Sand & debris coming out return jets

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J

jhkh

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LifeTime Supporter
Jun 20, 2014
132
Sumrall, MS
This is only my 2nd season with TFP and I have had a very quick & successful opening:lovetfp: My pool was sparkly clear & perfectly balanced and then I noticed a few specks of something in the bottom!! So I got out the vacuum immediately.... yes, I'm getting OCD about my beautiful pool!

So, I vacuumed to waste, took out vac hose, ran on filter a few mins, backwashed until clear in site glass (a couple mins), then rinsed until clear in site glass (another min or so)....... then I returned to the filter position and horror of all horrors!!!! all kinds of sand & debris began shooting out of the return jets!!! Ugggghhh!! So, I refilled the pool (lost a lot of water vacuuming) and did the whole process over again...... still the same AND my psi is up from a normal of 15psi to 23psi!!! Did some more backwashing, but it's not helping :hammer: Here is what it looks like under the jet near the skimmer... 2 days in a row now.



We changed the sand 2 seasons ago & have never deep cleaned it since, so my son is coming this weekend & we are going to deep clean. Also, I have water leaking out where the multiport valve sits on the top of the sand filter, so we will check the o-ring while it's open.

Any other ideas or suggestions??? All are welcome & thank you very much :p I LOVE my trouble free pool!!
 
For us to help you manage your water, we will need complete test results.

Withour those we are really guessing except for one thing......that's dead algae on your pool floor and algae gets into your pool through a lack of chlorination.

Post up some results and we can help you get started.
 
Thanks Duraleigh, but that is sand under the return. I rubberband a nylon stocking over it to make sure. I finished my SLAM a few days ago, the sand coming through the return jets is a new development since then.

Here is the complete set of results you asked for:

FC 4.5
CC 0
pH 7.5
CH 100
TA 100
CYA 50 (I'm still adding to this slowly)

Thanks!!


Borjis, I have to remove the sand to check the laterals right?? We just changed the sand 2 seasons ago & they were fine then. Thanks!!
 
yes to removing sand to check the laterals....pretty sure thats the only way sand can get through if some broke or cracked for some reason.

perfect time to check them at the deep cleaning time.
 
Ok so there is good news and very bad news to report this morning......

The good news: my son came down this weekend and deep cleaned the sand filter according to Smykowski's great step by step videos. It was pouring down rain for most of the day so not the best quality Mother/Son time! We kept at it for about an hour & although the water was not clear, we were sure it was an improvement. So we put everything back together. NO, he was not interested in emptying all the sand to check the laterals in the pouring down rain... so it didn't get done:mad: He reminded that he just emptied & replaced all 300lbs of that sand 2 yrs ago & everything was fine! He definitely got his Dad's stubbornness (I'm being nice)!

We backwashed & rinsed real good twice & turn it back on to filter..... Good news!! the psi is back down to 15psi from 23!! (15psi is normal)
BAD NEWS..... here comes sand & debris from the return jets:grrrr::brickwall: So I stop & rubberband nylon stockings (double layers) over the jets, ran pump for 4 hrs and here are the results!!!



This is how much sand was in the stocking on the jet next to the skimmer!!



This is the stocking from the jet opposite side from the skimmer in the shallow end!!



And THIS is what is inside!!!! Uggggghhhh!!

So, my conclusion.... 2 things:
#1 we didn't deep clean nearly long enough!!
#2 now we definitely have broken laterals!!

I have to recruit more help and I don't want all my hard work with opening & slamming to get ruined now, so I'm hoping that I can run the system on "recirculate" so that the water still goes through the t-cell to make chlorine & gets moved around. I will keep a close eye on FC and supplement with bleach when necessary, brush & vac as needed. Do y'all think this is an okay plan to hold over until I can get help with the filter? All suggestions appreciated as always... Thanks in advance :lovetfp:
 
That's definitely the plan. I will empty the filter and post pics of what I find. Do you think that the idea to run the filter on recirculate will work to "hold" things until I get more help? Or should I just keep filtering as normal & catch the debris in stockings? I don't want to mess up my clean pool & good chemistry. Thanks!
 

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Okay.... So I continue on my learning journey:study:

Help arrived at last & we removed the sand & lateral assembly.... very bad news here. It looks as though 7 out of the 8 laterals are broken where they twist into the assembly. (Mine don't fold up, they twist in and they were all packed with sand:cry: )




Only one was in good shape, it has both clips where it twists into the assembly.



Since individual laterals cost around $10 a piece & I need 7..... I'm thinking I just need to buy the entire assembly. My problem now is that I do not know for sure what sand filter I have because there is nothing legible on it! I was guessing by what it looks like & the fact that it holds 300lbs of sand (we just changed 2 yrs ago), that it is a Hayward S244t. (My main & booster pumps are both Hayward) My laterals are white however & do not fold up, but twist in. Does anyone know how I can determine which sand filter I have so I can order the correct assembly? I was thinking about taking it to the pool store & ask them, get a price & then just order online instead (because I know the pool store will costs a LOT more!) But honestly, I don't even trust them to get that right!!!

Thanks everyone!!!:lovetfp:
 
Reporting back with the happy ending to my latest "learning experience" :study:

First of all, the idea to bump up my FC a little & run the pool on recirculate for a couple of days until I got the people & parts to fix the sand filter worked really well:goodjob:

Since the sand was out & I had to wait until morning for my new part, I decided to clean it some more. We definitely did NOT complete the job of deep cleaning last weekend! When you are told to keep rinsing until the water runs clear, that's exactly what you need to do..... even if it takes 3 hours in the pouring down rain!!



Actually, that is pretty embarrassing, I don't know why I posted that!!! You get the point with the deep cleaning!!




My beautiful new lateral assembly (pics of the old broken one above in earlier post)



Everything put all back together! I cleaned the t-cell, blew out lines, cleaned & lubricated o-rings while everything was apart:p



Psi back to normal at 15!! Everything running smoothly & even seems to be moving the water better than before. My happy ending thanks to all the great support here:lovetfp:



So in closing here is a little riddle....

When does 300lbs. of sand feel like 3,000lbs. of sand???

Lol!! Many, many of us know the answer to this one :sad:
 
Sorry Kim, I didn't see your post!

I never did get to speak to customer service.... each time I tried there was a recording that said "your wait time is over 15 mins we suggest you use our website at...." I did use all the pictures & specs on the site though to figure out which filter I have :p

Thanks for all the help y'all :lovetfp:
 
I guess your son needs to learn the lesson that even if he just did the sand yesterday he might have broken a lateral putting the sand back in or it may have cracked by itself from age the next day, week, month ... Nothing worse than not checking something because you take it for granted it's "good", especially a new part that turns out to be bad.
Sorry for being late to the party just noticed the PM from you.
Nice looking replacement assembly :goodjob:

I was tired of flushing my filter the first time too but I figured with all the stuff that came out it was better than before. This year I did a better job. It does seem to help in making the filter a bit more efficient.
 
jhkh,

I am very late to this thread but wanted to tell you what an informative thread it is for EVERYONE. Thanks for sharing the pics of the problem and the pics of the fix, too. Great story.
 
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