I just bought a new Hayward DE filter and I'm getting very low pressure. I troubleshot EVERYTHING. Help....

Question

I backwashed 4-5 times, cleaned the "fingers" 2wice and still no pressure?

Answer 1

My first guess is that you need to prime the pump.  Open up the top of the reservoir that the water sits in on the pool side of the pump and fill it with water. If you try this and still do not get pressure (or more importantly, water going thru the filter and back to the pool) then

make sure pipe going to waste is closed (in other words that you are not pumping water wherever you let it go when you clean it)

   If you still do not get pressure, remove the top that contains the fingers and fill the part that holds the water up about half way, just below where the fingers meet the water.

   Actually, I do this routinely when I clean the filter because I got tired of having to keep trying to prime the pump just from the little reservoir.  Hope this works for you!

   If you try this and it still isn't working, try pumping to waste.  You need to verify that the pump is really pumping water and not just running.

Answer 2

There is a pressure gauge on the filter, if that is reading "low" which would be, say less than 10 psi, you would not have a problem, as long as the filter, pump, reservoirs, are filled with water.  If the problem is that your pump is running, and little or no water is going through the filter, then the pressure gauge should read a "high" pressure, like, say, over 20psi.  If that is the case, the filter is dirty, or needs to be "bumped" or has too much DE powder in it.  I am confused by your use of the term "backwashed", because you don't do that with a DE filter.  It is also a possibility that your pump impeller is broken.  That would create no flow at all, but the motor would run.