I had sand in my pool and at the end of the season took the filter apart and my standpipe had a crack in it.

It's not a big deal at all to empty the sand filter and check out the laterals and standpipe. I have a 150lb sand filter and it takes about an hour. The second time I did it I just lined my wheel barrow with a garbage back so that I could just put the sand back in after I checked everything.