After changing sand in filter.... sand in pool....

[Mikey311]

As the title states, I just changed the sand in my 500lb Hayward sand filter. I watched a few "how to" videos and while the process wasnt fun, I felt like it was pretty straight forward so tackled it myself.

After startup i noticed sand in the pool from the returns. Yikes. It seemed to stop so I thought it might be normal for some sand to come out and tried to push it into a single spot in the pool to remove when it gets a little warmer.

Today, I noticed my pool was low on water (dealing with a spa leak I cant get a contractor out to fix) and the pump was struggling for water so i immediately starting adding more water to the pool. Its back to normal for now.... but notice MORE sand around the returns....UGH.

What Did i do wrong? Please help.

 

[Mikey311]

One thing I noticed with the lateral assembly is if I put it on the bottom of the filter.... it wouldnt reach the multi-port value.... so as it was installed previously, I had to add some sand... THEN put in the lateral assembly to get it to reach the multi port value.

Not sure if this is normal or not, but thought I would mention it. Wondering if it settled some???

 

[Texas Splash]

Some people put their lateral on a bed of pea gravel too. Did you add water before dumpling the sand? Did you do a very thorough backwash and rinse of the new sand?

 

[Mikey311]

Some people put their lateral on a bed of pea gravel too. Did you add water before dumpling the sand? Did you do a very thorough backwash and rinse of the new sand?

I didn't backwash.... which I read I should have done, after the fact. The 2nd output of sand today is what has me concerned.

(Yes, dumb mistake on my part)

 

[Mikey311]

Is it possible the laterals/pipe settled in the sand since I didn't add water before I placed it? So maybe I have a gap in the pipe and the multi port valve?

I guess the other option is the lateral got damaged but I did try to be careful in that regard.

 

[Texas Splash]

Is it possible the laterals/pipe settled in the sand since I didn't add water before I placed it?

It's very possible the laterals got pushed to a point they separated or cracked. Watch to see if anything changes after you do a thorough backwash and rinse to clean the new sand. If you still continue to get grainy stuff in the pool, you may have to opera it up and inspect.

 

[Mikey311]

It's very possible the laterals got pushed to a point they separated or cracked. Watch to see if anything changes after you do a thorough backwash and rinse to clean the new sand. If you still continue to get grainy stuff in the pool, you may have to opera it up and inspect.

Thanks for the assistance, very much appreciated.

 

[Mikey311]

Thanks for the assistance, very much appreciated.

I checked the lateral pipe, didn't seem to settle.

I then backwashed for over a minute and then rinsed over a minute as well.... the water in the view piece (sorry not sure of the proper name) doesn't ever seem to clear up, see sand in it. It's there a chance this is normal in any way or pointing to a damaged lateral at this point?

Anything else I should try before replacing the laterals?

 

[Texas Splash]

So the "Sight glass" is never clearing up during rinse huh? Do me a favor and post a pic or two of your equipment pad so we can see all the plumbing and connections. Maybe we'll see something to help.

 

[Mdragger88]

You should backwash until the water is pretty much clear in the sight glass then rinse until all the grains are gone & its really clear.

 

[Mikey311]

Let me know if you have questions

 

[Mikey311]

I have a spa with a know leak in the plumbing that I can't get a contractor out to repair.... so I have suction and return from spa currently closed ... fyi.

 

[Mikey311]

 

[Mikey311]

 

[Mikey311]

You should backwash until the water is pretty much clear in the sight glass then rinse until all the grains are gone & its really clear.

I did backwash and sight glass cleared up... then rinsed and sight glass never seemed to clear up.

Maybe I didn't back wash long enough?

 

[JamesW]

One thing I noticed with the lateral assembly is if I put it on the bottom of the filter.... it wouldn't reach the multi-port value.... so as it was installed previously, I had to add some sand... THEN put in the lateral assembly to get it to reach the multi port value.

It should fit perfectly.

Probably the wrong assembly.

I probably broke when you pushed the top on.

I would replace the assembly with the correct part.

 

[Mikey311]

Pile of sand I pushed to one spot to get out soon.... I had pool in recirculate for last day as I just did a vitamin c treatment for metal stains.

Was trying to figure out sand issue before returning it to filter mode and getting water balanced.

Chasing my tail with this pool....

 

[Mikey311]

It should fit perfectly.

Probably the wrong assembly.

I probably broke when you pushed the top on.

I would replace the assembly with the correct part.

My multiport valve fits inside the filter pipe... the height just doesn't reach the valve unless I put sand under it ( too short)

I didn't have any sand issues until I recently changed the sand.

 

[JamesW]

the height just doesn't reach the valve unless I put sand under it ( too short)

It should fit perfectly.

Probably the wrong assembly.

It probably broke when you pushed the top on.

I would replace the assembly with the correct part.

 

[Mikey311]

It should fit perfectly.

Probably the wrong assembly.

It probably broke when you pushed the top on.

I would replace the assembly with the correct part.

Thanks for the response... so it's possible whenever they changed the sand in the past, they were able to get the wrong part to work for 6 years..... but I broke it on re-install?