Intex Sand filter Question

[Mattshouldbeworking]

Hello, I'm having some issues with an Intex 2650 GPH Sand Filter / SWG combo that I recently installed. I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right section or not.

I have a 24' x 48" Summer Escapes above ground pool. It had been working very well for us, with the kids using it just about every day throughout the summer. A week or so ago the pump that came with it stopped working, and the pool quickly became a green swamp. The pump is mounted to the bottom of the strainer basket that comes with the pool. I decided that it would be the perfect time to switch to a sand filter and I wanted to give the salt water a try. So I ordered the Intex sand filter / swg combo unit. To hook it up I had to leave the old pump on the skimmer, I couldn't figure out any other way to mate the two together. I pulled the impeller out of the old pump first. It seemed that I wasn't getting enough flow through the skimmer/motor, so I cut a hole in the pool and used the intake that came with the new filter. That seemed to fix the flow problem.

Fast forward to the last couple of days as I have been trying to follow the directions to turn my swamp clear again and a new problem came up.

I have been using a smaller vacuum head attached to the the vac hose which is fitted into the intake in the pool from the filter. The problem is that when I start to vacuum the bottom to get rid of this algae problem I can run the vac for about 4-5min then the pump seems to loose suction. There will be nothing coming out of the return line and the pressure gauge on the sand filter will have jumped 4-5psi. I shut the pump down, wait a few seconds, turn it on then it will start moving water again. I have tried backwashing the filter a couple times but it does not seem to effect how long I am able to run the vacuum. When I do backwash it, I get clear water running out in about 30 seconds or less.

Am I doing something wrong or is it normal to have to backwash it that often? What do I need to do to be able to run the vacuum for longer. It seems at this point that I am fighting a loosing battle against the algae because I can't run the vac over the whole pool.

Here are my latest test results. They are off of a test strip, I am going to order the real test kits soon.

TH: 500
TC: between the 5 and 10 blocks
FC: between the 5 and 10 blocks.
PH: 7.8
TA: 180
CYA: 30-50
My water is currently green, when I sweep the bottom I get a nice darker green cloud come up.

I have been putting bleach in to keep the chlorine levels up but I'm thinking I might be wasting it since I can't vac the pool out properly.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Matt

 

[Bama Rambler]

Your vacuum isn't going to work very well until you've killed all the algae. In order to do that you're going to have to shock properly. In order to do that, you're going to need to read the pool School article on how to shock. In order to shock properly you need a good test kit as well. Go ahead and order the TF-100 from tftestkits (link in my sig). You won't regret it.

 

[msgtdan]

Matt,

I get similar results from my intex sandfilter pump from road dust, I live on a dirt road. I think the intex pumps/sandfilters are a huge improvement of the stock units but don't have the power to overcome pumping through fine clogging matter. When the gauge needle hits the yellow on mine I notice volume has dropped about half. Still a lot better the the original pump. I've not had an algae bloom since before I got it so I don't know how it would handle a swamp. When the guage rises a couple of psi to the yellow I've been backwashing for a few seconds and pressure drops back down. I've been doing this every couple of days, though I'd recently decided to let the pressure continue to rise some more and see what happens.

I'm currently using the HTH 6 way test and doing a dilution test of the chlorine to control my pool. Next year we're setting up a used Aqua Leader 27'x52" that we aquired and I'll be getting the TFT-100

 

[Mattshouldbeworking]

Thanks for the responses.

I am thinking at this point, with it being this late in the year that I am going to raise the white flag and surrender. Temps are dropping into the low and mid 50s at night. I'll clean it out good as I drain it, then clean it again next spring as it goes up. Start out with the method in the post about opening the pool and make sure the chemistry stays in order.

I've learned a lot of this I could be and should be doing differently. This pool was a big jump from the 8' inflatable top ring pools that we had in the past. I need to change some of the things I've been doing to adjust for that.

I've also got some modifications that I'm going to make over the winter months, based on things I've seen others do on this site. I'm going to hard plumb some of my lines, and get my skimmer basket plumbed back in with the other intake. My wife also saw the pictures of some of the decks around the above ground pools and would like something like that. I'm also going to do some ground work this fall to make things work a little better next spring when the pool goes up, try and get rid of some sinking problems I've had.

Again thanks for the help

Matt

 

[GreatCanadian]

Not meaning to hijack your thread, but I guess it's at least closely related.

It's hard to get some specifics on these Intex 2650 pumps. I recently hooked up a 50,000 BTU heat pump. The water path is out of the pool, into the pump, to the filter, to the heat pump, to the chlorinator, back to the pool. When I hooked up the heat pump there was a very significant decrease in volume output to the pool. My friends 1500 gph cheap intex cartridge pump provides considerably more flow. I can't see how my heat pump would restrict my flow volume to that extent, unless the 2650 is a weak pump. But I cannot find specs on the pump. If you come across any, please let me know.

Oh yeah, shock that pool!!

 

[frogabog]

Anything other than a straight unobstructed short route to the return will affect the flow. Length itself can reduce the pressure as well.

The water is going through a coil in the heat pump. It likely turns 180 degrees in there a number of times to complete it's run through the coil. Each 90 or 180 degree turn reduces pressure. The specs of the heat pump will likely help you more than the pump specs, but you'll have to use both to calculate pressure loss. But you really don't need to, you can tell the pressure is lost going through the heat pump and it seems very obvious that the Intex pump is not powerful enough. :~{

 

[GreatCanadian]

Can't remember offhand, but I believe there are at least 3 loops in the heat pump - maybe four. I was a little disappointed in the drop on water flow. The filter pump is a 0.95 HP, but I guess HP isn't everything. The pressure gauge increased from about 5 or 6 psi to 10 or 11 immediately after connecting the heat pump. I had assumed (incorrectly apparently) that a 5 or 6 psi increase would not have such a drastic effect, considering that the pump/filter has a working range of 50 psi. I can't imagine much more than a drip at that pressure.