Hello all and thanks for the help in advance. My problem is cloudy water. The water tests o.k. and is just cloudy not green, brown or yellow. I figured it was time to change the sand so I did that as specified by the filter manufacturer. I found that my 200# filter only had about fifty pounds of sand in it. It did not blow in the pool nor is it covering my lawn where I have been pumping the backwash or wastewater. I don't think the pool builder ever put it in and we didn't notice because our first season with the pool was too short to see a problem. The inside of the filter was very sticky as of old grease and oil having been in water too long. Surprise! Anyway I cleaned everything and re-assembled the filter with the appropriate amount of new sand. The laterals looked good so I did not replace any. The problem I have now is that with the valve in the filter position it appears to be bypassing the sand bed (recirculating). I am fairly sure I got it all put back together correctly with the appropriate type and amount of sand. The pressure gauge reads 20# and does not change regardless of valve position or amount of time on the filter setting. There is no air in the pump basket and no air in any of the return lines. There is no sand in the pool or backwash water either. There are no leaks anywhere that I can see. The valve is the obsolete WC112-148. I have ordered the replacement 261186 valve other than try to rebuild the old one. Am I missing something? I don't want to throw money at it and end up with a cloudy pool in the end.
Sand filter being bypassed
- Thread starter JFtheGR8
- Start date
How did you figure out that it's bypassing all the time?
When you put the valve on recirc the pressure should go down some. You've taken the sand out of the equation. There will still be some valve restriction but it should be less than the sand.
If it truly is bypassing, then fixing that will definitely help the cloudiness issue.
When you put the valve on recirc the pressure should go down some. You've taken the sand out of the equation. There will still be some valve restriction but it should be less than the sand.
If it truly is bypassing, then fixing that will definitely help the cloudiness issue.
It is a multiport valve. I figured it was bypassing the filter because anything that goes into the skimmer seems to return to the pool (while the valve is set to filter). I put some chlorine granules in the skimmer and they went straight on through. I don't think that should have happened as the granules should have been trapped by the sand and thus raise the tank pressure. The pressure is 19-20# whether it is set to filter or recirculate. The only difference is that the needle seems to vibrate a little more while on recirculate (I might note that it is a new gauge). Why? I don't know other than the flow through the valve might be a little higher on recirculate even though the pressure stays about the same. :-?
I think the valve is your problem. Once you have the replacement in I think you'll see a big difference.
- Jul 21, 2008
- 103
- Pool Size
- 23500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Thanks for the most marvelous tip JFtheGR8! I am having issues with mine and and I tried it and as soon as I put stabilizer in, out it came through the return. Now to figure out why and fix it.
I have read that the spider gasket is usually the culprit. My multiport is obsolete for a reason so I opted to just replace it altogether and not mess with trying to rebuild something that obviously is flawed to begin with. I should have the new valve by friday. I will post the results of replacing it.
- Jul 21, 2008
- 103
- Pool Size
- 23500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
