Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Filter Out of Kilter...or The Not Cool Pool

My pool filter blew up last week. Dad helped fix it. Then, the pool company fixed what Dad fixed. What??

OK, full story. The filter was over 15 years old, and the pool company had warned me it needed to be replaced. Still, I didn't expect it to physically split all the way across the top. K and I went to breakfast and when we returned, the pool was 3/4 empty. So, we had to race against time since Dad was heading to the mountains soon and the pool can get yucky really quickly in this heat. . So, we chose a filter with guidance from the internet and Dad had to rebuild the PVC stuff to fit the new size. He got it set up and we got it running. Yeah, although a bit of algae had built up.

Well, it wasn't clearing and we couldn't figure out why. I added extra chlorine and an algaecide. Well, last Friday night, I noticed the pool level looked low. THE NEW FILTER HAD A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM. Dad was leaving the next morning. Not good. So, I dug all the sand out and planned to return it the next day after Dad left. The store was very nice and replaced it with no questions. I ran it for the next 3 days and still, no clearing.

Amazingly, I had already scheduled a visit from the pool company because the popups were not rotating for some months. When they came out, they said (a) the filter is a little undersized because we did not know that popup pools require a larger size due to the additional pressure to drive them, and (b) the backwash filter was upside down. No way! Dad wouldn't make that mistake. OK, he did. Why? Well,the instructions WERE unclear. Also, it was plumbed correctly for a DE filter like he has, but reverse what a sand filter needed. So, they fixed it and it is clear now.

However, the stupid popups still are not working. I'll worry about that another day. Fiddle-dee-dee.

4 comments:

Brenda Walker said...

Ah the joys of owning your very own pool! I know nothing of that!

CrazyUncle said...

Yes, it is certainly a year-long commitment for 3 months of swim time.

Caleb said...

That's cool that there was a hole in the bottom. That Granddad. Always shipping off to the mountains when the going gets rough. Why can't the rest of us do that again?

Auntie Eisel said...

That is a bummer that it was such a hassle, but I still wouldn't mind having an in-ground pool of my own. Mainly because I wouldn't be the one to fix it when things went wrong anyway!