Question:
I have the ec40. I have taken it apart and cleaned the fingers in acid and water worked pretty good for a short time. Now the pressure goes way up and hardly any pressure is coming out into the pool and the bump handle is very hard to push down or up. The EC40 also does not have hardly any suction when vacuuming .
Any ideas?
Thanks mark
Answer:
Hi Mark,
Can you let me know how old the fingers are inside of the EC40 you own?
Also after acid washing the fingers did you add DE back into the filter and if so how much have you been adding?
Please let me know the above answers by responding in the comments section below on this post and I can help you further,
Joseph
Here is a parts diagram of the Hayward Perflex EC 40, 50, 65A
the fingers maybe around 10years old i added 4 lbs of de after soaking in acid water mix the one time only after cleaning have not added since
Hi Mark.
I would try a dip at 100% acid from the bottle just be very careful or have a pool professional do it for you but you or they should use full strength, I always did.(sorry don’t know your skill set, So I wanted to mention being careful) They also sell “low fume muriatic acid” as well.
If that does not work, Then you will have to replace the filter fingers. 10 – 12 years is a good life span for the fingers and it all depends on how hard the filter worked over those ten years.
So, Like I was saying, I would try using full strength muriatic acid, low fume if possible and if that doesn’t work just replace the fingers. Also be careful if you do do it yourself or get a professional or the local pool store.
Let me know if you have any more questions or need more help.
Joseph
Mark,
Chances are their is nothing wrong with your filter. I suspect it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do, which is filtering the water. Once the filter gets so much dirt in it, it will clog and you will have little to no return pressure. If you cleaned your fingers, put your filter back together and added 4lbs. of DE, and then it worked right after you did that, their is nothing wrong with it. It can clog up within minutes if the water it is filtering is cloudy or green with algae. You would notice it clogging up much faster when vacuuming the pool, because you are picking up dirt from the bottom of the pool and the filter is catching it as it is supposed to. These filters filter down to 2 microns in particle size which is filtering more pure than city drinking water, and can clog up quickly until the water is thouroughly filtered out. I have a larger version of the same filter, Hayward EC65, and have used it for years, but the initial clean up can be time consuming. Let me give you an example. I have a 30,000 gallon inground pool that I changed the liner on and filled it from a little stream that runs beside my house. Although this stream appeared clean, after starting my pump and began filtering, I at first could only run it about 10 minutes before I needed to change the DE. This gradually got better until I got the water completely filtered. I changed the DE between 30 and 40 times until it started filtering normally, which is only needing to change the DE about every 3 weeks. After going through about 200 lbs. of DE, I did get it back to normal, and it has worked fine since without acid washing the fingers. Acid washing the fingers is only to remove things that water will not, such as suntan oils and lotions. I am sure that you did not accumulate a lot of this in a short period of time after acid washing your fingers.
My advice is to have patience and change the DE as often as needed, which may be quite often on initial pool cleanup assuming you close your pool for the winter season. Be sure you get all the dirty DE out of the filter every time you change it. If this is to time consuming for you, you may want to consider getting a 150 lb. or bigger sand filter to use. It is much easier to clean out, but does not filter quite as pure. Some people, myself included now, do their initial pool cleanup with a sand filter then switch to the DE filter afterward.
I hope this helps you out
Dave
I have a Hayward EC40 and had a question on the “bump action”.
The Bump handle stays down I noticed while it used to stay in the up position. Also notice the pool does not stay clean as long as it used to.
Thanks,
Jon
Hi Jon,
On the “bump” shaft there are two(2) c-clips that hold the “tube sheets” into place and then also allow the tube sheet to be bumped up and down,
I just added a parts diagram to this page, and if you look at part #’s 11 & 12 , those are the clips that you will need to replace. You will need to take apart the filter to replace these.
Let me know if you have any more questions of if you need any more help.
Joseph
I agree with all of the suggestions given. I would like to add that if after doing the acid cleaning and regular backwashing, if you are still experiencing pressure problems, examine your export lines into the pool. If you see a lot of tiny bubbles or a white foamy like stuff forming on the top of the pool water from the exit lines, you may actually have a small crack in the plates that hold the fingers together. When you take your filter apart, take a very close look at the plastic plates. If see what look like tiny hairline cracks – usually found exiting from the center hole or along the edges, this may be your problem. A telltale sign will be your DE, if it is packed up against the plates and not so much on the fingers, then you may have a good sized crack. Also check the fingers carefully, feel around the tops of them (where they connect to the plates). If some of them feel loose and more movable then the other fingers, changes are these are broken. Both of these problems can cause air, DE and other tiny particles to bypass your filter and go back in to the pool. Thus producing very cloudy water – and it doesn’t get clean no matter how many times you acid wash or hose off the fingers.
Good luck
Denise
Hi Dave
I also have the same problem with a brand new Hayward ec40. Im using 8 1 lb coffee cans of DE. I weighed the can with DE in it and each 1 lb can weighs 1/2 lb so I have been putting in 8 cans which equal 4 lbs of DE. Does this seem like too much
Thanks
John
Hi John,
That is way to much, I would go with 4 coffee cans, In all my years that’s how many I used with that filter and it seemed to work great,
Let me know if you have any more questions,
Joseph