ok, i dont have pea soup..more like cool blue listerine

[fog80]

im not exactly sure what kind of pump i have but i know its at least ten years old. i believe its a 3/4 hp pump by hayward.

I dont remember exactly what my starting psi was last year but i think it was in the 12-15 range.

This year my psi wont drop below 20 even when i add fresh de. I think im going to break my filter down tonight and give it an acid wash.

when you bump, does the low psi hold for a while? when i bump my psi goes down about 5 but then it goes back up very quickly. what is your procedure for bumping?

[ChuckD]

im not exactly sure what kind of pump i have but i know its at least ten years old. i believe its a 3/4 hp pump by hayward.

I dont remember exactly what my starting psi was last year but i think it was in the 12-15 range.

This year my psi wont drop below 20 even when i add fresh de. I think im going to break my filter down tonight and give it an acid wash.

when you bump, does the low psi hold for a while? when i bump my psi goes down about 5 but then it goes back up very quickly. what is your procedure for bumping?

I think that might have been a common package, the 3/4 with the EC-65. I've seen it several times.

Right, once the initial cr*p is cleared from the springtime opening, my psi stays pretty stable for at least a day.

Also, I think your absolutely right to give the elements (fingers) a wash. If you're at all like me, and dislike working with acid, I've had great success with OxyClean. 3-4 scoops in a five gallon bucket of hot water. Let it soak over night then hose it off and resoak in fresh water for a couple minutes to flush.

Bumping:
-turn the pump off
-turn the valve at the inlet closed so prime isn't lost and your efforts at the handle are optimized. On my three-way Jandy this means the handle is pointed directly away from the pump.
-Press down the handle, slowly (1 to 2 seconds to depress)
-Pull sharply up
-Repeat 7 to 10 times. I usually look for the DE to start clouding the water in the clear tube that connects the pump to the filter receptacle.
-I usually take this opportunity to clean out the basket as well.
-IMPORTANT! Open the valve back up.
-Turn pump back on.

[waste]

Chuck, just a couple of quick things on this AM's post on bumping:

1 Please remember to open the air relief valve for a few seconds (then close it again) to relieve some of the pressure on the tube sheets so they don't crack from being 'Bumped'. Cracked tube sheets will allow DE to bypass the fingers and end up in the pool.

2 There should be a backflow prevention 'flapper valve' where the water from the pump enters the filter. They fall off a lot and as long as you have the Jandy valve closed it's no problem, unless the pump is higher than the pool in which case, you may find DE on the pool floor near the MD or in the skimmer, before the pump turns on for the day. It's a minor thing, but the DE shouldn't be able to get into the pump from the filter. It's probably not a problem for you, but might be for others (some systems get plumbed without a valve )

I wish the both of you well and hope you get to enjoy your pools a smuch as posible

[ChuckD]

Wow. Thanks for that waste.
So I guess if I had a functioning check valve I wouldn't see that milkiness in the clear elbow assembly connecting the pump and the filter?

AFAIK, this EC65 is around twenty years old, I inherited it with the house two years ago. I've never seen DE returning to the pump when the pump's been turned off by the timer (and the Jandy remains open), even for a couple hours. And I've definitely never seen DE in the pool (and the pump/filter's 2 feet above the water level). But as I said, I stop bumping when I start to see it migrating into that elbow (when the Jandy's closed).

About the pressure relief: When I turn off my pump the gauge goes to zero so there wouldn't be any pressure to relieve. Is this normal?

[fog80]

chuck,

I saw some paperwork the old homeowner left behind and the pool filter and pump seem to be from 1987 which would make my setup 20 yrs old as well!

I did the acid wash this evening, but i didnt let it soak overnight, just for an hour or so. I also noticed that my pressure gauge isnt screwed into the filter like the picture on the manual. It seems like the previous owner plumbed some pvc in an L shape so that the gauge is visible from the top. It also looks like he glued the gauge in, so I wont be able to open it and flush out the de with a hose like the manual suggests.

However the filter wash did the trick so far, the psi is holding steady at 10 when before i couldnt get it to hold at 15 for more than a minute.

[fog80]

crap!! its been 2 hrs since i soaked my filter and added fresh de and my pressure is already up from 10-15psi to 25!!!

what else can i do???

[ChuckD]

crap!! its been 2 hrs since i soaked my filter and added fresh de and my pressure is already up from 10-15psi to 25!!!

what else can i do???

Sounds just like when I was clearing the soup two weekends ago. Is your water still not clear? Like I said, it'll take repeated bumping till it is. That's the DE filtering it out. But I'd hold off backwashing till the water's nearly there. Don't see a need for it.