Hayward s-244T sand filter- sand media?!?!?

[bobby32x]

ok, I need a little help here. I am thinking a lot of my pool problem clearing is due to inactive/outdated sand. I just spoke to a friend of the family and he said he went to a pool store and felt the way the pool stores sand felt in his hands, he then went to Home Depot (local home improvement store) and bought 300lbs of beach sand there for his filter. He said he does this every 3 years and it works great and that the expensive sand bought at pool stores is over priced due to the fact that the pool stores are in the business to make money 3 months out of the year. I looked up a few things and I am seeing that beach sand is not the same as the pool store sand because the pool store sand has silica in it. I also read that zeolite filter media is even more expensive than pool store sand but works way better at filtering out chloromines and chlorine bi-products. I'm interested in the zeolite media but not going to entertain the idea since I have a 32,000 gallon money pit in my back yard that I just want to swim in it.. what is your opinion on the beach sand as filter media

Good?

Bad?

 

[JohnT]

Chances are good your problem has nothing to do with your sand.

Beach sand is half dirt. Stick with pool sand.

 

[JasonLion]

First, there is hardly any chance that you need new sand. Sand will last essentially forever as long as it doesn't get calcium scaling. Every couple of years it is good to rinse out and resettle the sand bed, but there is no need to replace it unless it has become severely clumped.

Second, you should never use beach sand or play sand. Always use graded #20 silica sand. This can often be found at places like Home Depot for far less then the pool store.

Some people like Zeo media, but we don't recommend it. There have been too many reports of problems. Also, it does essentially nothing to remove chloramines. It will absorb some very minimal amount of chloramine when first installed and that is it, end of story.

 

[bobby32x]

Thing is I do not know the age of the sand in the filter. could be a decade for all I know and, this pool suffered a flood of river water from storm Irene. I have been shocking it for roughly 4 days keeping the shock numbers at the proper level based on the chart I looked at on here. my TC is no different than the FC. could that maybe be part of it?

 

[bobby32x]

also, I should point out that I tried to add some DE to the filter and it passed right through and was entering the pool via returns

 

[JasonLion]

DE going through the filter means something is wrong with the filter. The most likely possibility is that the sand has become channeled, which can be fixed by rinsing and resettling the sand bed. However it could also mean that something more serious is wrong (either with the filter or the multi-port valve).

 

[bobby32x]

I will have to look into this further then. The channeling thing probably isn't the issue since I rinse after every backwash (as suggested to me). I guess I will tear it apart but I wont know what the bottom half of the filter looks like with it full of sand. I will only be able to see if something just below the valve is wrong I am guessing.