pool filter stuck

[farley]

not wood related, but I need the minds of thinkers.

My pool filter hasn't had a sand change probably in 16 years. (PO didn't do it).

I can't get the top off, I believe the rubber seal over the years help to sealed it shut.





As you can see the spanner wrench fits but there is no leverage. I tried putting pvc pipe over the handles, but it then raises it above the shoulder.

I can't get too far away from the center or I'll snap the handles off.

the hole size is 6 1/2 inches, my pipe clamps don't reach.
I need some ideas

[algale]

Any chance this has left handed threads???

[beeg]

Did ya spray it down with WD40 or Silicone spray first? Let it soak for a bit and try to tighten it just a little. See if that loosens it some. Might want to plan on a new gasket too.

[farley]

I haven't tried spraying it, wasn't sure about it with water, but now that I think about it, there is a whole pile of sand the spray would seep on first and I am throwing that out.

don't know about left hand thread, tried both ways, thought I was going to pop a blood vessel.

[BuckeyeDennis]

I'd try PB Blaster next.

I had to change my truck battery at 8 below a couple weeks ago, and was not looking forward to scraping off all the battery-terminal crud. Lo and behold, the PB Blaster literally dissolved the crud in about three minutes. The wire brushing afterward was little more than a formality.

Needless to say, swimming-pool maintenance is not an urgent problem around these parts.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Or then again, maybe you need some Freeze-Off.

[billmayo]

My hillbilly way would be to get like a 1/4" rod 6-8" long or square tip chisel and place the tip about 1/2" back from each tip at an angle and start tapping with a hammer at each corner going around the cover. I keep going around the cover until it starts to move. I find it sometimes takes me quite some time with breaks to get something stuck like this to start moving. I did crack my pool pump filter cover doing this so it is not a fool proof method. The cover did come loose after a while. I have various sizes of square tip chisels that I use to loosen bolts, nuts and Phillips head screws that the tips have been rounded off.

[dgale]

I'd try some sort of lubricant or penetrating oil and then after letting it sit overnight, spray it again and then put that wrench back on and give it some good whacks with a rubber mallet. I suppose you could use a single jack instead but I'd be a bit worried about breaking one of the plastic items, so I'd probably start with the rubber mallet before moving up to heavier artillery.

[dusty]

Sixteen years! Prepare yourself for the shock. New sand filter.

I just back wash frequently.

[Ed in Tampa]

The thing that make this interesting is the fact that parts have been subjected to both pressure and vacuum. Each time the motor runs the parts are under pressure and when the motor is off there is a vacuum.

Add a little corrosion and being tight to begin with and you have a fixings of a problem.
Leverage leverage leverage.

But before you do anything talk to your friendly neighborhood pool place. I bet they have an answer because they have seen this a thousand times.

I learned that lesson last summer. I worked on my pool for hours. Almost standing on my head but I could not accomplish what I was trying to do. I asked a neighbor who is a pool guy and his answer had me totally completing the task in 5 minutes and I would have never guess it in a million years. 4 of those five minutes was picking up all the tools I had tried.

My way was 100 percent correct except I would never be able to do it. His was totally contradictory to everything I know but worked in a second.

I was trying to get a broken plastic plug out of the bottom side of the pump. His idea just punch it through, he knew there was a ton of clearance and the thing would just come out in the filter. It took a second to punch it and 10 more to screw a new one in. Task complete.