How to get sand out of a new pool?

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nlindelldc

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Mar 21, 2015
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Corpus Christi, Texas
Well they've finally got my pool up and running but it's green and full of sand. Of course I want to begin the SLAM process but the pool has lots and lots of sand in the bottom of it due to back fill and grading, etc. (they haven't poured concrete yet).

I have a cartridge filter and I'm not sure I want to just vacuum the sand into the filter, I'm thinking bad things can happen. I have read about "vacuuming to waste" but can't seem to wrap my mind around how to do that with a cartridge filter.

HELP!
 
I'm not sure why you even need to SLAM, unless you filled the pool from the swamp, but vacuuming to waste (regardless of filter type) should be a valved setting where the water is pumped somewhere (the yard, a drain, etc.) rather than being routed to the filter and back to the pool.
 
just vacuum and then clean your filter. the issue with sand is going through your pump, but its got to go thru the pump to get to the filter :). vacuuming to waste is still going to have the sand going thru the pump and will just waste more water. if it is a LOT of sand, are you able to push it into a pile at the bottom and tehn get in and manually remove it before vacuuming? the more you get out and no send thru your pump the better.

plus, most cartridge filters don't have the ability to vacuum to waste, that's more typical for sand filters. yours may have it, but doubt it
 
Thanks for the replies!

ewkearns--My PB is a complete moron and took 4 months to completely set and level my pool so I had standing stagnant water which subsequently turned swamp green. fun times!

Danin--So you're saying that the sand won't hurt the pump? That was my biggest concern. And great idea about manually removing as much as I can, I will definitely do that and will also clean my cartridge filter. I'm just worried about the pump, it is a lot of sand! And, no, my cartridge filter doesn't have the ability to vacuum to waste, so I was wondering if there was another way to bypass the sand going through the pump altogether.

Perhaps renting an external pump or something?!?
 
no way to avoid it going thru the pump since water goes thru the pump first and then to the filter.

sand should settle on the bottom, so I was more thinking of using a pool brush to gently push all the sand to one location on the bottom. you would have to do this with the pool not running to keep the water as still as possible. you could then use a rented sump pump I guess to vacuum it up. sand isn't great on a pump, but other things like stones, hair, etc are worse. even when you use a sump pump, there will still be sand left that will have to get vacuumed. as long as you can get as much as you can, no worries.

BUT...a better question is why aren't you making the people that did this clean it up!!?? I would be putting this on them. they can go rent a pump and clean it up.

in the mean time make sure you are manually dosing bleach/chlorine in your pool.
 
Dannin....

I hear what you are saying about making my PB clean up the mess but waiting on them is an exercise in futility. This whole process has been a nightmare. It's a long story. Suffice it so say that it has been 6 months and my pool still isn't finished. My PB claims to want to wait until after concrete is poured to get the sand out because there will be more during that process.

My kids just want to swim so I thought if I could do this myself I could make them happy.

And, yes, I am manually chlorinating and running Trichlor tabs at the moment (no CYA yet, or very little). My PB is spending $50 a day on liquid SHOCK adding to the pool (yes, I know it's 10% chlorine), so I figured I'd let him keep doing that. He just doesn't want to deal with the sand--yet.
 
can you close off the main drain right now and just run your pool off the skimmer? if so, you can do that and enjoy some swimming :)

don't think a shop vac would be able to suck from that high up. you should be able to rent a sump pump from home depot for pretty cheap for a day. or you can buy a cheap one from harbor freight, etc
 
Well, as a fellow Viking FB pool owner I can sympathize with you. Curious, where in Texas are you? It's a shame what you're going through. I was fortunate. While my installer didn't push a lot of backfill sand into the pool, they sure made a mess with the decking and concrete. They simply took-out my new filter and replaced it with a temporary one of their own. They did the first vacuum after completion to suck-up all the fallen grout and flagstone chips that went in the pool. At least your installer is taking care of the bleach for now. That helps a little. I think Dan has you going with a good suggestion for the sand. My cartridge filter housing (Hayward) has a spigot at the bottom in case I ever need to drain excess water out of the pool or clean sediment out of the bottom of the filter housing. Does yours have that faucet/spigot fitting? Might come-in handy.
 

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Texas Splash said:
Well, as a fellow Viking FB pool owner I can sympathize with you. Curious, where in Texas are you? It's a shame what you're going through. I was fortunate. While my installer didn't push a lot of backfill sand into the pool, they sure made a mess with the decking and concrete. They simply took-out my new filter and replaced it with a temporary one of their own. They did the first vacuum after completion to suck-up all the fallen grout and flagstone chips that went in the pool. At least your installer is taking care of the bleach for now. That helps a little. I think Dan has you going with a good suggestion for the sand. My cartridge filter housing (Hayward) has a spigot at the bottom in case I ever need to drain excess water out of the pool or clean sediment out of the bottom of the filter housing. Does yours have that faucet/spigot fitting? Might come-in handy.
Click to expand...


Yep, we're in Corpus Christi. Sounds like the same builder maybe (you can PM me if you want--you wouldn't believe the nightmare we've been through).

But, yes, my Hayward does have a spigot at the bottom! Are you saying that I can just remove the filter and hook a water hose up to that spigot? That would sure be easy!

I'd still be worried about the pump though, I guess.
 
Unfortunately, our filter set-ups aren't designed to filter to backwash like the sand or DE are intended to do. I'm concerned that with no filter inside (no resistance) much of the sand might just blow right by the spigot and come back into the pool. But you could try (as a test) to vacuum (with filter inside) a small bit of sand with someone watching that water leaving the spigot and/or the return jets to see where the sand is exiting. I have a garden hose attached to mine for times where we're getting pounded with rain and I need to lower the water level (I have no overflow drain:(). See if the sand finds it's way out that way. If it doesn't work for the majority of the sand, you might find it comes-in handy towards then end of the clean-up and when you need to empty the filter housing for cleaning or inspection. I hope it works for you.
 
Any chance you can attach a sock or stocking over the returns and remove the filter cartridge? That way you could vacuum the sand up and it will go right through the empty filter housing and get caught in the socks.

Or try renting a trash pump and rig the vacuum hose to the intake and hook a sock to the outlet hose where it goes back into the pool. You could just let the water dump out, but then you'd have a lot of mud.
 
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