Help with clogged impeller

I turned my pump on after cleaning out a large amount of sand in the pump basket (vacuumed up alot of sand in the pool from leaky sand bags used to weigh the pool stairs down) only to find it humming, no suction. After initially panicking, I remembered the impeller from reading posts on the forum. I took all the plumbing apart and the basket off, and the impeller would not turn by hard or using screwdriver. I took the pump off the base and help it upside down and flushed it with high spray setting on the garden hose, also removed the pump drain plugs. After hooking everything back up, it worked fine.

But, I'm concerned that I may not have gotten all the sand out, and will have the same problem again. Is there a better way to access the impeller to clean it out ? It's a Century Lasar 2.5 hp pool/spa motor that was packaged with a Waterway 26" high rate sand filter. There were several screws in the front of the plastic casing in front of the impeller that I removed, hoping this would access the impeller, but the plastic cover would not come off, after prying on it gently, was afraid to put too much pressure on it for fear of damaging it.


Thanks for any suggestions.


Bob P
pool newby
E Tennessee

If the obstructions are not too large and the impeller is still turning, you can run the pump a short time without the pressure side drain plug. First shut the pump off and remove the drain plug. Then turn the pump on for about 10-20 seconds. Obviously, only those obstructions that can fit through the drain plug will get flushed out.

Mark,

Thanks,I will give that a try in the morning ! Hopefully, it will take care of any remaining sand in there. I was really panicking for awhile, thinking how am I gonna fix this, yet alone take everything apart and then get it back together again. Thoughts of a green pool was running through my mind with the pump not working.