New (confused) pool owner - brown/cloudy water after backwashing

[Litz]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new pool owner (since March) and have been lurking the forums and using Pool School to (try to) take care of my pool and learn how things work.

I've been religiously following the charts and all the maintenance tips I've read here and the water has always been crystal clear. However, I had a bit of an issue when attempting to backwash the filter today and I'm a bit lost.

I was backwashing the filter today (after noticing the PSI had risen enough / last time I did was 2 months ago or so I believe) as I normally do (~1 minute on backwash followed by ~1 minute on rinse). However, after about 30 seconds in the backwashing step, I noticed brown water flowing through the SWG cell. This was the first time I attempted to backwash since having a SWG installed so I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but all the brown water ended up on the pool.

The PSI did go back down and I put it back on filter, but the water turned from crystal clear to very cloudy and brownish to the point where I can barely see the floor now.

I'm now a bit confused as to what happened and not really sure on how to proceed. I was thinking about leaving the pump running overnight and see if the cloudiness clears up any and attempt the backwashing process again to see if I missed something and/or if something's wrong, but not really sure if that will even work?

Any help appreciated!

 

[PoolStored]

Hey! Welcome to TFP!!! Soooooo sorry this has happened to you.

There should be no water entering your pool during backwash. I would disassemble the multiport and check for a damaged spider gasket or 0-ring or something broken.

In filter mode, is it still throwing dirty water into the pool?

As for what is in the pool, it will be a bit of POP (pool owner patience). The filter will get what is in the water, and your vacuum or robot will get what settles, might just take a while. First order is to get the multiport right.

Here is a good video from INYO on the spider gasket...IF that is the problem.

 

[Litz]

Hey! Welcome to TFP!!! Soooooo sorry this has happened to you.

There should be no water entering your pool during backwash. I would disassemble the multiport and check for a damaged spider gasket or 0-ring or something broken.

In filter mode, is it still throwing dirty water into the pool?

As for what is in the pool, it will be a bit of POP (pool owner patience). The filter will get what is in the water, and your vacuum or robot will get what settles, might just take a while. First order is to get the multiport right.

Here is a good video from INYO on the spider gasket...IF that is the problem.

Thanks PoolStored! It seems to be working fine in filter mode. I'll follow the video tomorrow and report back - just need to grab some tools first.

So much for the weekend Will keep this one in mind and make sure I don't backwash on Fridays next time!