Need Help/Advice

[davidkaleta]

Hi Guys

New to the forum. Just installed an intex above ground 16x9 ultra frame pool. Pool installation went well, however i wasn't happy with the crappy filter/pump so I bought an 0.5 hp Saci winner pump and a AstralPool Cantabric filter, here's where the problem lies, i connected the pump outlet to the multiport incorrectly and sand came out of the filter into the pool. This happened for about 30 secs or so. I reinstalled the pipework correctly and after a few minutes the filter settled down. I'd like to know if I've done any damage to the laterals as the pump and filter have been working now for about 8 hours a day for the past week but after a few hours, the return loses suction?

I hope this makes some sense, anyway guys, a brilliant website, keep up the good work.

Cheers Dave

 

[dmanb2b]

Welcome Dave!

We'll need a little more detail. How does your water look? Do you mean the return loses pressure? Have you backwashed the sand filter after the pressure drop? How much sand got deposited into the pool? and finally how large is the filter?

We'll get this sorted

 

[davidkaleta]

Thanks for the reply dmanb2b, the water looks clear and the only way to describe the return is when i put my hand over the return in the pool, it used to grab me, but after a few hours of running, its very weak. I haven't backwashed as i assumed it doesn't need it yet, its only been running for a week. I've no idea how much sand got dumped in the pool, but it ran for about 10-15 secs before i switched it off. i think the filter is a 400.

 

[y_not]

That would be 400mm I presume, correct?
So, the 16" model? You can verify by measuring the circumference at the widest part of the filter.

These are the specs I was able to pull on it.
Surface Area: 0,126 m²/1.36 ft²
Flow: 6 m³/h / 26.4 GPM
Sand: 60 Kg/130 lb

Where is your pressure gauge at? Do you know where it started when you 1st got it working?

 

[davidkaleta]

Yes its the 400mm model, the gauge was just in the green (low side), I'm not in front to tell you the pressure but it has slowly ridden up to the yellow. I have a saci winner which is a 37gpm pump. The only thing I'm worried about is when i connected the pipework round the wrong way, that some of the sand that got agitated and went down into the laterals blocking the holes.

 

[duraleigh]

David,

backwash your filter and report the results. I'll bet things will return to normal and that there is no damage. Also tell us what city and state you live in......it influences the advice we suggest.

 

[davidkaleta]

Thanks Dave

I'll backwash the filter on Thursday, just a bit worried i'm going to need to strip the filter apart. As for the city, i live in sunny Dubai, and the state (air quality) is Crud! Once again guys, thanks for the help, and keep up the good work!

 

[duraleigh]

just a bit worried i'm going to need to strip the filter apart.

Why? There is nothing in what you have written to indicate it is broken, right?

 

[davidkaleta]

Dave, I mentioned that I got the connections from the pump to the filter wrong initially, and that the filter sand was thrown all around the filter. Just worried that some got into the laterals, blocking them.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

You mentioned the return suction. In most of the places I frequent the returns are the one's pushing water (returning it) to the pool. The suction side plumbing is typically a skimmer or main drain but in this case just a suction port right?

As for the laterals - if you had things backwards the water should have traveled down the stand pipe into the laterals and then blown through them up under the sand causing the sand to bubble up and mix with the water - then discharged out through the unfiltered pipe (inflow) in the reverse direction and out into the pool. The water with sand should not be able to get inside the laterals any more than it does during backwashing unless I'm thinking this through wrong.

BUT... as to why you have poor suction that gets worse while running - that's a mystery to me. I'm having trouble following what is wrong there. However if you never had it hooked up right - maybe the suction you saw before was wrong also - after all it wasn't filtering through the sand it was blowing the sand up and not providing any real resistance to the water flow.