Possible sand leak? Broken underground line? Please advise.

[t6pool]

Hi all,

I have some dirt/grit/sand that seems to be leaking into my pool. I've read some posts on this forum that outline some possibilities and I'm still not sure what my problems can be. I'll list some of the possibilities and attach some links to pictures. I'm running a hayward s244T filter. I had the motor on my super-pump replaced this year as well. I seem to rember a bit of this type of sand/dirt last year but it seems far worse this year. I did not open the pool with the filter on backwash but have backwashed about 4 times in the last 3 weeks. The glass is cloudy for about 1 minute and clears up then rinses clear

1) The laterals are bad in the filter
2) Bad spider gasket
3) Broken line underground ( However I'm not losing water at a rate that seems consistent with the amount of dirt/sand)
4) My cover is pulling grit off the concrete... seems very far fetched

My multiport valve is kind of hacked in with silicone, it drips a bit on the top left port... I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it back together if I take the whole valve off since I've never messed with cutting/gluing pipe. It seems that I should be able to get at the spider gasket.

Is it time to call the pros?

Any help would be truly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6L6Nh ... URiSHJCZjg
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6L6Nh ... WRlenNrdTQ
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6L6Nh ... FhJaWN5VGc
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6L6Nh ... mpHd2pZVmc
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6L6Nh ... mc3ZzlNOEU
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6L6Nh ... mpkc1ZuWlk

 

[jblizzle]

Re: Possible sand leak? Broken underground line? Please adv

You can at least open up the top of the valve (8 screws I think) and check the spider gasket.

You could also try to put a sock over the returns to confirm if the dirt is making it through the filter ... and not an outside source.