Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
went out and bought a shut-off valve and installed that on the return...even if i don't use it to restrict flow i need something on that side anyways.
i removed about a kids bucket full of sand. it's now at the point where the filter starts to curve up. not sure if i should take more out or not.
Last edited by nicole12; 07-13-2006 at 05:30 PM.
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
That sounds pretty good, give it a whirl for a bit there, you can always take more out.
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
Nicole - where are you at with this? Any improvements noticeable?
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
The pool bottom is clear today no dust/dirt. I do think though that it was the sand being too high. It was really high, I thought that when I was putting it in how close it was to the top but it said add 150lbs so that's what I added. Wondering though if I should backwash again today to settle the sand down since I was fooling with it yesterday.
My manual doesn't say how high the sand should be on the filter, just says add 150lbs.
At the end of the season I'm going to remove the sand and check each lateral again just to be sure. Is it ok to save the sand since it's brand new this season. I figure I'll just put it in the wheel barrow and when it dries out I'll put it back in the filter. I'm also going to try to buy a new spider gasket for it. Tough finding AstralPool products.
Also I live in Mass. can I leave the sand filter outside this year. Just put a trash bag over it? I'll move the pump indoors, I think that's how I damage the pipe last time moving that filter.
Last edited by nicole12; 07-14-2006 at 10:05 AM.
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
Nicole - glad to hear things are looking up!
Backwashing does the opposite of settling, it pushes water up from the bottom to blow off the selled debris on top of your sand, normal filtering settles teh sand down.
If you don't get sand into your pool, don't empty the filter end of season, you may risk breaking a lateral since they get brittle over time.
Your filter should have a drain plug on the bottom, open that and set it to winterize on the handle, when you shut the systems down for the year, it will take a bit, but your water will eventually drain out, a big garbage bag over it bungeed on the bottom is good, I actually remove the valve assy and bring it indoors leaving only the covered tank outside.
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
Thank you to everyone for all your help!
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
I had this very same problem last year, it turned out to be dead algae, so fine the filter could not filter it, I added all kinds of stuff ,nothing worked. the only solution is clean water.
I had to empty the pool,and scrub it down with Clorox. Worth every bit the energy it took, because my water has been perfect this year (so far) another thing, how old is the sand in your filter?
good luck to you
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
My filter is 4 years old. New sand this year. I emptied some sand because my filter was too full with sand and now that it's dried out I was picking it up and after I dump out of my hand most of the bigger piece of sand the other stuff is so fine it's like kids play sand. Maybe I got some really bad sand from the pool store.
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
Sad to say it's back. I had the panty hose on the return took it off tonight to test to see if it was the sand being too high. The pump turned on and within 5 minutes it was all over the bottom of the pool.
Could it be possible that the pump is so oversized that when it starts up it forces the fine stuff right through the laterals? I vacuumed about an hour ago and so far there is nothing else on the bottom. Hopefully the fact that the dust comes out right when the pump starts up will lead to some answers.
I turned the shut off valve about 1/2 way off and it raised the pressure from 15psi to 20psi on the filter so we'll see what happens when the filter comes on in the morning. The return jet was so strong before you couldn't even put you hand over the return itself.
Re: Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool
Checked the pool this morning before the filter kicked on. The pool was still clean from the vacuuming which means the "stuff" only comes out when the filter first turn on. I held a skimmer sock in front of the return when it first kicked on, held it there for about 5 minutes nothing in the bag.
The fact that the debris only enters when the filter first turns on, does that rule out some things?
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