Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool

[poolrx]

I don't have any hard PVC, it's all just regular filter hoses with hose clamps.

If I removed the sand from the filter or tried hooking the return to the pump, how many days could I do that without having an unsanitary pool? Or does that not matter seeing as my chlorine levels are 12ppm due to high CYA levels?

No matter what the outcome, I have already decided at the end of the season I'm going to remove the sand and replace the laterals. I went over those laterals 3 times each to check for cracks, breaks. Maybe something was so small I missed it. I should have just done it last season but really they looked great.

Nicole,

Maybe this is the next best step(bypassing the filter). I am baffled that you had the pantyhose over the outlet and the pool stayed clean yet nothing was in the pantyhose. It seems that it would have to be either the sand or environmental. I will throw out there that I have a DE filter and Tuesday I vacuumed what I would considered brownish sand/dirt in several locations(not quite as much as you have) off of the bottom. It is gritty, very fine and swirls up very easily. I have a Polaris and it is too fine for the bag to pick up. I can only link it to when it rains or is windy out and when I or the neighbor mows the lawn. I usually vacuum once or twice a month.

Good Luck, Joe

[hrsdennis]

Hi, the very top piece on the filter is held in place by a circle of bolts. You just remove these and the top lifts off. If the gasket looks good then just grease it good before putting the lid back on. If it looks bad take it with you to the pool store as there are many sizes to choose from.

Dennis

[Tredge]

Nicole12,

Still following with you. I still have the Exact same sediment in my pool, I also recently replaced my sand AND I have the same filter as you.

I have inspected my laterals as you have, I have also tried the panty-hose trick with no success. The only thing different is that I have NO DE in my system.

I think they may be on to somthing with the "spider gasket", now if we only knew for sure what part that is

I'll be sure to post when I find out more.

[nicole12]

I'll try backwashing later on this morning and post the results. It's pouring out here today so I'm sure I'll need to lower my pool anyway. When I put the DE I didn't notice anything cloudy coming from the return but can't say that I really concentrated on looking.

The settings on my filter are: "filter", "backwash", "rinse", "winter", "closed" and "recirculate" Could recirculate be the setting that I want? I don't know the difference either between "winter" and "closed".

I put the 3 (50lb) bags of sand into the filter, the filter is a 150lb filter. The first time I backwashed I lost about 5lbs of sand.

I just looked out in the pool and the dust/dirt on the bottom of the pool looks to have some white mixed in with it. I added some DE yesterday. So hopefully we are on to something with the spider gasket.

[nicole12]

Ok, so I went out and to see the spider gasket. Here is a picture of the gasket. Does it look ok? I did also backwash and nothing at all was coming out of the return.



Then I took the top off of the filter and I saw the DE on the top but with all cracks in it. I think I remember reading that was bad. Here is a picture of that. Does it look like my sand it too high/low?



Then here is a picture of the skimmer sock this morning. Looks like it caught a lot of DE. The dust/dirt at the bottom of the pool is clearly lighter today. I think DE mixed in with it.



Hopefully now with these pictures something will be obvious as to what the problem is.

[nicole12]

Just was outside in the pouring rain vacuuming the pool. Did vacuum up some DE. It was all inside of the cleaned out skimmer sock. While I was out there I was thinking of 2 things I'm going to do now to help to alleviate the constant vacuuming. These are only band-aid solutions and hopefully I can still find out what is actually wrong with the filter. We only really have a 3 month swimming season and it's a shame to be so upset over some dust in the bottom of the pool.

I'm going to buy a return slime bag to catch all this "stuff" that is going into the pool. I'm going to buy a shut-off valve and place it on the filter going to the return. Right now I run about 15psi so I'm going to restrict flow to get the psi up to around 23psi. Filter max. is 35psi. Recommendations on this forum suggest only raising around 10psi from your original starting point.

Would still love to know exactly what the problem is though.

[matt4x4]

Nicole - your filter looks awfully full, I can't tell exactly since the pic was straight down, but my guess is you have about 3" in there - I would rather see 6 to 8" free space.

What may be happening too is that the dirt is washing through where the standpipe meets the valve - while you have it all appart, can you check for scratches around where they meet?
Also, it's hard to tell, but your gasket looks worn in one part - the straight piece above the part that looks like a "burn" in the pic - the "burn" is also raising suspicion pointing at blow by being a culprit, but like I said, I can't really tell for sure, but from experience with gaskets in water systems, the gasket may even be worn just a tad little bit (we're talking thousands of an inch here which is not noticeable to the naked eye) but that would be enough to cause problems.

[duraleigh]

Nicole,

Ditto what Matt's saying....it looks like you may have too much sand in the filter. Check man.'s specs but generally, 2/3's full is the max.

[nicole12]

Ok, I'll remove some sand from the filter. Yes there were some scratches on the pipe. Would that be from too much sand in the filter?

If the gasket was bad wouldn't I feel some flow from the return while backwashing? I didn't feel anything or could the gasket be a little worn in one spot to allow small dust/sand to go through but not enough to affect backwashing?

[matt4x4]

so, I think what may be happening is that the high sand level is causing a bit more backpressure causing the silt to wash up the pipe where it's scored and flushing back into the pool (essentially just bypassing the sand filtering), I know there is a simple fix, but I'm having a brain fart on what it is!!!
Someone jump in here!!!
The spider Gasket is likely good enough for now since you are not feeling any flow when doing the test, so leave that alone for now, just make sure you use the pool gasket lube on it before reassembly or it will break on you relatively fast.