High Pressure! Help!

[I'mTryin!]

Hello All,

New pool owner, coming up on a year. I have a pool jacuzzi combo that worked well for the first nine months, then about a month ago, I noticed when I was vacuming that it was a futile effort because dirt was getting back into the pool. Thankfully, our Good Samaritan/pool maestro of a neighbor assisted me in cleaning the filter, and in the process we replaced the top collector manifold which was cracked, as well as three filter elements that were bad. Problem solved right? Nope. Future attempts to clean the pool were unsuccessful, and before long the pool looked like a giant bowl of split pea soup. The pool maestro neighbor was so kind to assist me again, and this time we checked the filter (replaced another filter element), and we completely drained the pool, acid washed, refilled, put conditioner in the pool. Looks beautiful; looks like a brand pool. Problem solved? Not sure.

When I turn on the filter, all appears well for the first 30 - hour. PSI looks great at 20. no problem. But slowly but surely, it starts creeping up to 30, getting all the way to 40 which I know is not good. The pressure gets to a crawl and it appears that filtering is not occuring. I've checked skimmer baskets, pump baskets - nothing seems to be clogged, but I know something is awry. Any help would be appreciated before I ask the maestro to come back...again. Thanks in advance.

By the way the filter I have is a Hayward ProGrid D.E. Filter -that's the only way I can tell you a fancy word like 'top collector manifold'.

[FredySavage]

Hi,
I have a similar problem, with similar results, but no fix yet.

-Pool is about 7 years old, no spa
-Hayward 1HP pump, 2" valve, 36 square foot Microclear DE filter, Aquatemp heat pump
-All piping is 1/2"
-Two inlets (bottom drain roughly 60 feet from pump, skimmer roughly 45 feet)
-Three return lines (approximately 35 feet, 60 feet, and 80 feet)

Everything worked fine until the middle of last summer, when a similar pressure problem started - fine for 5-20 minutes, then the pressure creeps up relatively quickly from 16PSI to 35PSI (whether or not there's DE in the filter). If I backflush, the pressure initially drops down, then creeps back up.

Here's what I've done, with no significant change in the problem:

-I replaced the grid set
-Cut the heater out of the loop (one of the backflow prevention valves disintegrated, and I wasn't sure if a piece had gotten into the heater and was restricting the flow)
-Pump motor died, I replaced it with a smaller motor (from 1.5hp to 1), no change except the smaller motor doesn't seem to be able to keep up when the pressure spikes.
-Replaced the entire filter (housing on the old one cracked)

Next steps:

-Check the return lines, by blocking them off two at a time to see if the remaining one is clogged
-Replace the valve (I don't suspect this, since it's a 2" valve surrounded by 1.5" piping)
-Bypass the filter entirely, with a pressure gauge installed on the return line manifold to check the pressure with the pump just cycling water

Since I have two 1.5" inlet lines and three 1.5" return lines, I had planned on replacing everything from the inlet manifold to the return manifold with 2" pipes, but given the changes I've made so far I think that may help the steady-state but not the problem itself.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

[Joe in Houston]

I have exactly the same problem. I thought it was due to a leaky chlorinator but I took that completely out of the plumbing and still have the same problem. Oddly, my equipment is the same as yours.

Did you ever find a solution?

[FreddySavage]

I had forgotten about the chlorinator (Hayward in-line, which I'm replacing with an Aqua Rite salt generator), I pulled that last week with no change. However, I did figure out something that seems like the key: when I set the valve to "recirculate", the water is blasting out of the return lines, which means that the problem is either the filter or the valve.

The valve is a 2" Hayward valve (labeled "for use only with a Pro-Grid filter", although it is sold on-line as a replacement for micro-clear filters). It's possible that my order of events isn't right; I don't remember if the first time I replaced the valve was before or after the pressure problems started, but I do know that they didn't start immediately after the new valve (I would have swapped it right back out...) I have a new 1-1/2" valve which I'm going to swap in tomorrow. At this point I've narrowed it down to a defective valve, an incompatibility between the valve and the filter, or the fundamental design flaw in the filter.

[FreddySavage]

By the way, I found this on the Hayward site:

Why does my filter pressure rise very quickly, even after backwashing
* D.E. filters filter the water down to 1-3 microns, every time the water passes through the filter. Maintain a balanced clear pool and this will reduce incidents of rapid pressure rise. One possibility is that the filter grids or Flex tubes are clogged with minerals or oils. You should clean your grids once a year, or season, with a degreaser and if needed an acid bath. Minerals and oils embed themselves in the fabric of the filter and reduce the available surface area used for filtering.
* If too little DE is added during pre-coat, debris and particles will embed in the fabric. Cleaning with a high-pressure hose, NOT A POWER WASHER, may be needed to remove the grids. If cleaning does not work, then replacement is the only option.

Since I'm on my third set of grids with this same problem, I'm reasonably sure that this won't fix my problem. The recommended "acid bath" is 1 part Muriatic Acid to 20 parts water, soak the grids until the "bubbling stops". I have had big algae problems in the past two years (part of the reason I'm installing the chlorine generator), so maybe I'll try cleaning the other set of grids this way and see if it helps.

[Dead Pool]

I have some of the same issues & need advice badly??????????/

I bought this home 2 years ago. The pool is about 12 years old & I am beginning to hate it.

Equipment: 25k gallons. Pump: Purex Triton (whisper flo) model# WFE-8, filter Purex Model # SMBW2060

Problem: The water goes through the Jacuzzi & into the pool. For the last few months the water had algae (gone now) then got cloudy. The pool pressure rises & the flow from the Jacuzzi slows to a drip. I back wash it & it gets better for a day. I cleaned the filter, back washed more, problem solved for 2 or 3 days. Yesterday, I back washed from the pipe opening next to the filter & then ran a hose through it to see if anything was clogged & the pressure got much better (15). Now we are back to 22 today & the flow is slowing a bit which means I will have a drip flow out of the Jacuzzi again in two days or so. I do not have a lot of money to spend & ready to drain the freaking thing. Is there cheap way to take care of this before I drain it & turn it into a skateboard bowl? I am really frustrated right now.