Back flushing a pool - add DE each time?

Question

We have a small pool in our home owner's association. We have a pool maintenance person who I trust to keep the pool safe enough to pass yearly health department checks but I don't trust him to know this:

During the winter we turn off the heat and cut the pump/DE filter time down to four hours a day. A couple inches of rain requires that we back flush the pool so that it doesn't overflow into the adjoining spa that we are heating.

My question is should I be adding DE every time I back flush the pool? During a wet winter I might be back flushing 10 times. Does it hurt the filter grids inside the filter if they do not have DE on them while the pump is pushing water through them?

\\Samson

Bob · Accepted Answer

No, it doesn't hurt the filter, it hurts your health if that's the onlything used to filter the hot tub. Bacteria grows a lot faster in warm water.DE is cheap, why run the risk of getting someone sick?

Samson · Answer

I agree with your logic, and yes DE is cheap.  But I forgot to mentionthat the spa is on a different heater, filter and pump system.

Mark · Answer

When you back flush the FILTER, it looses some DE.Do you have to backflush the FILTER to pump water out of the pool?Mark

Bob · Answer

When you back-flush a DE filter, the DE gets flushed out. You need to addmore if people are using the pool, if not, then you don't even need to runthe filter, just make sure your chlorine levels are ok.

Samson · Answer

Yes.   Pulling the handle on the backflush valve system reverses thedirection of the water through the filter and also routes the watercoming out of the filter into a drain to the sewer.\Samson

Bob · Answer

Most of the DE is disposed of with the backwash. Running the filter without DE can prematurely clog and damage the filter grids. Disposing of DE prematurely is both economically and environmentally inefficient. Better solutions include adding a drain valve to the filter system somewhere past the pump output, using a portable sump pump, or using a siphon hose if there is a location within reach that is lower than the preferred water level.

buffalobill · Answer

on our aboveground sand filter we have another option:  to lower thewater level you can just pump to WASTE as if you were vacuuming thepool.  waste and backwash go out the same discharge hose.

Bob G. · Answer

==========\As someone else suggested...pump to waste and bypass the filterentirely... Maybe there are some filters that do not have a gate position marked"waste" but to be honest I have never seen one... My pool filter and all the lines were drained and plugged when Iclosed my pool down so  my filter is now non functional untilspring...so I can not use it to drain excess water out of the poolI am forced to drop a small pump attached to a garden hose  into thepool during the winter to keep the water level below the skimmer andreturn lines... I just dump the water on the ground about 50 footbehind my pool...  In fact today is a nice day so I am pumping wateras I type this...Bob G.

Back flushing a pool - add DE each time?

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?