working a DE filter

[fog80]

Hello everyone,

I am new to my pool and I know I have a DE filter. I noticed that the pressure is quite high, any suggestions on how to lower it?

I was told to backwash through the waste line until I get clear water (all the DE is out) and then to open up the filter and add more DE.

Is that right?

Any more suggestions on running and maintaining a DE filter?

[mwsmith2]

Um, kinda sorta right. Backwashing will lower the pressure by dumping all the DE media out. It needs to be recharged then, but not in the filter, you need to measure out the proper ammount of DE, mix it with water, and dump it in to the skimmer nearest the filter, it will suck it up and coat the grids for you.

If the filter is an old one, and you don't know if it has ever been broken down, you'll prolly need to break it down completely and manually remove all the built up DE. That's what happened to me. It's not hard, just time consuming.

Michael

[waste]

Fog, knowing what kind of filter and what it's supposed to (pressure) read at is kind of important.

Could you please post the filter size and recomended # of DE ?

Given this info, I could help you better

[StoshJ]

I can give you my numbers for comparison if that's any help. Running 2" piping with a 2HP pump (Got suckered into the bigger is better prior to finding this place). Anyhow, it's a Waterway Crystal Water DE 60 Sqft. When completely broken down and cleaned and recharged, I get a PSI hovering around 18-22 depending on whether the Solar is "on". Even after curing a new plaster finish, my PSI reading never got higher than 26 (after 6 months). I tore it down knowing that there must have been a huge mess of plaster inside, and there was. Anyhow, I've gone 6 months without a backwash and the PSI never moves more than 3-4. It's definitely oversized for my pool (16k), so that may explain the long time between cleanings.

[fog80]

hmm is there any way to find out more info on the filter? it just looks like a beige trash can almost

I did open it up last year and hose off all the worm looking things inside.

[blk133]

hmm is there any way to find out more info on the filter? it just looks like a beige trash can almost

I did open it up last year and hose off all the worm looking things inside.

Could be this one, there are Hayward EC 50, 65 75 I think.

Here is the attachment

[DavidD]

Fog,
What is "quite high"? First thing I would do is find out which filter you have, then you can find out the normal operating pressure. Let us know and I'm sure someone will help.

[fog80]

Could be this one, there are Hayward EC 50, 65 75 I think.

Here is the attachment

actually mine looks older than that. Mine doesnt have any black on it at all. It is all beige with a bunch of little bolts that hold the top cover on.


and when I say high, the psi was somewhere around 30 and I remember the previous owner saying that it should be somewhere around 15-20 i believe.

if it stays pretty warm today I will open up the filter, hose off the inside and put some more DE in it and run it.

one more question, how do i determine how much de I need?

[kaybinster]

As long as you have good water flow pressure really does not matter, what you want to look at is increase in pressure over time. You should record the pressure when you first coat the filter and then backwash it when the pressure has increased by about 5 psi.

[rrwcm]

re: how much de I need?

I was told that my 25000 gal pool needs 7 one pound coffee cans of DE each time I clean it. This is also supported by the chart on the DE bag. I was also told to add it slowly thru the skimmer without mixing it with water first. This forum seems to advise premixing it. I would appreciate any advice on this - should I premix or add directly to the skimmer?