Draining Hayward Sand Filter

[samrunyan5]

I hired a pool installation company to install my pool a few weeks back. The electric work was finally completed yesterday to get everything up to code. The inspector comes today to hopefully clear the permit so we can finally get the yard cleaned up.

The electrician informed me that the filter and pump are too close to the pool. The post/outlet needs to be 6 feet from the pool. The weather box that the pump plugs into won't close at this point in time. Needless to say, we are going to have to move the pump filter away from the pool a few inches to get the weatherproofing outlet cover to close.

I'm assuming the filter is going to be extremely heavy with water in it. My husband plans to level the ground and go grab some more sand to put under the concrete slab which the filter and pump sit on. So my first thought was this will be easier to move if we drain the filter. I know that we can drain the filter with the the lil black valve near the bottom to lighten the load. Once we have to drained and relocated, is there anything we'll need to do to get water back in the filter or will this happen naturally?

Additionally, I am open to other suggestions if anyone has done something similar without draining the filter.

 

[cowboycasey]

You can shop vac the water and sand out or half of it to make it lighter.. should move easy.. then carefully put the sand back in once moved.. If you get a 24x24 paver from lowes it is easy to level and put the equipment on it.. I did that with mine 9 years ago and still perfect today

 

[AJ.A]

I would drain the water from the sand filter then use a dolly to move to a new pad closer to the outlet. Before you start up the pump you need to fill up your filter with a hose to the sand level. From there you can fire up the pump and you will be good to go.

The other option would be to use a whip to go from pump to a switch or the outlet. I don't even use a plug for my pump.

 

[kellyfair]

What size filter is it?

Not that I am recommending this to anyone, but I drained the water with the bottom drain, placed a couple of pavers as a track from old location to new location, then two of us slid the filter to new spot. We did it very slowly, to avoid damage to base, and to our backs.

I then refilled the filter with a hose, reconnected everything, ran it on rinse for a couple of minutes, then normal operation.

 

[samrunyan5]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. We ended up combining all of these methods. We purchased sand, leveled out the area between the existing pavers and outlet post, and put new pavers in this area. We didn't need to drain the water from the filter. My husband just slowly slid the filter and pump onto the new pavers. All is fixed up here now. Weatherproofing outlet box officially closes.