Changed the Sand, but forgot to add water

[jphyde84]

Hey everyone, its obvious that my husband and I dont know what we are doing. We know the sand filter probably needed the sand changed out of it so we watched a YouTube on how to do that. Sadly, we did not watch it til the end for some reason, but anyways, we cleaned the filter, bought new sand, got the sand in there, and turned the filter on. From what I have now read is that you are supposed to fill it half up with water before adding the sand. It seems to be working, but should we start all over and add the water this time?

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Adding water to the filter prior to adding the sand is to protect the laterals in the filter from being damaged by the sand hitting them full force. If you are not seeing sand in the pool, you most likely did not damage a lateral.

If you follow TFP, you should never have to change sand. Sand does not wear out, it does get clumped up by using pool store potions.

I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I am not a sand filter guy but my understanding is filling the filter up halfway with water keeps the sand from being churned as the filter fills.

Note your filter pressure with the sand clean. Plan to backwash the filter when the pressure rises by 25%. Read the Sand Filter section in Maintenance and Cleaning of Pool Filters - Trouble Free Pool

 

[Pool_Medic]

It’s been done that way for years, if you’re patient , go slow and there are no chunks you have no worries. Fill it up to the point where the outside of the filter starts to curve inward, that gives you the largest surface area for filtering.