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Pressure High Even With No De


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the pressure from my DE filter is running at 30lbs even without DE! This is before i add DE to the skimmer after I have completely completely cleaned out the cells individually. Any suggestions what the problem might be?

I would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

There's resistance to flow somewhere. What was the normal pressure? Checked the Filter manifold? Pump impeller/basket? Suction ports? Air leaks?

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Does the flow in the pool look normal?

Is the pressure gauge zeroing out when the system is off?

How old are the grids?

Scott

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Checked the Filter manifold? Pump impeller/basket? Suction ports? Air leaks?

All of those would reduce the pressure. Normally, the filter is the main resistance in the system. Did you close any valves when you serviced the filter? Did you open them back up? Sometimes there is something else causing the high pressure. You can try removing the grid bundle out of the tank and run the system without the grids to see what the pressure is then. If it is still near 30# without the grids, the problem isn't the filter.

Probably your grids need to be chemically cleaned/soaked to get the grids clean and pressure back down. How did the "skeleton" that the fabric covers look? Was it rigid? or did it feel broken, or pieces broken off inside?

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Checked the Filter manifold? Pump impeller/basket? Suction ports? Air leaks?

All of those would reduce the pressure. Normally, the filter is the main resistance in the system. Did you close any valves when you serviced the filter? Did you open them back up? Sometimes there is something else causing the high pressure. You can try removing the grid bundle out of the tank and run the system without the grids to see what the pressure is then. If it is still near 30# without the grids, the problem isn't the filter.

Probably your grids need to be chemically cleaned/soaked to get the grids clean and pressure back down. How did the "skeleton" that the fabric covers look? Was it rigid? or did it feel broken, or pieces broken off inside?

+1 to the master.......all hail.

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Checked the Filter manifold? Pump impeller/basket? Suction ports? Air leaks?

All of those would reduce the pressure. Normally, the filter is the main resistance in the system. Did you close any valves when you serviced the filter? Did you open them back up? Sometimes there is something else causing the high pressure. You can try removing the grid bundle out of the tank and run the system without the grids to see what the pressure is then. If it is still near 30# without the grids, the problem isn't the filter.

Probably your grids need to be chemically cleaned/soaked to get the grids clean and pressure back down. How did the "skeleton" that the fabric covers look? Was it rigid? or did it feel broken, or pieces broken off inside?

+1 to the master.......all hail.

Although having broken pieces of the grid can cause slight pressure increases, it will not cause enough for the pressure they are noting. It sounds more like a clogged line between the filter and the returns, or can also be DE clogged in the bulkhead elbow or a multi-port valve issue.

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Although having broken pieces of the grid can cause slight pressure increases, it will not cause enough for the pressure they are noting. It sounds more like a clogged line between the filter and the returns, or can also be DE clogged in the bulkhead elbow or a multi-port valve issue.

Can you explain what you mean by broken pieces of the grid? I would think torn grids would result in a severe drop in pressure. Are you saying that you've seen broken grid ribs? If so, wouldn't the broken ribs tear the grid?

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@Bug, not always.

Likely causes:1) Bad gauge 2) grids clogged 3) grid fabric stretched 4) any combo or the preceding.

Scott

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@Bug, not always.

Likely causes:1) Bad gauge 2) grids clogged 3) grid fabric stretched 4) any combo or the preceding.

Scott

I understand the bad gauge and clogged grids......that makes sense to me and my experiences with my own DE filter. Seems like the stretched grid fabric would make the pressure drop because of the holes in the fabric. I've never seen broken ribs though.....have you?

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Stretched grid fabric can make contact with it's opposing side. Once that happens, filtered water can't pass between and results in a very significant reduction in available surface area for water to be filtered. The reduced area gets dirty quicker, a lot quicker. There may not be any holes in the fabric. The only solution is to replace the grids.

Scott

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I've never seen broken ribs though.....have you?

Yes, iv'e seen grids that had been so overloaded with DE for so lnog that when i removed them, you could actually fold the grid in half.

That is why it is so important to disassemble at least once a year to make sure that back-washing is removing all(or most), and not getting a build up of DE.

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I won't see this till Spring when I do my PM services. I do my break downs for my customers then so they will have had a few months to dry. I have had 2 this year that were so caked, the pressure broke/cracked the top manifold and squished the fabric's inside surfaces together so as to prevent filtered water from being able to pass. I've seen them so caked, when I pulled the top off, the DE caked to the shape of the lid. The first clue this was going to need a new grid assembly was when I opened the drain, only a couple gallons came out of a 60 ft filter. The ribs broke under the weight. This is why I do it in the Spring.

Scott

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If you come across any pictures showing this, please post. I can't seem to get my head around what this would look like.

Thanks.

Think of the tube that runs through the middle of a grid as the spine of a book, now picture both sides of the grid fold up to each other like a book.

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