wen- glad to hear you solved your problem! I received the new air bleed screen and it's just that- screen. The old one was a fabric of some sort. I still haven't installed the new one. I need to drain a little anyway as my cya is off the chart.

Getting those grids into the manifold is tricky and frustrating at times. We replaced the grids because we found a tear in one and a crack in the end that goes right into the manifold. I purchased mine online for 108.00 but I have a 36 sq ft filter area.
Much cheaper than buying them locally.

I'm hoping the new strainer will work and completely clear it. The little bit of DE settles into the liner creases and drives me batty.