I have a 55 gal drum converted to a sand and gravel filter for my 2400 gal pond much like this one http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthrea ... filter-DIY I know it's a long read but it gives very good instructions.This filter works excellent. I can build one for free except for the sand. I was thiking of building one of these for my pool and use regular pool filter sand. and not have to buy intex filters anymore. Has anyone else done this?
Has anyone built there own sand filter?
- Thread starter gayler
- Start date
For a swimming pool, the flow rates are a lot higher, and thus the filter tank pressure is a lot higher, making DIY filters somewhat problematic. It can certainly be done, but the designs which are practical for your average DIY type are much larger, and typically more expensive, compared to commercial filters.
55 gallon drums are not designed for pressure. If you do some searching, you can find examples of injury caused by as little as 4 psi internal drum pressure. Pool filters operate higher than this.
How much higher do you figure? I have two of these plumbed in parallel feeding my waterfall on my pond. each running just over 2200 gal per hour for a total of 4400 gal per hour. The intex pump that was on my pool was not running anywhere near that.This filter is not pressurized, but pump feed and gravity flow return.
I took a look at your link and it was a different animal then what I was thinking. Is the air blower used for aeration? How do you clean a filter like this? The flow rate seems appropriate.gayler said:
The air bleed is for anti siphon, so if the pump is off the dirty water won't siphon back to the pond. To clean you block off the clean water return, open the dirty water waste, turn on your pump and your air blower and let it run for a few minutes, after that you turn off the blower, then turn off the pump let it sit for a few minutes. open the clean water return, close the dirty waste and turn the pump back on.