At the beginning of last season (April 2018), I fired up my pump to find that my sand filter had pin hole sized holes spewing water. Among other issues, I didn't have the money to replace the filter so I let the pool sit for a year...
I made sure to run the water on circulate when the weather was freezing to avoid further problems and had to wait until I had the money to replace the filter housing. Finally I was able to shop-vac the old sand out and then I hand scooped it into my new filter. I was able to fire up the pump and get the water filtering again!
1st problem (if it's really a problem?), the old filter ran at 20 psi starting pressure regularly. After replacing the new housing and re-installing the multi-port valve the water is now running at 10 psi? I replaced the pressure gauge to make sure it wasn't a false reading and the new gauge is reading 15 psi? I know not every grain of sand was saved in the transfer, but I was very meticulous to hand scoop and save as much sand as possible? Should I be concerned? Maybe the bottom drain is covered in debris since the pool has sat for a year?
2nd problem (this one really is one), the pool was a swamp. I've saved plenty of green pools before in my lifetime. I take shortcuts (I'm sure what I'm about to say will not be very popular) I start by using Green to Clean and powder shock. Then when I have no combined chlorine, I use flocculant, let the debrist settle on the bottom and then vacuum and continue maintaining balance of the pool. This time that hos not worked. Attached is what my water looked like after 48 hours of the flocculant being used (yes, I put the pool on circulate for 2 hours, etc...). I've never in my life seen flocculant not work to where I can see the bottom of the pool? I started poking around the bottom and apparently stirred everything up and it appears as though there is a green sludge or slime at the bottom and intermittently in the water itself.
Long read and I will post water chemistry results in a minute. I am beyond discouraged, I do not know what to do next? If there is a layer of sludge on the bottom it is not thick enough that I can effectively scoop it out with a pole scoop. There seems to be pockets of debris at the bottom, should I blindly scoop at them even though I can't see them?
Chlorine 4
Ph 7.2
Alk 80
Hardness 240
CYA 30
After stirring everything up again, the pool is a swamp again. I'm thinking about emptying the pool, but then I'm worried about it floating... Should I just SLAM it and then blindly scoop and maintain chemistry? Any thoughts? What will it take to get the water clear again? The filter seems to be working hard as there is a spillover spa that is not pouring into the pool with the same stream it used to? Any help would be appreciated...
16,500 gallon in-ground gunnite pool, Pentair SD80 sand filter.
I made sure to run the water on circulate when the weather was freezing to avoid further problems and had to wait until I had the money to replace the filter housing. Finally I was able to shop-vac the old sand out and then I hand scooped it into my new filter. I was able to fire up the pump and get the water filtering again!
1st problem (if it's really a problem?), the old filter ran at 20 psi starting pressure regularly. After replacing the new housing and re-installing the multi-port valve the water is now running at 10 psi? I replaced the pressure gauge to make sure it wasn't a false reading and the new gauge is reading 15 psi? I know not every grain of sand was saved in the transfer, but I was very meticulous to hand scoop and save as much sand as possible? Should I be concerned? Maybe the bottom drain is covered in debris since the pool has sat for a year?
2nd problem (this one really is one), the pool was a swamp. I've saved plenty of green pools before in my lifetime. I take shortcuts (I'm sure what I'm about to say will not be very popular) I start by using Green to Clean and powder shock. Then when I have no combined chlorine, I use flocculant, let the debrist settle on the bottom and then vacuum and continue maintaining balance of the pool. This time that hos not worked. Attached is what my water looked like after 48 hours of the flocculant being used (yes, I put the pool on circulate for 2 hours, etc...). I've never in my life seen flocculant not work to where I can see the bottom of the pool? I started poking around the bottom and apparently stirred everything up and it appears as though there is a green sludge or slime at the bottom and intermittently in the water itself.
Long read and I will post water chemistry results in a minute. I am beyond discouraged, I do not know what to do next? If there is a layer of sludge on the bottom it is not thick enough that I can effectively scoop it out with a pole scoop. There seems to be pockets of debris at the bottom, should I blindly scoop at them even though I can't see them?
Chlorine 4
Ph 7.2
Alk 80
Hardness 240
CYA 30
After stirring everything up again, the pool is a swamp again. I'm thinking about emptying the pool, but then I'm worried about it floating... Should I just SLAM it and then blindly scoop and maintain chemistry? Any thoughts? What will it take to get the water clear again? The filter seems to be working hard as there is a spillover spa that is not pouring into the pool with the same stream it used to? Any help would be appreciated...
16,500 gallon in-ground gunnite pool, Pentair SD80 sand filter.
