Checking laterals in old Pac-Fab Triton TR60 filter? Sand blowing back into the pool!

[mitchryan912]

I've had my pump down since last week, and it's helped confirm my suspicion that my sand filter is blowing sand back into the pool (I have to vacuum daily to keep the floor of the pool spotless.) I've read the sticky thread about sand blowing back into your pool (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php/7857-For-those-of-you-with-sand-blowing-back-into-the-pool....), and I've cleaned out my filter so I can attempt to check the hub & laterals.

I have an old Pac-Fab Triton TR60 (from 1989!), and it's all one piece of fiberglass that won't really allow me to get down in there very well with wrenches to take out the pipe where the diffuser attaches to. Is there a special tool used to do that? I just have Channel Locks for most of the work I do, but the angle of the filter "dome" is making it hard to get my CL's in there.

I've gotten the laterals off, and there's definitely sand trapped between the slits of all of them, and one broke while taking them off. I don't see any cracks in the laterals, but I can definitely see sand inside all of the laterals (despite using a hose to clean out the filter. Could the sand trapped between the slits in the laterals be from using the wrong kind of sand?

[mitchryan912]

Here's what may laterals look like. Could the sand in there be too fine? Could it being trapped in there be causing more sand to flow through, as if it were holding the gap open?

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[mitchryan912]

Would it be wise to re-use the old sand? I'm assuming that the previous homeowners used proper pool sand, as there is a bag of pool sand in our shed. Do I take that risk or spend $50 on new pool sand?

[FormerBromineUser]

Wish I could help....

[CarlD]

Would it be wise to re-use the old sand? I'm assuming that the previous homeowners used proper pool sand, as there is a bag of pool sand in our shed. Do I take that risk or spend $50 on new pool sand?
The bag of pool sand is probably new. If it looks green, I wouldn't use it. If it looks clean, it's only 50# so you'll need more. I would not reuse pool sand. I suppose it's possible, and, if it's clean, well, as someone pointed out, it's not new but millions of years old...still, if you can get new sand for a reasonable price (on sale for <$10/bag) it's cheap enough to replace it.

If the old sand is gummed up or full of long green tendrils, abandon it. Period.

[mitchryan912]

Thanks for the info. I'm replacing the laterals this morning, and dumping in 50# of new pea gravel, per the Triton manual. Then I'd need 275 lbs of sand on top of that.

The sand from the bottom of the filter seems pretty clean, and looks just like it does in the bag I have (maybe 15 lbs tops, not a full bag.) It definitely wasn't green. What was on top looked more like a layer of lint from your lint trap in your dryer. The 100# or so I first pulled out has already been dumped.

[mitchryan912]

This is what I've got. Does having the gravel mixed in with it make it useless if I don't sift out the gravel first?
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[mitchryan912]

Bought 250 lbs of new sand a little while ago. Will put in 50 lbs of pea gravel, then the new sand plus what's in the old bag to get me to the 325 lbs it calls for.

[mitchryan912]

That's fun. This wasn't supposed to be so difficult... LOL

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[FormerBromineUser]

Is that another crack?

[mitchryan912]

That's a BIG crack. :(

[FormerBromineUser]

I know nothing about equipment... Is that the original broken bit or a new one you found?

[mitchryan912]

That's the original broken hub. It's pretty well cracked, which isn't surprising since this is a 25 year old filter. Most of the plastic inside is pretty brittle and worn.

Here's the old hub, now broken in half, attached to the piping assembly. It turns out that the piping assembly spins off, which makes taking it apart a helluva lot easier.
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The black piece is the new hub. I'm going to hack off the old hub (it's glued on) and put a male thread adapter on it so I can screw on the new hub.

Here's a groove in the lateral threads. Sand must have been coming through this groove.
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The two piping assemblies thread onto these male threads. It took a while to figure that out.
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[FormerBromineUser]

Geez. I am impressed! Even the thought of opening my filter to check the laterals gets my nerves going...

[mitchryan912]

Thanks. I'm definitely enrolled a crash course on all this, as I'm only in my second year (ever) of pool ownership! I honestly have had no idea what I'm doing, but it's not so bad thus far. There's a decent knowledgebase online, and I hope I'm adding to it with what I'm doing (though I don't know how many pre-1990 Triton's are still in service...) It also helps to have a kicks pool shop nearby too (the only pool store anyone on here has ever found to stock K2006's), as they have most of the replacement parts in stock.

[FormerBromineUser]

It's people like you wanting to help others in the future that make this forum so great. Thanks!

[mitchryan912]

Glad I can give back. Everyone here was so helpful to me last year, so I owe it to help others.

So, beware of where your hub spokes will end up when you put the hub back in. I was lucky enough to be able to turn the hub slightly so that I wouldn't have an issue with a lateral not clearing the filer drain valve at the bottom. I couldn't screw a lateral in the way I put it in, but twisted it while it was in the tank, such that it was clear of the drain.
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[mitchryan912]

Got it all back together, filled it with water to cover the laterals, slowly added 325 lbs of "new" sand, and started it up (ran it in filter for a minute, then backwash for 5 minutes, followed by a 2 minute rinse.) The initial startup blew done cloudiness into the pool, but it seems fine now.

The new motor seems to be working much better than the old one too. Debris is no longer floating by the skimmer any more! :)