sand in pool constantly and low pump pressure

[georgiadawg]

I am having a problem with low flow/low pressure on my pump, despite backwashing and no apparent blockage and quite a bit of sand being deposited into the pool. Never had this issue before so not quite sure what to check. Pump is upgraded from the one that came with the pool and is only three years old. It's an Intex Krystal Klear 3000 pump and filter

 

[rstarke]

If you get sand from your filter flushed into the pool through the return and the pressure on the filter gauge is lown it's an indication for broken laterals. Those are the arms sitting in the bottom of your sand filter. They have tiny slots that let the filtered water through but not sand. If filter sand ends up in the pool that often means that either a lateral detached or broke. That can happen because the plastic deteriorates or the filter was hit or dropped.

To check on the laterals you have to open your sand filter and carefully take out the valve and inside part. That is a tricky thing with a lateral potentially broken. There are some good tutorials on how to take the filter apart here in the forum e.g. Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

For most filters you can get replacement parts though so you probably don't need to replace the whole thing!

 

[kimkats]

Well this was an easy one for me! Thanks @rstarke as I was going to say the same thing! Deep clean that sand and see if that helps.

 

[georgiadawg]

Well this was an easy one for me! Thanks @rstarke as I was going to say the same thing! Deep clean that sand and see if that helps.

Deep clean the sand? Does backwashing not do that? Also, it’s brand new sand that has only been in the filter about 4 weeks. (We were late getting the pool open this year)

 

[woodyp]

You're good. She assumed your sand had been in operation a good while. Deep cleaned mine at 5 years. Not pretty!

 

[kimkats]

Ahhhh but there might be a clue here. Has there been good pressure since you got the new sand put in?

 

[kellyfair]

I’m voting for broken lateral too. I just went through that myself.

 

[georgiadawg]

Ahhhh but there might be a clue here. Has there been good pressure since you got the new sand put in?

There was to begin with. Although had sand coming in return from the get go.

 

[kimkats]

Sounds like some mistakes were made when adding the new sand. Some possible ideas are:

-Water was not put in the filter before they started to add sand. As such the sand dropped down on the laterals and might have cracked one or more.

-The stand pipe was not covered and sand got inside it.

-The laterals were to put on properly so the filter is not working right.

 

[georgiadawg]

He had never put water in first. Didn't know he was supposed to. And I have wondered if they got sand in the stand pipe from the beginning.

 

[rstarke]

The deep clean article was not meant for you to do the deep clean but it has a good overview of the sand filter parts and how to get to them without breaking anything. So if you wanted to check the laterals yourself following the deep cleaning guide helps to get that done.

But I agree with the others that either the whole return pipe is filled with sand or the laterals got damaged from changing the sand.

 

[kellyfair]

He had never put water in first. Didn't know he was supposed to. And I have wondered if they got sand in the stand pipe from the beginning.

Filling the filter with water first “softens the landing”, so to speak, when adding the sand.

Once you figure out the issue and are ready to add sand again, if you can’t find the center pipe shield (that also keeps pipe stable when adding sand), you can use a solo cup or even a coffee mug inverted over pipe to keep sand out.

 

[kellyfair]

I think @Newdude has a HUGE supply of red solo cups if you need one!