Didn't expect my pressure gauge to be this far off until I checked it

Started by Jason Okafor · · 3 replies
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#1
Had a cheap glycerin gauge on the sand filter since forever, reading 12 psi at what I thought was a clean filter. Grabbed a second gauge off a buddy's filter just to compare side by side on the same port and mine was reading almost 5 psi low. So my backwash point has probably been way later than it should for who knows how long.

No idea how long it's been lying to me, could be since 2015 for all I know. Gauge itself is like 15 bucks, not even worth troubleshooting it, just swapped it. Kind of annoyed at myself for never sanity checking it sooner, I just trusted the number every single week. Anybody else actually verify theirs or do you just trust what's on the filter.

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#2
never even thought to double check mine until i read this, got the swamp under control last year and just trusted whatever psi it threw at me every week same as you. now im sitting here wondering if my "clean filter" baseline was ever actually right or if ive just been backwashing on a lie this whole time. might go borrow a gauge from a neighbor just to compare like you did, 5 psi off is wild for something youd never think to question.
#3
Mine actually drifted the other direction, read high for probably a year before I caught it, so I was backwashing earlier than I needed to and wasting water for nothing. Only found out because I was cleaning around the pad and bumped the gauge and the needle stuck a little coming back down, that's what tipped me off something was off. Spool filter is small enough that I don't go through psi swings fast anyway so it took longer to notice than it probably would on a bigger pool. Honestly after that I just started zip tying a little note by the gauge with the clean reading written down after every filter cleaning, cheap insurance against trusting a 15 dollar gauge blind for another 8 years.
#4
I'd push back a little on writing down "the clean reading" as the fix, Derek, since that number drifts with your rise rate and even your fill water temp a bit, what I actually log is clean psi versus flow in gpm off my VS pump at that stage, that ratio stays honest even if the gauge itself ages.