I need to remove my filter from my Cabana for one day - Looking for help on the best way to do this

[Rockstead]

I have attached some photos of my setup.

I am not very handy and I’m looking for the easiest way to do this while my cabana gets Re-leveled. I don’t have a concrete pad and I’m told the filter probably added to the sinking of the cabana.

1. Based on my pictures, what’s the easiest way to unhook / drain my filter without removing anything that is glued and how do I drain the water from the unit without getting it all over my floor?

I figure once the water is removed and necessary plumbing removed l, I could move it outside the cabana with help from the people leveling the cabana.

 

[Texas Splash]

Well, if you need to actually remove the filter and/or all the plumbing from the cabana, that could get a bit tricky. But if you look closely at all of your pipe connections, you will see that some of them have unions to disconnect items. A union will look something like this:


There should be a drain plug at the bottom of the sand filter. The plug/cap may come completely off to drain the water, but then the sand will remain. You'll need to remove the multiport valve at the top and scoop sand out as much as you can (save it for reuse) then probably vacuum the remaining sand out of the lower portion of the filter. Many people use a ShopVac for that purpose. But be careful in there since the laterals at the bottom can be damaged if handled roughly.

You have a coupe electrical items like the salt generator and pump which will need to be disconnected as well.

Let us know if you have more specific questions we can help with.

 

[Rockstead]

Well, if you need to actually remove the filter and/or all the plumbing from the cabana, that could get a bit tricky. But if you look closely at all of your pipe connections, you will see that some of them have unions to disconnect items. A union will look something like this:


There should be a drain plug at the bottom of the sand filter. The plug/cap may come completely off to drain the water, but then the sand will remain. You'll need to remove the multiport valve at the top and scoop sand out as much as you can (save it for reuse) then probably vacuum the remaining sand out of the lower portion of the filter. Many people use a ShopVac for that purpose. But be careful in there since the laterals at the bottom can be damaged if handled roughly.

You have a coupe electrical items like the salt generator and pump which will need to be disconnected as well.

Let us know if you have more specific questions we can help with.

I think I could remove the unions and one hose clamp in a way to remove just the filter, I think. What strategy would you use based on the pictures?

Someone mentioned I could attach a hose to drain the water in the filter away from the cabana, where is that place to attach the hose as I don’t want to unplug it and have the water go everywhere?

does the Multi port valve have to be set to any specific setting?

I was hoping that with the help of one or two guys, I could move it without emptying any sand.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Draining the water out without getting it all over the floor is going to be your biggest challenge.
I don't see any check valves so you should be able to set the multiport to winterize and the plumbing below the filter should drain back to the pool.
I would then take the multiport valve off the filter and use a shop vac to suck the water and sand out.

I don't think you're going to be successful at moving it without removing the sand. there's about 350lbs of 'dry' sand in it not counting the water and about 50lbs for the vessel. So, you're looking at about 500lbs if you leave it full.

The good news is, that once you empty it with a shop vac, it will be light enough that you can probably leave it in the building.

 

[Rockstead]

Draining the water out without getting it all over the floor is going to be your biggest challenge.
I don't see any check valves so you should be able to set the multiport to winterize and the plumbing below the filter should drain back to the pool.
I would then take the multiport valve off the filter and use a shop vac to suck the water and sand out.

I don't think you're going to be successful at moving it without removing the sand. there's about 350lbs of 'dry' sand in it not counting the water and about 50lbs for the vessel. So, you're looking at about 500lbs if you leave it full.

The good news is, that once you empty it with a shop vac, it will be light enough that you can probably leave it in the building.

Thanks, so just to confirm. Am I able to attach a Hose to drain the filter? I think someone mentioned the drain plug can have a hose attached, not sure if that’s accurate. If so, does that mean I have to unscrew the drain cap and then quickly attach a hose to that hole? Or is there a better way?

 

[Bama Rambler]

There's no way to connect a hose before you remove the drain cap, so you'd have a lot of water rush out of the filter before you could get a hose on it. That's why I suggested just using a shop vac for both water and sand removal.

 

[Rockstead]

There's no way to connect a hose before you remove the drain cap, so you'd have a lot of water rush out of the filter before you could get a hose on it. That's why I suggested just using a shop vac for both water and sand removal.

ok, just to get back to this. The individual I normally use was going to do it for me and they were scheduled to come today but they said since I didn’t I unscrew the drain cap, pressure valve, glass vial and let the sand dry for 48 hours, it would take them too long to do for the time they quoted me, is that accurate?

in any case, I see that my shopvac is a wetdry and if you look at my pictures, I should be able to unscrew the unions where the hot and and cold valves are and I attached a new picture showing the other side is just a flexible hose clamped on that I can unscrew.

So I’ll follow these steps

1. turn off power to everything
2. Set multiport to winter - Do I have to wait at this step for a long time for it to drain?
3. I may or may not unscrew the drain plug or I’ll shop vac the water out, if I unscrew it, how long should I wait after, just thinking back to the guy telling me to wait 48 hours
4. I’ll unscrew the union at the hot and cold Valves, and I’ll unscrew the union going in to the multiport and I’ll unclamp the flexible hose on the other side (picture attached)
5. Following that and having the multiport head off, is there a video I can then follow to empty that you recommend?
6. Once I’m ready to re-fill, is it worth trying to put the same sand back in it should I just use new sand? I read my filter label and it says 300 pounds.


Thank you!

 

[Rockstead]

@Bama Rambler @Texas Splash

emergency!

Just found out the company leveling the Cabana is coming tomorrow morning, so I’ll be attempting to do this tonight!!

when I set the port to winter, there is still water sitting in the pump, how do I get the pump emptied? I’do I run the motor on winter to do that?

 

[Texas Splash]

Just to be clear, are you speaking about the pump or the sand filter? The pump should have a drain plug (or two) that can be removed. Not alot of water there. The sand filter however will have quite a bit of water trying to rush out when you remove the plug. The mulitport valve setting doesn't really have much to do with that. When you remove the drain plug at the bottom, water will rush out until you can get a hose or something on it to try and direct water away from the cabana.

 

[Rockstead]

Just to be clear, are you speaking about the pump or the sand filter? The pump should have a drain plug (or two) that can be removed. Not alot of water there. The sand filter however will have quite a bit of water trying to rush out when you remove the plug. The mulitport valve setting doesn't really have much to do with that. When you remove the drain plug at the bottom, water will rush out until you can get a hose or something on it to try and direct water away from the cabana.

Ok thanks, just waiting for the water to drain from the filter, I was concerned about water being in the pump but I guess it doesn’t matter.

if I’m successful at emptying the sand, should I even bother trying to re-use it afterwards? I wrote some questions in post #7 in case you have time to answer any of them.

 

[Texas Splash]

if I’m successful at emptying the sand, should I even bother trying to re-use it afterwards?

Sand doesn't just go bad unless pool store gunk like floc or clarifiers were added to it previously. So if you have a place to put it off to the side, you can put it back in after the leveling is complete.

 

[Rockstead]

Ok I was up past midnight vacuuming the sand out, only to have the Cabana guys do an initial lift and to tell me the entire floor supporting the cabana has rotted out and they have nothing they can actually lift and I’ll need a carpenter to rebuild the foundation instead.

Well at least I learned how to disconnect my equipment and empty sand.

Ill be refilling the sand now, any tips for getting it back in, I’ll be reusing the old sand and it’s not like the videos where I can just place the bag over it and puncture it, having to put it back in a few cups at a time by hand is not how I want to spend my day.

Im attaching a picture of the sand in the filter before I removed it, does it look dirty? I’ve never done maintenance but I maintain well and my season is only 6 months or so with only 3-4 being swimmable.

I tried putting those hose on the blow portion of the shop vac but it isn’t able to blow the sand out that is in the shop vac out, so unless there is a better technique?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Your sand looks fine. There's not a really fast way to put the sand back in the filter except a bucket or shovel at a time. Be sure to put a cup or something over the stand pipe so you don't get sand in it.

 

[Rockstead]

Ok using this technique