"You will go to the Dagobah system"

Obi-Wan Kenobi: [voice comes from out of nowhere] Luke. Luke!
Luke Skywalker: [weakly] Ben?
Kenobi: You will go to the Dagobah system.
Skywalker: The Dagobah system?
Kenobi: There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me.

- Star Wars, Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back

You know how some things sound really great, but when you take the plunge, not so much? I'm talking about convertibles, pet boa constrictors, joining the French Foreign Legion, and, of course, swimming pools. Visions of sparkling summer recreation can quickly turn into the reality of a green, swampy pit of wallet-sucking, time-stealing forced labor for survival misery. The planet Dagobah.

BUT, access to a swimming pool, in Phoenix, is pretty much compulsory. It's like having a snowmobile in Northern Michigan. It's mid-June, and I still haven't gotten our pool operational. The weather would have allowed for swimming in April, but it's been a constant battle with the pool to get it habitable. It's an old pool, in need of a serous top to bottom retrofit, but it's cool, wet, and does the job, usually.

At least someone is swimming.

It's not quite as bad as the turtle pond above, but we have had it turn nearly this color when our Baracuda Vac sucked up a rock and I didn't catch it for a couple weeks. Yoda would have been quite comfortable, spending his years of exile in our backyard.

I'd already torn the filter apart and cleaned it twice this year. This time, it was blowing D.E. (diatamatious earth) filter-aid powder back into the pool. In the morning, it was easy to see that yellow slime mold was taking root again. Basically, the filter cycling dirty muck right back into the pool.

Even our house guest, Bella thinks it's horrid

Our Hayward DE3620 Pro-Grid 36-Square-Foot D.E. Pool Filter
takes 8 screens that look like fish skeletons covered with sail canvas. Locally, they cost 30 - 40 bucks (EACH!!!). I try not to replace them unless I absolutely have to, one at a time. Since Sweetie and the kids are bugging me and summer in the desert is in full (heat of hell-fire) blast, I bit the bullet and ordered a full set. Luckily, Amazon had a full replacement grid set, with good reviews, for $103 plus, it's eligible for Prime (free two day delivery). Scooooore!!!

Out of the box they look just as good as anything I've found locally. I let the pressure out of the filter and zapped the retaining ring off with my beloved impact driver.

Hayward DE3620 Pro-Grid 36-Square-Foot D.E. Pool Filter

You may want to have your children leave the room for this next photo. Brace yourself. I'm unleashing serious horribleness upon you, dear reader... You cannot un-see this...

Remember the way to kill a zombie?

AAAGHHHH!!!! That, my friends is slimy yellow mustard algae at it's finest. Believe it or not, I've seen worse.

A single 37" centered bolt holds this contraption together. I managed to get it apart and remove the screens, getting just enough of this putrid green slime on me to make my stomach lurch, but I managed to keep my breakfast down with Herculean effort. Some screens were obviously damaged, with broken "bones", holes, and bits of yard debris inside, far too big to normally get that far in the system.

A month ago, the system had lost it's prime when the vac hose came undone and water was not flowing through at all for a whole day. The basket that normally catches debris, right before the filter, actually melted. When I had opened the housing, steam came out; the water was nearly boiling. The melted basket had allowed flotsam and jetsam to flow past, into the filter. I had thought the screens were ok, but if I had done this operation then, and we'd already be swimming.

After cleaning up the manifold, it was easy to pop the new screens into place. There's a slot on each that keeps them oriented in the right direction. The only thing to watch out for is placing one short narrower screen in the right spot, near the big inlet tube.

Screw the whole thing back together, and it's a single unit. It's so much easier to handle without the dry-heave inducing weight of that godawful slime-impregnated filter powder and fetid water.

Reversing steps, it's easy to put the whole thing back together. I just add the step of whacking merrily on the retaining ring with a rubber mallet as I tighten it, to ensure even seating. I fired up the system, loaded fresh DE powder through the skimmer and got the Barracuda prowling the depths again, greedily devouring it's prey. Clear water began discharging back into the pool. Hooray!!

Next, I turned my attention to the fallen, the wounded screens.

I hosed them down, from a distance, and surveyed the damage. Three of them were completely wrecked. One, with a fingertip sized hole, was probably the biggest offender in causing the issues. Two others were significantly broken inside. I stomped them into submission, crushing them into broken carcasses of shattered bones, to fit in the trash can. It felt good.

I saved the rest. two look really good, the other three are serviceable in a pinch. I'll stick them in the shed for future emergencies. I cleaned the area up, loaded some liquid and tablet chlorine let the system run all day, and night....