We just purchased a house with an inground, vinyl pool, pentair fns DE filter, about 24,000 gallons. It was a green swamp and I followed the advice on this forum to get it up and running. Just figured out that each time I backwash my DE filter, it is backing up into the shower and around the base of my toilet in my master bathroom. Not good.... Anyone ever have this occur? Is there a blockage in the line somewhere or is the plumbing routed wrong. The person we purchased the house from was a "flipper" and wasn't maintaining the pool. He actually offered to just fill the thing in at his cost. Do I call a pool company to come out or a regular plumber? Yikes...newbie was not expecting this. At least the pool is now blue and clear. As for my carpet in my bedroom (along the bathroom wall), it is drying with some fan assistance. Thankfully the bathroom is tile, right?
Backwashing into my house....yikes!
- Thread starter shannonvet
- Start date
Welcome to TFP! Wow, I cannot even imagine that happening. I would probably call a plumber first and then a pool company if the plumber cannot help.
In the mean time you should be able to backwash to atmosphere (ground area around the pump); may have to open up a union. Do you have pic of the pump piping?
Welcome! 
This is a heckuva first post!
I'd say someone plumbed the waste pipe to the main sewer and the clumped-up old DE has clogged the pipes.
1) Stop backwashing.
2) Cut the waste line and start using a backwash hose onto the lawn or something
3) Get a plumber to clear your lines. I'd suggest you check online or use the yellow pages for hydro jet drain cleaning.
In the future, use fiberclear or one of the other cellulose filter media. It's biodegradable and isn't a breathing hazard the way DE is. Nobody can get too upset that you're blowing high-grade sawdust out on the ground.
This is a heckuva first post!
I'd say someone plumbed the waste pipe to the main sewer and the clumped-up old DE has clogged the pipes.
1) Stop backwashing.
2) Cut the waste line and start using a backwash hose onto the lawn or something
3) Get a plumber to clear your lines. I'd suggest you check online or use the yellow pages for hydro jet drain cleaning.
In the future, use fiberclear or one of the other cellulose filter media. It's biodegradable and isn't a breathing hazard the way DE is. Nobody can get too upset that you're blowing high-grade sawdust out on the ground.
Yes, I have stopped back washing since I figured out it was going into my house. I will post a picture of the plumbing tomorrow when it is light. Have a call into a plumber, but it being the weekend, Monday will probably be my earliest hope of them coming out.
Wow!
definitely sounds like what Richard says. Easy enough to fix the backwash route, more difficult to clean out the house plumbing if it needs to be.
definitely sounds like what Richard says. Easy enough to fix the backwash route, more difficult to clean out the house plumbing if it needs to be.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If it had been plumbed properly with a DE separation tank (many jurisdictions require this now if you backwash into your city sewer drain) this would have never happened.
Does you equipment pad have a separation tank? If not, you might consider that option/upgrade too as it will lessen the burden on your sewer discharge. You can certainly discharge onto your property too, but I found that to be a messy option.
Sadly, you're going to have to call Roto-Rooter....
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Does you equipment pad have a separation tank? If not, you might consider that option/upgrade too as it will lessen the burden on your sewer discharge. You can certainly discharge onto your property too, but I found that to be a messy option.
Sadly, you're going to have to call Roto-Rooter....
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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