Backwash waste uses & routing - I need some help and ideas!

[zephans]

I need some advice for my first backwashing adventures!
1. What do you do with your backwash water?
2. Any problems using untreated water for plants (when Chlorine & other chemicals are low)?
3. What do you do with normally chlorinated/treated waste water?
4. How do you route this deluge of water for 10-15min recommended by instructions for backwashing new sand/zeobrite?

I haven't done careful math yet, but rough guess from my 15 seconds of experience tells me I'll have (5gal/10sec)*(60sec/1min)*(10min backwash) = ~300 gallons of backwash waste!!!


MY SETUP/SITUATION:
I just finished assembling and filling my 12'x24'x54" AG pool yesterday. I installed 75lbs of Zeobrite (up to recommended 10" from top fill level) in my WaterWay (WaterCo?) sand filter and hooked up the matched 2hp pump. (Yes, pump likely overkill but that's what came with this pool from www.sunenterprises.com). I fired up the pump with filter set to backwash for the fist time... and watched 5+ gallons spew out from the waste port into my inadequate 5 gallon bucket then onto the dirt near my pool in under 10 seconds!

SHORT-TERM WORKAROUND: I added Chlorine this morning (since my 2-day old untreated water started turning a little green). My temporary solution was to use recirculate setting on filter to mix in 1.5gal of Chlorox Bleach (6%) until I properly backwash the filter medium. I'll get cloudy soon if I don't get the filter going in next day or two.

PLAN: My initial plan is to get fittings to adapt my vacuum hose to the waste port, then fill up 5gal buckets or preferrably just water everywhere I can as far as the hose will reach. I don't have much land lower than the pool so I'll create a pond at my rec-room patio if I dump within 20' of the pool.


PS: Sorry for the extra details. I included full details in case someone reads and sees an obvious problem with my first-time setup. I have no on-site experts. My prior experience was with 12' doughnut pool with tiny cartridge filter and pool store chemicals. PoolForum posters are my only support and sanity check .

[Phillbo]

Mine is plumbed right into my sewer line.

[zephans]

Little help please? I know LOTS of folks here use sand filters - and therefore backwash regularly. Please post how you route and/or use your backwash waste.

In the absense of any great feedback I've been postponing my first backwash... to the detriment of my pool water quality. It didn't help that yesterday my family and I took our first family camper trip. The camping trip went great, but that took priority.

I came up with an ingenious idea:
1. Pump backwash into an older 3'x5'x18"h inflatable kiddy pool as a temporary retention pond.
2. Use 5 gallon buckets to redistribute the waste water to plants needing water around the house.

Problem is we have a 9 week old puppy and 6 month old puppy playing around our back yard. Unless I have time to setup, pump, redistribute water, and cleanup all in one session I am too worried about puppy falling in the water and drowning.

Making matters worse, I added CYA stabilizer granules but I'm still using recirculate rather than the filter. (I'll post that problem separately.) I also have crud collecting on the bottom of my pool. I added a stocking as a makeshift gunk filter today, but I'm only running pump for 1hr a day to mix up daily chlorine (until I get the filter running I see no point to circulating water beyond mixing chemicals.)

HELP PLEASE! I need your inspiration (or horror storry to convince me that dumping 300 gallons is better than something else).

[AnnaK]

Hi Zephan,

I run a 30 foot hose from my filter into the yard when I backwash and drain the water on the grass. My pool sits up on a hill and the hose is just long enough to drain the water down the hill. I haven't noticed any damage to the grass from chlorine.

I backwash when my pump pressure reaches ~8 ppi above normal with 'normal' being the pressure directly after backwashing. I run some of the backwash into a white plastic pitcher and inspect for turbidity and debris. When the water is clear, I go to a 45 second rinse cycle. If I have a lot of water in the pool due to rain, I'll do another brief backwash and rinse.

I normally plan the backwash ahead in that I brush the pool bottom and sides the evening before, then vacuum in the morning and then run the backwash. I don't swim the dogs the day before and allow the Cl level to drop to 2 ppm to protect the grass. Then, after the cycle, I adjust the chemistry balance and set the pump to recirculate with the eye pointing into the water rather than skimming across the surface.

I have a 12,000 oval pool and lose about 1.5 inches of water during a backwash/rinse cycle.

Can you put the puppies in a crate or an X-pen while you're backwashing? And would you be able to route the water via a long pool hose into the driveway? It's a lot of water . . .

[matt4x4]

I backwash directly onto my lawn - the 3 foot hose from the outlet on the filter empties onto a 3 foot long piece of flagstone - from there it just splashes onto the lawn without uprooting the grass - it's the nicest chunk of lawn I have - the same goes for when I drain it, I just keep pouring it on the lawn

[zephans]

OK, these are a great start. I really like idea of planning for backwash a couple days ahead. Yes, I can block the puppies off while doing the backwash. However I need to make sure I have enought time to deal with the water before I let them go. The pool has been such a huge time sink that I try to keep to 10min chunks... this is a 30-45min chunk to do properly until I get good area to directly pump waste into.


The conservationist in me screams whenever I think about pumping this much water out. I'm only supposed to water the lawn every 3rd day and I typically just let our lawn go brown. (I guess I'll have at least one large green patch this year... good thing it is in the back yard next to the swings/play system .)

I just had another crazy idea that might just work:

RECLAIM SETTLED WASTE WATER FROM SECONDARY "SETTLING POOL"
1. Pump waste water into large kiddy pool (as described before)
2. Let settle for 30min or until water is clear, then slowly move all debris to one side of kiddy pool (without disturbing or stirring up the debris), then let settle again.
3. Use vacuum attachment to pump clear water (from cleared side of pool) BACK into the pool! Make sure to stop pumping when water starts getting cloudy and you can't avoid waste debris.
4. Dump remaining "condensed" waste water on lawn or other approved location.

I'll be this can safely reduce waste water by 75%.
QUESTION: Anyone tried something like this to reclaim backwash water?
QUESTION: Anyone know solid reason why reclaiming settled waste water should NOT be done (or additional steps I should do)?

[JohnT]

Have you considered a buried tank that could be plumbed to a sprinkler pump for irrigation? Concrete or poly tanks can easily be sized large enough to hold the backwash water, then a sprinkler pump could be used to water the lawn or irrigate landscaping. Algae and bugs etc. are just added benefit to the plants.

[Steve #1]

Mine is plumbed in to the sewer too.

If you're worried about damaging your lawn, I did a partial drain to lower CYA last year at a house I was renting. I put 6 or so thousand gallons in to the yard and it turned it green.... like a yard should be, as we were under water rationing and could only water for a few hours one day a week. The yard had a nice slope, so I didn't have to worry about it getting to close to the house. The ground was so dry, it just kept soaking it up.

If you're in a drought area, see how much the ground will take. You'll get a big boost in green grass now, and you won't have to water nearly as much for the next month or so to keep it going.

Storm sewer is an option if you have one.

If you are on a waste sewer system, put your hose in the access port and keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn’t back up in to the house. (check local regulations etc. first…)

[Phillbo]

If you are on a waste sewer system, put your hose in the access port and keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn’t back up in to the house. (check local regulations etc. first…)

use the cleanout closest to the house, it angles towards the street

[zephans]

UPDATE: I did my first backwash by filling up a large kiddie pool I had handy. It was full after 10 minutes of pumping. The water was still a little murky but I had no more room, water level was at bottom edge of skimmer, and it was really late. So I rinsed for 30sec, then switched to filter (turning pump off between each filter switch change per instructions). The pool didn't explode and didn't turn cloudy or get sand, so I'll call it a success.

Now I desparately need to vacuum the pool floor and sweep the edges and get a floating trichlor tablet dispenser to keep chlorine level stable before we take off for a vacation tomorrow morning.


Additional backwashing thoughts:
I will need to use sewer drain technique if/when I do a partial or full drain down. However for just backwashing I want to put the water to best use possible.

I live in Western Washington (the Evergreen state). While we have some water rationing, water has never been in critical low supply in the region. Still, if the water is good then I want to put it to use around the house. I like the retaining pond idea except for the burying part.

For next time I will get a 50' hose and use it to water the entire back yard. Emptying my temporary retaining pond with a 5 gallon bucket took forever. I ended up dumping over half the waste into a shallow channel I dug that routed it directly to the low part in my lawn (away from the house).

I don't think the drain, settle, and reclaim method would work. I still have some of the waste water in a large vase, and it still looks murky after 3 days. The water would have to be filtered (which defeats the purpose of backwashing).

Feel free to post other innovative waste water use/routing ideas.