I’ve had a few nagging leaks in the above ground pipes of my pool that I had been putting off fixing, and I knew it was coming up on time to change the sand in the filter, so after gathering the materials I would need, I decided to tackle both jobs at the same time, and it’s a good thing I did.
After taking the above ground PVC piping apart, I was shocked to find liquified sand pouring out of one of my circulation pipes. It is 1 of the 2 lines that runs to the jets in my pool.
I have spent that past 2 weekends trying to unclog the pipe – to no avail. I’ve used a drill powered hand snake, a pressure washer with a flexible lance, and a drain king to try and unclog this thing, but no luck. So, I finally admitted defeat and called a professional. Well, the pool service tried the CO2 trick this morning, and it didn’t work either.
I have also removed the sand from the filter, and was able to find the cause of the problem. I last had the sand changed 3 years ago when I had the pool re-plastered. Apparently the company I hired to do the work were great at plastering (the pool looks great), and terrible at changing sand in filters.
I’m running a Pentair TR60, and after removing the sand (not fun) I found 2 problems, first the laterals are cocked to one side instead of being [relatively] level; and second, 2 of them are damaged.
All of that being said, I have 2 questions I am hoping someone can help me with:
First and foremost, does anyone have any advice on how to clear this clog? I’ve tried everything listed above, from both sides of the line, and still no luck.
Second, my filter had nothing but sand in it. I see in the manual for the filter that you can either run just sand (325 lbs.), or 50 lbs. of pea gravel and then 275 lbs. of sand. Is there any noticeable benefit to running straight sand versus sand and gravel?
I appreciate the help!
After taking the above ground PVC piping apart, I was shocked to find liquified sand pouring out of one of my circulation pipes. It is 1 of the 2 lines that runs to the jets in my pool.
I have spent that past 2 weekends trying to unclog the pipe – to no avail. I’ve used a drill powered hand snake, a pressure washer with a flexible lance, and a drain king to try and unclog this thing, but no luck. So, I finally admitted defeat and called a professional. Well, the pool service tried the CO2 trick this morning, and it didn’t work either.
I have also removed the sand from the filter, and was able to find the cause of the problem. I last had the sand changed 3 years ago when I had the pool re-plastered. Apparently the company I hired to do the work were great at plastering (the pool looks great), and terrible at changing sand in filters.
I’m running a Pentair TR60, and after removing the sand (not fun) I found 2 problems, first the laterals are cocked to one side instead of being [relatively] level; and second, 2 of them are damaged.
All of that being said, I have 2 questions I am hoping someone can help me with:
First and foremost, does anyone have any advice on how to clear this clog? I’ve tried everything listed above, from both sides of the line, and still no luck.
Second, my filter had nothing but sand in it. I see in the manual for the filter that you can either run just sand (325 lbs.), or 50 lbs. of pea gravel and then 275 lbs. of sand. Is there any noticeable benefit to running straight sand versus sand and gravel?
I appreciate the help!
