Diatomaceous earth pool filter: How often to clean?

[The Chairman]

Hi all,

I have a swimming pool with a diatomaceous earth filter. I have heard that you have to clean the filters twice a year, but I find myself cleaning it about 4 - 5 times a year. The symptoms that make me clean it: The Kreepy Krawly stops moving, and the pressure on the filter is about 10 lbs. more than when it is freshly cleaned.

Believe me, it's a chore. Does anyone here have experience with these, and is there some maintenance that I am not doing that is making my filter gunk up more than usual? I try to keep the pool clean, although sometimes it gets a little green in the winter months before I take care of it.

Thanks for your advice,

Ryan

[Tom]

Ryan wrote:>Hi all,

Welcome to the pool owners lifestyle! Pools are a lot of little work, and it all depends. Got a lot of "dirty" trees around the pool? Keeping the chemicals in balance? Green, huh? Keeping up with the sanitizer? You gotta backwash when you gotta backwash. That, or sell it all off. Tom Work at your leisure!

[The Chairman]

[e-mail] (Tom) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Yeah, lots o' trees. Also, you mention sanitizer... what is that? I haven't used that. I do my best to keep the pH and Chlorine levels proper. Is there something else that I should look for?

Also, I have been unable for the life of me to find a backwash feature on my setup. Are they always there?

And yes, I have been tempted to call up the concrete truck once or twice, that's for sure!

Ryan

[Tom]

Ryan wrote:>Yeah, lots o' trees. Also, you mention sanitizer... what is that? I

Chlorine is your sanitizer. I'm trying to imagine a DE pool filter without a backwash valve. Check with the manufacturer, and locate an owners manual. Or maybe call in a pool service, and look over their shoulder. You'll learn! Maybe rent it out to skateboarders? After they sign the waiver? Tom Work at your leisure!

[Avery]

Is the filter big enough to cope with the pool size?

Some years ago I had a 30ft x 12 ft pool with a DE filter and found that I was backwashing and replaceing the DE just about every week during the summer months. I relaced the thing with a sand filter that was recommended for much larger pool. Problem solved.

[AZGuy]

Sounds just about right.

I see in your later post you apparently don't have a back wash valve. I've never seen a filter set up without one. That's why it's such a pain in the arse for you to clean it. I only take mine apart for a thorough cleaning once every one or two years, the rest of the time I just backwash. Eventually the DE will build up inside and backwashing won't get it out and you do have to take them apart to clean them. If you don't they will not last the 2 months between cleanings but will only go 2 or 3 weeks.

-- Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . . Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House of Representatives, August 17, 1789

[The Chairman]

AZGuy wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Yes, it sounds like a backwash valve would help. I'll do a little more exploring... see what I can find.

And, yes, major PIA. I've gotten it down to about an hour now, from first turn of the socket to last tightening. Not too bad, but still a pain.

Does backwashing flow the water out of the unit, which you then collect and dispose of, or does it just reverse the flow of the water, and deposit the sludge in to the pool? Sounds stupid as I write this, but just checking.

[willshak]

On 1/21/2005 2:01 AM US(ET), The Chairman took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Save yourself some long-winded questions. Go to Google and type in the following search words. pool care pool backwash You'll get sites like this:

[Greg]

The backwash water goes out. You do need a place to dump it. Some places call it a hazmat. I think that is dumb but I don't make the rules. It does have a bit of a yuck factor tho.

[Steve B.]

On our old one all you had to do was backwash the filter than add more DE. Sounds like yours must be more invovled. How often you clean the filter is entirely dependant on your local conditions.

Steve B.