I just discovered that there is a sandy-looking substance in the dirt near our waste line. We just got done doing a SLAM so we have backwashed and vacuumed to waste on several occasions during the past week. Could this sandy-looking substance be dried up mustard algae or is this a sign that my sand filter is leaking sand when backwashing? I don't see any sand inside the pool and the sand filter seems to be working efficiently since our pool went from dark green to clear in 5 days. Sand filter is probably 15-18 years old and it is a Hayward Pro Series S244T. If it sounds like this substance could be sand, I need to know if it is safe to continue running the pump on filter until I can get someone over to look at it. My local pool pro is busy with pool openings right now so it would probably take a week or more to get him over here to look at it.
Sand found near waste line
- Thread starter nadar
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,873
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
It's possible your spider gasket inside the multiport valve is showing signs of wear. Other things like a pump that's too strong for the filter or overfilling the filter with sand do not seem to apply since this never happened before. Perhaps a bad lateral ... maybe. But I'd be looking at the spider gasket first.
Thanks for the advice. The multiport valve was just replaced a year and a half ago so it seems odd that it could go bad that quickly. If I had a bad lateral, would it just leak sand when backwashing or would it also leak sand into pool also? If I had a bad spider gasket or a bad lateral, can I just continue running the pump on filter until the problem gets worse and then call someone to fix it? Money is tight right now and I don't feel comfortable doing the necessary repairs myself. It doesn't look like I'm losing sand while the pump is running and the amount of sand that has been lost so far is not excessive.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,873
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
You are correct about the lateral. You would expect to see it in the pool as well, but thinking outside the box a little. I agree you would think (hope) a MPV so new wouldn't have a bad gasket so soon unless something happened to it over the winter. That could be key. Winter freezes have a way of messing with pool parts regardless of age. But I wouldn't take drastic actions just yet. If everything is fine on filter, go with it. Monitor the next few backwashes and see if if continues to do it or gets worse.