Short Cycling

[edarling]

I am having a similar problem - I have a DE filter that is getting clogged constantly - even after bumping, draining, and adding new DE there is no circulation. I need to take it apart and clean the fingers at some point. That is a pain with the Hayward DE filters with the 15 bolts, but I'll do it every few days if my pool cleans up!

My question for you is - did you add all the bleach without running the filter? I can't seem to see that answer in your posts. Ben's response seems to say it is OK to add the bleach until you can see clear, then vacuum to waste the stuff that falls out to the bottom. How did you run your filter if it had no pressure. I really need to know, since I am encouraged that you finally got your pool cleaned up. My situation is very similar and that is my main question.

[donjoarm]

I have a Hayward multiport valve which allows me to bypass the filter by placing it in the recirculate position. I continued to circulate the water without filtering. I believe the post by PoolDoc indicates that you should still add the bleach until the algae is dead if you are unable to recirculate.

The most important thing I did was obtain a test kit which allowed me to know exactly what my CYA and chlorine levels are. This was the only way to determine what the necessary "shock value" is for my CYA level. Once you hit that Free Chlorine number and keep it there for a couple of days the algae will die.

Good Luck.

[edarling]

thanks for the reply. I don't have a multiport valve that allows recirculating, so that is not an option. I am adding lots of bleach and testing everything. I am seeing progress, but not as fast as if I was using my filter. I am using my Aquabot to clean the stuff out from the bottom, and it does circulate that water somewhat.

All the rain in my area (14 inches in some areas in MA) over the past weeks has really been a problem with pH and Alk, but it is good to allow vacuuming to waste and refill without using my well pump. WHen it stops raining, I will clean the filter and start circulating (I hope) with it. I'm hoping it will only take a few attempts at taking the thing apart and cleaning it.

- betty

[brent.roberts]

Edarling

It is not an extravagent expense to change the valve to the multiport that will allow you to recirculate. I think maybe $ 100. Check it out.

Secondly, some well written authors and myself, think that the Hayward DE filters with their bumping are a bad joke. The prinicpal is that you start with a clean filter, add DE and then run the system until the pressure builds up, then bump it. The pressure went up because the filter got coated with debris. When you bump it, you knock all the DE and debris off the membrane into a sloppy slurring the bottom of the tank. Then you re-start the system and the whole mess re-coats the membrane. All the debris, organic and otherwise is still in there !! The organic stuff is still going to consume your chlorine, inside the filter.

If you're having problems, forget the bumping. Backwash it and get rid of the contaminants. You'll clean the pool up much faster.

But, to really kill of algae you need lots of chlorine, in other posts above, but you really need to keep the water circulating to keep the algae exposed to the chlorine. Brushing helps too. So the valve with the bypass/recirulate setting will really help till the problem is cleaned up.

[expose]

You'll probably get better results with low pH (~7.2) than with high pH (> 7.6) . . . UNLESS you had high CYA when you closed the pool, and now have low CYA. (Test to find out!). In that case, you'll need to RAISE the pH to around 8.0 with borax before you began dosing with chlorine. You'll get very fast algae kill, in that case, but you'll have to continue adding chlorine long after the water is clear, to get rid of all the chemical residue from bio-degraded CYA.

1)What do you do if you don't know what the CYA levels were when the pool was closed?
2}What would be the effects of having "all the chemical residue from bio-degraded CYA?"
3)How much chlorine would you add, and for how long after the water is clear?

[waterbear]

1)What do you do if you don't know what the CYA levels were when the pool was closed?
Don't worry about it and get your CYA level correct. (See second answer for what will happen if your CYA was biodegaded.)
2}What would be the effects of having "all the chemical residue from bio-degraded CYA?"
You would have a lot of ammonia compounds and urea in the water and your chlorine levels won't hold. You will also have a lot of combined chlorine.
3)How much chlorine would you add, and for how long after the water is clear?
You would add enough chlorine to bring it to shock level for the amount of CYA CURRENTLY in your pool (see this thread http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365 )
and KEEP IT THERE until the Combine Chlorine is 0 ppm and your FC is holding. This might take a while and a LOT of chlorine!

Hope this helps.

[edarling]

Back to my original problem of clogged DE filter. I finally went out to undo the 15 bolts in my DE filter, and hose down the fingers. The DE was sooooo gummed up - it was like putty. I don't know what got into the filter to make it that clogged up, but it took a hose spayer on full force to get it out. I only added shock (for conveinience factor), bleach, and ph+. The algae was still active when I started the filter, so maybe I should have really shocked before using the filter to filter out the dead stuff.

Now I can re-add DE the normal way by draining to waste periodically, and the pressure is back to my pool's normal. I can do the normal to clear up the pool - add bleach to shock levels, vacuum, retest, repeat. WHen the pool is clear, I'll open the filter up again and clean it again for the season.

It does filter much faster with the filter than with my Aquabot I can almost see the bottom of the deep end. We've gotten so much rain this week (about 7 inches here, but lots more in other parts of NE) it has been hard to get the pool work in.

-betty