Correct amount of Sand in Filter

[Her pool boy]

Just opening my pool and cleaning my sand filter and wondered, out loud..”how much sand should be in the filter?” Right now in my 24“ sand filter I have approximately 10” of sand.

Is that enough?
If not, how much should it be?
Should I replace the 10“ of existing sand with new sand? Sand is at least 8 years old ( as long as I’ve owned it) and probably more like 12 or 13 years.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

S

 

[Texas Splash]

"S", sand doesn't necessarily go bad, so as long as no one has added any odd chemical solutions (floc, clarifiers, etc) that could mess it up, it should be fine. You could "carefully" insert a hose into the sand to lift it all up and deep clean it. Again, be careful inserting a hose downward as to not damage any laterals. Other than that, add some new #20 silica pool sand. In general, sand goes up about 2/3 the way inside the vessel. Hope that helps.

 

[Bama Rambler]

The sand bed should be about 12" from the neck of the filter, so as Pat said it should be about 2/3rds full of sand.
If the sand in the filter is loose and not clumped, I'd probably just add sand to it, but if it is clumped and there's only 10" of it I'd shop vac it out and replace it all.

That filter should take about 140kg (300 lbs) of sand when empty.

 

[Her pool boy]

Thanks guys.

The sand is loose, so I am going to add 100lbs to top it up. Fortunately, the pool store is open for curbside pickup.
Going to head there now. Haven’t been to the pool store for anything but chlorine since I joined TFP. Nice to know they are opened during the Covid Spring.