Replace filter sand along with laterals?

[C3Cl3N3O3]

So I've got a Hayward S220T sand filter. It's about 10 years old, and has the original sand as far as I know (I'm not the original owner). Over the past couple years it has been leaking more and more sand. There are decent size piles of what can only be filter sand right under the return jets. It has to be dealt with at this point. I've found a few threads here on the issue, and I'm fairly sure I need a lateral assembly (SX220DA, approx $50). My dilemma is the sand. Now my water clarity is decent. My filter pressures have slowly risen over the years, up to about 12 PSI now after backwashing. This doesn't seem too alarming to me, but it got down to 10 a few years ago. The consensus around here seems to be that you rarely need to replace the sand. However, since I have to tear everything down to replace the laterals, wouldn't that make sense to do in my case? That #20 sand is $.50/lb at Walmart, so it will add $125 to the project for 250 pounds. It's not an insignificant expense, but I have a budget for it and expect it should last another 10 years. I'd like to hear some opinions. At a minimum, I'll probably need to "top it off" to account for the loss. I don't have unions on the plumbing (of course) so it's not trivial to just have a peek in there. Thanks!

EDIT: Argh, the thread title should be: replace filter sand along with laterals?
Moderator Edit - Title changed

 

[tim5055]

Re: Replace sand filter along with laterals?

I still say it doesn't go bad, so why replace it.... But only you can really tell after you open it up.

I'll just say, figure a way in your mind to circulate water while you have the filter off line. If you run into a bump and it takes a few days to get the filter back together (think missing a part you need) you really need to keep the water moving with chlorine in it.

 

[pondfishr]

Re: Replace sand filter along with laterals?

I just replaced my sand a few days ago when I thought I might have a lateral problem. We had a trace of sand in our pool after replacing our liner this season. There was nothing wrong with our laterals so I left the old ones in. Left those sleeping dogs sleeping.......

I have read on this forum that your sand really doesn't need to be replaced. In my case the sand I removed did not look as course as the new sand. My existing sand was most likely 5-6 years old. I used Quickcrete Pool Sand. The sand didn't really look that dirty but the filter pressure dropped 20%. For me it was a good investment to replace the sand. .....

 

[C3Cl3N3O3]

Re: Replace sand filter along with laterals?

I'll just say, figure a way in your mind to circulate water while you have the filter off line.

Yeah that's the part I'm worried about. There's definitely a risk of running into an unforeseen obstacle with this project. I could always get the pool company in there for this one. I hadn't thought about jerry-rigging the plumbing to bypass the filter. Hmm.

 

[gtemkin]

Re: Replace sand filter along with laterals?

..... Argh, the thread title should be: replace filter sand along with laterals?

As the Original Poster, I believe you can go to any of your posts in a topic you started and click on EDIT POST. Then click on the GO ADVANCED button and in the advanced editing screen you can change the topic and then SAVE CHANGES. I thought I was able to do that one time, but I haven't tried it in a long time so I'm not sure it actually still works.

 

[C3Cl3N3O3]

Re: Replace sand filter along with laterals?

As the Original Poster, I believe you can go to any of your posts in a topic you started and click on EDIT POST. Then click on the GO ADVANCED button and in the advanced editing screen you can change the topic and then SAVE CHANGES. I thought I was able to do that one time, but I haven't tried it in a long time so I'm not sure it actually still works.

You are correct!

So I guess I'm overthinking the filter sand. I'll just go ahead and replace it. Now I'm on to wringing my hands over the PVC rework needed...

 

[pondfishr]

I talked to my Pool Builder and he was going to let me go to his wholesale parts house in case I needed anything more than pre-purchased laterals during my maintenance window. I started early Friday morning @ 5:30 AM in case I ran into problems. I finished up emptying and replacing the sand at 8:00 AM in time to log into work for the day. It worked out really good for me although I have 8 spare Pentair Triton TR60 laterals left over.... It never hurts to have spares!!