Yesterday I backwashed my sand filter until the water coming coming out was almost clear. I then took off the multiport valve and rinsed the sand with running water from the hose for 15 min. The water that was overflowing from the filter was very dirty and brownish at first. After rinsing I did another back wash where it was though I had not backwashed 30 min earlier. The question is why does so much dirt build up in a sand filter even though it is being backwshed when needed, and how often do sand filters need this deep cleaning?
Cleaning sand filter
- Thread starter bribri
- Start date
bribri:
This is not unusual when doing this type of deep cleaning of a sand filter. While a lot of dirt is removed by backwashing, not all of it is. Sometimes the sand can get channeled or clumped. This type of gentle but thorough cleaning using a garden hose will free this dirt and allow you to de-clump the sand while the cover is off. This type of deep cleaning should be done once a year. It's about all the maintenance a sand filter needs. This post goes into more detail about this cleaning process.bribri said: