Sand filter cracked

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B

bensmail

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Mar 30, 2011
35
Clearwater, FL
So I got a new Intex sand filter middle of last summer. In the fall I read through the instructions for winterizing the unit several times and I don't believe I missed anything. I took the pump inside and stored it in the basement but the sand filter was far too heavy to move.

Now that the snow is all melted I walked by the filter yesterday only to notice the giant crack large enough to put my finger through. I'm not too happy... I was worried about it freezing but I read through the storage instructions several times and found nothing on the topic so I assumed I had it covered with the steps lined out in the manual.

I guess I'm interested to know what I SHOULD have done. This weekend I'll look for the booklet and read it through again.
 
Bama Rambler said:
The only winterizing usually needed for a sand filter is to remove the drain cap and leave it off. I stick mine in the pump basket with the other drain plugs and items.
Click to expand...

Well I know I did this and also moved the valve position to neutral as instructed. Any idea why my filter casing would crack? Any chance I get get a replacement from Intex?
 
Let us know what intex says...I am curious how this happened, the method bama described for winterizing is the same I do with my sand filter and I live in Minnesota where we get hard freeze (even this strange year). Where do you live?
 
So I guess I'm stupid.

Looking over the pump I now see the little drain at the bottom of the sand tank. This was hidden by matted grass in the fall. The directions just say to remove the cap on the drain valve. (They even tell you to turn the cap counter clockwise) However what I did was remove the cover on the pipe labeled "drain", NOT the actual drain. I remember thinking this couldn't be all I needed to do and re-reading the directions many times. But once I made the mistake I just kept on confirming that I had indeed removed the drain cap.... or at least the cap on the part marked "drain"

I called Intex and the top dome part that cracked is not an available replacement part and I was told that I'm free to purchase an entirely new filter and pump combination!

SO, Is it possible to repair this sucker? I take it this is put under a lot of pressure.... probably no amount of patching and glue would ever solve this??

How about a replacement part from a scrapped unit. Any chance I'll ever find one of those?
 
That stinks :(

The crack is in the gray filter chamber right? If it is, you will need to get a new filter, but you can probably still use the pump. I have been limping a sand filter with a crack all last summer. Used the marine epoxy that is like clay that you can form in place to plug my very small crack. It works for awhile but at some point the pressure breaks the temp fix and then I leak. Maybe check craigslist for a used filter that you could pair with your intex pump.
 
At the moment I found this low end sand filter on eBay. Looks like I could get this for $125 with shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ABOVE-GROUND-PO ... 1e6c8c57c9

I have the 18' above ground Intex inflatable pool so I don't think I need anything better than this.

My only question is.... I need to pump water up to the solar panel on the roof. The original pump that came with the pool couldn't handle it. This low end sand filter only has a 1/5 HP pump. Can I use my Intex sand filter pump with this sand unit?

Also, if I buy this sand filter on eBay I will have 3 pumps. Is it feasible to use 2 pumps? One to push water through the filter and another to pump water through the solar panel? That would be nice since I could set timers to run them separately. Maybe even find a way to only have the solar panel pump turn on when it's sunny.
 
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