Brown water returns through jets

[djunified]

There are quite a few trees around my property, none of which are actually on it. All of the leaves end up in my pool come fall, and they sit all winter and part of spring decomposing nicely in the bottom :grrrr: Anyways, I had this same problem last year. Whenever we pass the vacuum head over portions of the pool floor, I watch the suction line going into the pump and the water is very dark and dirty. The filter pressure rises about 5 psi to during this time, and seems to max out at 25 before I notice the brown water returning through the jets. The sand was changed last summer, so the filter shouldnt be a problem. Its an old Sta-Rite Pantera which had worn out sand. It now has new sand but I cant understand why the water returning is dirty. Isnt the filter supposed to catch everything?

I know vacuuming large concentrations of dirt isn't recommended in the Filter position, but we just cant afford to be refilling with water everytime after our stupid town decided to put water meters in every house.

Pump is a brand new Hayward Max-Flo that has replaced the old and worn out sta-rite duraglas.

What is your opinion?

 

[duraleigh]

When you see that brown water returning, your filter is maxed out with dirt....it MUST be backwashed or cleaned immediately.

 

[budysr]

if its the same fine dust that I get in my pool, the sand filter will not ever do a good job of catching it. Its too fine and gets back through the sand. I battled with this for years and recently changed to a DE filter. The difference in water clarity and ability to catch the brown dust is dramatic. My sand filter was a sta-rite too. Hopefully you will have better luck getting yours clean. You could try to add a small cup of DE in the filter to help catch the dust, but it may clog the filter quicker and you will still wind up having to backwash anyway.