Bubbling noise in Hayward Sand Filter

[smoovie]

I have a few problems...I just open the pool yesterday and noticed some bubbling noise at the top of the dome on the sand filter, also appears to be a drip coming from the connection from one of the pipes from the filter to the multiport housing, and a leak at the connection on the return pipe (?), it's the pipe that goes on the back side of the housing. Just inherited this house last year and not very experienced with this pool yet. I had some air bubbles coming out of my jets last season, fixed that problem and now I have more. Also PSI is normally at about 18, is this normal? I'm thinking maybe I need to replace the sand, I'm not sure just how old it is. ANY help would be greatly appreciated. FYI, 55 YO woman with no man to help.

[aylad]

Hi smoovie,

I'll let one of the equipment/piping folks answer your leak questions, but the bubbling noise you hear probably is just air that is getting into your system somewhere, which is why you see air bubbles coming from the jets. One of the most common places for air leaks is the strainer basket lid--do you have that tightened down really well?

I doubt you'll need to replace the sand--there's really never any reason to unless you have been through a Baquacil conversion or used something in the pool that really gunked it up, however, it's possible that you may need to "top it off", if you've lost any through backwash.