Hello all! I have been looking through the forums on this site for days, and I’m at my wits end.
I am the sole maintenance person for our family’s inexpensive (now I realize that in pool ownership there is no such thing) store bought above ground pool. It’s a summer waves 16’ x 48’.
I made the decision going into this summer to upgrade the pump to a sand filter.
I watched some videos and decided on the Intex SX 2800 Krystal clear sand filter.
Several issues right away:
1. The filter did not come with plunger valves or hose adapters. I was able to get the hose adapters from a semi-local pool store, but then didn’t remember about the plungers until later…. Like after I had gotten everything set up.
2. When I opened the pool this year it looked like a pond. By far the worst water situation I’ve encountered in the 4 years since first getting this type of pool. I HAVE successfully improved this situation and I believe it would be resolved if the other filter situations going on weren’t happening.
3. Due to the water quality I have had to backwash the filter quite a bit. I only just yesterday discovered that I can vacuum to waste, so going forward this will hopefully be side stepped.
This brings me to my current situation. After one backwashing last night when I turned the pump back to filter it is now blowing white foamy bubbles from the water output back into the pool. Clearly the pump is sucking air. And I believe I know from where. I have the intake hose attached with an adapter at the bottom/phalange from the factory pump casing that is attached to my pool wall. When I initially set the new sand filter up and it was on the water level maintained even with the pool in the old skimmer/pump casing. However, since yesterday the water is being sucked from the old casing as fast as it can fill, like flushing a toilet. The water level is good. There’s no water leaking from anywhere.
Could the sand possibly be too low from all the backwashing? I’m at a loss and don’t know where to go.
To add onto the pile, I am now returning to the issue of not having installed the plunger valves at the beginning. Is it possible to check the sand without the plungers/ or water just running everywhere the entire time? I am so new to this and the pump manual is no help.
Thank you to anyone who has stuck around this long!
I am the sole maintenance person for our family’s inexpensive (now I realize that in pool ownership there is no such thing) store bought above ground pool. It’s a summer waves 16’ x 48’.
I made the decision going into this summer to upgrade the pump to a sand filter.
I watched some videos and decided on the Intex SX 2800 Krystal clear sand filter.
Several issues right away:
1. The filter did not come with plunger valves or hose adapters. I was able to get the hose adapters from a semi-local pool store, but then didn’t remember about the plungers until later…. Like after I had gotten everything set up.
2. When I opened the pool this year it looked like a pond. By far the worst water situation I’ve encountered in the 4 years since first getting this type of pool. I HAVE successfully improved this situation and I believe it would be resolved if the other filter situations going on weren’t happening.
3. Due to the water quality I have had to backwash the filter quite a bit. I only just yesterday discovered that I can vacuum to waste, so going forward this will hopefully be side stepped.
This brings me to my current situation. After one backwashing last night when I turned the pump back to filter it is now blowing white foamy bubbles from the water output back into the pool. Clearly the pump is sucking air. And I believe I know from where. I have the intake hose attached with an adapter at the bottom/phalange from the factory pump casing that is attached to my pool wall. When I initially set the new sand filter up and it was on the water level maintained even with the pool in the old skimmer/pump casing. However, since yesterday the water is being sucked from the old casing as fast as it can fill, like flushing a toilet. The water level is good. There’s no water leaking from anywhere.
Could the sand possibly be too low from all the backwashing? I’m at a loss and don’t know where to go.
To add onto the pile, I am now returning to the issue of not having installed the plunger valves at the beginning. Is it possible to check the sand without the plungers/ or water just running everywhere the entire time? I am so new to this and the pump manual is no help.
Thank you to anyone who has stuck around this long!
