Dirt and debris coming from jets during normal filtering

[twinter63]

Last Summer we noticed what we thought was sand scattered across the bottom of our pool. We could run our Dolphin and two hours later it was back again. Before opening our pool this year we consulted several people who said we needed to change our sand. We took their advice, changed the sand, and checked all of the laterals for cracks. Unfortunately, this didn't solve our problem, and even though our "numbers" are fine, the dirt deposits have gotten worse. I am attaching a picture of what the pool looks like about an hour after running the Dolphin. Oddly enough, I'm not noticing this necessarily after backwashing or while vacuuming, but during regular filtration. Today, I decided to put a stocking over the jets. Almost immediately I noticed dirt and debris accumulating in the stocking. This isn't the color of sand, but much darker. In the debris I noticed tiny leaves, hair, and even fibers from our outdoor rug (it's old and "shedding"), so I'm almost positive this is debris that is being pulled into the skimmer basket from the pool, as opposed to dirt being pulled in through a crack in a pipe somewhere. I am also attaching pics of the stocking after 30 min, and another after about 6 hours on the jet. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Other than us possibly missing a crack in one of the laterals, we can't imagine how the debris would be coming back through the jets, and even if that was the case, surely small leaves and hair wouldn't make it all the way down through the sand and make it's way out of a crack in a lateral. Our local pool store just tried to sell us "Pool Purge" for $35.00. Thanks so much!

 

[Propbndr]

You could have a channel formed in the sand. You may or may not be able to see it if you remove the top of your filter. The fix for sand channels is Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter.

 

[pookiesunshine]

check your spider gasket in the multiport valve. it might be allowing crossover of dirty to clean.
if that is okay, you might have a crack in your standpipe or a loose connection between the standpipe and mulitport valve that sits on top of it.

 

[zea3]

Brand new sand shouldn't be channeled. Since that did not fix the problem I would look at the multiport and standpipe like Pookiesunshine advised. The spider gasket should be stuck down tight without signs of wear on the gasket. Make sure the standpipe is seated correctly and that there are no hairline cracks that could open up under pressure. If everything looks good use a nice coating of silicon pool lube on the gasket and o-rings and put it all back together. Replace any damaged parts.