DE Filter Cleaning

[jimgregory]

Looking for tips and insturctions on breaking down and cleaning DE filter.

Anybody use a pressure washer, or soak the "fingers" in anything.

Thanks for all posts.

[ChuckD]

Hey Jim,
Just did this last weekend to my Hayward. I inherited this setup (BROKEN LINK REMOVED) when we bought the house last year and don't really know the age or past maintenance record.

The base of the 'fingers' was pretty caked up with old DE in spite of my thorough backwashing last fall and the fingers themselves were stained a reddish color, probably due to my well water. All it seemed to take to completely clean it was the garden hose. They're now a light gray 'canvas' color which suits me.

I'm keeping my ears open here to see if anyone recommends a detergent (maybe some Dawn to break down built up oils?) before I reassemble it.

ChuckD

[waterbear]

Hey Jim,


I'm keeping my ears open here to see if anyone recommends a detergent (maybe some Dawn to break down built up oils?) before I reassemble it.

ChuckD

I wouldn't recommend using Dawn unless you want a pool full of suds!

[jimgregory]

Chuck,

Thanks for reply. I think I heard soaking fingers in garbage can with some TSP in it.

Can anybody verify this tip, or add others.

Thanks

[RocKKer]

"Fingers" sound like a sand filter???

Your right, you can clean the oil's off with TSP or even dishwasher detergent. This is the powder, the kind you use in a dishwasher machine! Where I live dishwasher detergent (Costco) is a little less expensive than TSP (Home Depot, Lowes). After degreasing you will want to acid wash too.

Follow the dissassembly instructions in the filter's manual. If you don't have it sometimes the manufacturer has a manual you can download. There may be cleaning instructions in there also. If so follow them, if not I have done the following:

1. Degrease:
In big plastic garbage can soak the parts (degreasing is most important for the grids) for at least one hour, over night is most effective, in one cup trisodium phosphate (TSP) to five gallons water; or one cup dishwasher detergent to five gallons of water. A plastic garbage can that is tall enough to completely submerge the grids is good. Rinse before proceeding to the next step. WARNING: Failure to remove all oils and cleaning solution before acid soaking will result in a permanent restriction of water flow and cause premature failure. This is meant for filter cartridges but the same applies to DE grids.

2. Acid wash:
If the parts have a coating of algae, calcium carbonate (residue from calcium hypochlorite), iron, or other minerals, soak the cartridge in a solution of one part muriatic acid to twenty parts water until all bubbling stops. I usually just let em soak overnight. You can use the same garbage can as above, just empty the degreasing solution first in an appropriate place (sink, toilet, etc.) and rinse it out. When your done with the acid wash, do the same thing.

[DavidD]

The owners manual for my perflex filter says to soak the "fingers" in muratic acid and water in a 1 to 1 ratio OR use other commercial filter element cleaner mixed in accordance to the package instruction (I use muratic since it is on hand). It says to do this yearly. I always do this at closing since I'm breaking down the filter anyway and have had great success. The fingers go in gray and come out white. My neighbor and I have the same filter and we discovered the top of the filter (with the fingers/tubes hanging below) fits perfectly into a 5 gallon bucket so I follow the directions and let it soak for a half hour or so. I then rinse with a hose using a high pressure nozzle. You should definitely check your manual for cleaning instructions. If it is a Hayward, you can find manuals here:
http://www.haywardnet.com/products/M...fm#FiltersD_E_