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

No, it doesn't hurt the filter, it hurts your health if that's the only
thing 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" wrote in message
...
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" wrote:

No, it doesn't hurt the filter, it hurts your health if that's the only
thing 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?


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


"Samson" wrote in message
.. .
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

Samson wrote:
"Bob" wrote:

No, it doesn't hurt the filter, it hurts your health if that's the only
thing 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?


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


"Samson" wrote in message
.. .
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


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

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

"Samson" wrote in message
...
"Bob" wrote:

No, it doesn't hurt the filter, it hurts your health if that's the only
thing 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?


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


"Samson" wrote in message
.. .
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

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

Yes. Pulling the handle on the backflush valve system reverses the
direction of the water through the filter and also routes the water
coming out of the filter into a drain to the sewer.

\Samson

Samson wrote:
...
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?

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.

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

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 20:37:38 GMT, Samson wrote:

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

==========\
As someone else suggested...pump to waste and bypass the filter
entirely...

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 I
closed my pool down so my filter is now non functional until
spring...so I can not use it to drain excess water out of the pool

I am forced to drop a small pump attached to a garden hose into the
pool during the winter to keep the water level below the skimmer and
return lines... I just dump the water on the ground about 50 foot
behind my pool... In fact today is a nice day so I am pumping water
as I type this...

Bob G.