I use the cleaner on the pipe and the fitting, then wipe on the primer, then the glue. Stick the pipe into the fitting, give it a 1/4 turn to where you want it and move on. Nothing to it.

[FRANCIS]

That's actually a cool idea - using tiger flex above ground.

[CarlD]

Here is some of the TigerFlex running to my skimmer and low drain. Since I drain it and put it away in the fall, in the basement, I have no problem leaving it on the ground. While I've re-plumbed a few times, this TF came with the pool 12 years ago and is still good. You can see the quick-connect/ball valves at the low drain and skimmer, though the handle on the low drain ball valve is gone. Since I'm rebuilding the pool this winter those ball valves will be replaced, but the TF won't be. It works exactly like hard PVC, just a little harder to cut evenly.

Unfortunately, too many pool installer treat TF like it's hose. It's not. So they put barbed fittings INSIDE the TF with hose clamps...and it inevitably leaks. (the orig installers did that and I had to replace all the barbed fittings because it leaked just after they drove away!) But if you use glue-on Schedule 40 fittings, just like hard PVC, it doesn't leak. I've NEVER had a leak from the Sch 40 on the TF.
On caveat: You cannot bury TigerFlex, unlike hard PVC or the black flexible plastic pipe used for sprinkler systems and wells.

[FRANCIS]

Awesome!
Hey - did you know you can cut tiger flex with a length of mason's line?
And who says TF is not meant for direct burial? I dug some tiger flex up that was buried for 20 years and it's still fine.
I agree 100% about not using barb fittings - plus they reduce the cross-sectional area.

[CarlD]

Awesome!
Hey - did you know you can cut tiger flex with a length of mason's line?
And who says TF is not meant for direct burial? I dug some tiger flex up that was buried for 20 years and it's still fine.
I agree 100% about not using barb fittings - plus they reduce the cross-sectional area.

Learn something new every day! I usually just cut it with an 18V Sawzall. There's a wire cutter like a mason's line, plumbers use for cutting PVC in tight places. Does the mason's line cut through the spiral ribs cleanly?

As for the cross-section: there's other flexible hose, usually clear, that works just fine with the same barbed fittings. Still, gluing's the best.

[FRANCIS]

Clean as a whistle. I had to resort to that method when i dug a post hole right onto a buried obsolete tigerflex. Had to sever the tigerflex to allow hole digging to continue to a deeper depth. Tried welding a sawzall blade to the squashed end of a 3/4" piece of thinwall, but it kept binding. Mason's line to the rescue!! Once you get it going - do not stop or else it sticks. But when it cools, you can continue.

[FRANCIS]

I looked at Pentair's Quad DE / cartridge filter user manual. it says a brief cloud of dirt is characteristic for diatomite filters. Maybe i can incorporate a motorized valve that reverts discharge water back into the return for 10 seconds during start-up.
http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/178658EQuadOM.pdf