Sand getting through lateral

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T

That guy

0
May 25, 2013
5
Portsmouth, OH
I get sand in my pool, so I ran the Aquabot, washed out the filter bag, and retrieved the sand it cleaned from the pool. (There are some larger grains of sand in the pictures, so I am going to check for broken laterals. Also, we have lots of birds in the neighborhood, and maybe some sand gets deposited by their poop????)

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Then I sprinkled it over a new lateral, to see what would get inside the lateral.

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Then dumped out the sand inside the lateral onto a sheet of paper.

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I replaced the sand years ago with sand from a local pool store. So, either the sand grains are wearing down and many are now small enough to enter the laterals, or the sand I bought had poor quality control. Anyone bought crappy pool sand and had this happen? I really doubt it is wearing down and getting smaller. As I said earlier, I'm going to empty the filter to check the laterals, so have to replace this bad sand.

So can anyone recommend a quality brand of sand I should look for?
 
That doesn't look like pool sand. If you can tie a sock or something similar over a return, you can see if the sand is coming from the filter or entering the pool by some other means.
 
I just had the same issue, my sand was changed 5 years ago and I was getting a lot of sand in my pool. Changed it with 350lbs of new sand an all is well, I think all the sand is the same just needs #20 silica sand.

Just make sure you inspect and clean all laterals
 
Thanks guys, I'll tie a sock to a return to see what's coming from the filter. Maybe it's not pool sand, but it feels like sand, and is heavy, drops right back to the bottom of the small bucket I washed the Aquabot filter in. The organic stuff floated away as I washed it. Birds, in general, eat sand and gravel for their gullet, but I don't know if it then comes out the back, so to speak.
 
I have the same dirt or sand in the bottom of my pool as well.... Changed laterals, new sand... Dirt still on bottom... Used robot to clean and have same dirt in my robot... Looks nothing like the filter sand.

Could an underground pipe be broke and pull and in?
 
So today I opened the filter and took out some sand. Did the same as I talked about above- washed it, dried it, then sprinkled it over a new lateral. Here is the result:

IMG_5162.jpg

So I'm confused as to why so many grains are so small that they go through the laterals and end up in the pool. The sand has either worn down, or it was not properly screened by the company that bagged it. I replaced it years ago, and don't remember the brand. But the white steps have been showing some sand for years, not much, but this year decided to fix it. Here is a close up showing the fairly large difference in particle size.

IMG_5159.jpg

Surely this is fairly rare, to have so many fines in pool filter sand :(. I am going to do the same test with the new sand out of the bag.
 
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My Polaris got some sand up the other day. I back washed maybe 2 weeks ago. I don't usually have to backwash often enough to establish the correlation, but I bet that's my problem at least.


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dirtdog said:
Over time the grit size definitely wears down to a smaller particle with friction...go rub a couple rocks together or a couple sheets of sand paper, let me know what happens
Click to expand...

I don't know, but there have been several discussions in the forum in which it's been stated that the amount of movement between sand particles inside a sand filter is so small that almost no wear would be expected, even over even geologic time periods.

I think there's a far greater effect of redistribution of small particles, so that small particles that are newly adjacent to the laterals, are pushed out of the filter for a short period at startup after a backwash.
 
gtemkin said:
I don't know, but there have been several discussions in the forum in which it's been stated that the amount of movement between sand particles inside a sand filter is so small that almost no wear would be expected, even over even geologic time periods.

I think there's a far greater effect of redistribution of small particles, so that small particles that are newly adjacent to the laterals, are pushed out of the filter for a short period at startup after a backwash.
Click to expand...

Could be an interesting debate, my sand hadn't been changed in...I beleive 8-10 years or so. I figured broken laterals. Cleaned the entire filter and checked all laterals which were fully intatct with no breaks. I poured the old/dry sand on the lateral and similar to the OP the sand went into the cylinder. New sand did not enter the cylinder.....I even had a 10 year old half bag of sand in the pool house from the old home owner and same thing the sand did not enter the lateral cylinder. ( so I know it was not an incorrect grit )
 
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