It had been about 7 weeks since I back washed my filter. Hadn’t been running high psi so I’ve just left it alone. Today the PSI was a little high and I’ve gotten a lot of rain the past few days so I figured great time to backwash. Pool water was crystal clear. When I opened the pump basket container, the basket was very full of leaves which I expected as I’ve been fighting leaves the past couple of weeks. I cleaned it out and noticed the water inside of it was brown. I backwashed the filter, which was much dirtier than usual (dark brown) until the bubble was clear. I rinsed for about 30 seconds, also clear. Then turned the pump back on normal filtration. When I went back to the pool, brown water had shot out of both returns. It’s clearing back up pretty quick but I’ve never experienced that before. Any idea why and should I be concerned?
Brown water from returns
- Thread starter Kendall.Nash
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,028
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
It sounds perhaps like some tannin coloring was in your filter, perhaps from all the leaves breaking down over time. Maybe there was still some of that embedded in the sand after the cleaning. Have you ever done a sand deep cleaning? If so, when was the last time?
I put all new sand in the filter in the spring when we opened it for the first time after purchasing the house in January. The leaves have just been a problem over the past few weeks.
I did use some food coloring a few weeks ago on two occasions as I was trying to find a leak in my liner. Your comment made me wonder if that might have had something to do with it. I did use red and blue dye.
I did use some food coloring a few weeks ago on two occasions as I was trying to find a leak in my liner. Your comment made me wonder if that might have had something to do with it. I did use red and blue dye.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,028
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Perhaps. The only other thing that came to mind was iron/rust, but I wouldn't expect that to be an issue if you're on LR city water.
I used to get that, especially after backwashing. The culprit? Overloaded sand filter. The backwashing will remove a good amount of crud trapped in the filter, but won't get it all, and with it stirred up, there is a slug of it that shoots back into the pool. It dissipates quickly, and as the flows quickly restabilize in the filter ,it gets trapped again. The cure?
1. Back wash more often. Almost 2 months is a really long time. Especially in times where it is doing extra filtering.
2. Make sure you do a Rinse after the backwash - helps get that suspended "slug" that is hanging out. Doesn't have to be long.
3. If it happens again, after a shorter interval, see the information here about how to do a deep cleaning.
While PSI increase indicates the need for backwashing, it is only an indicator. And yes, some build up in the filter actually makes it filter better. But there is a point where too much is too much. I also, for my old one, learned to not trust the bubble - what looks clear there, is still pretty murky at the discharge end, so I'd run it a bit longer until it discharged clear.
1. Back wash more often. Almost 2 months is a really long time. Especially in times where it is doing extra filtering.
2. Make sure you do a Rinse after the backwash - helps get that suspended "slug" that is hanging out. Doesn't have to be long.
3. If it happens again, after a shorter interval, see the information here about how to do a deep cleaning.
While PSI increase indicates the need for backwashing, it is only an indicator. And yes, some build up in the filter actually makes it filter better. But there is a point where too much is too much. I also, for my old one, learned to not trust the bubble - what looks clear there, is still pretty murky at the discharge end, so I'd run it a bit longer until it discharged clear.
Just a humble related suggestion, but if you haven't discovered "filter socks", you might additionally take a look at them. They keep about 98% of the physical crud from going into your filter...
