This is my 3rd season and never had a problem until this year. Every time my filter cycle starts, it kicks out sand. It clears with in 10 secs. Only way to stop it is backwash and rinse, then switch to filter to keep water clean. I'm wondering if my sand could be "bad". Going to wash the sand & see if it helps. I also checked spider gasket & laterals - all good.
Sand in discharge
- Thread starter jem12
- Start date
Hi there! Welcome aboard the TFP 
Sand actually doesn't "go bad"....it may need a good cleaning though? What chemicals do you use in the pool? Anything gummy? Floc? Clarifier?
www.troublefreepool.com
A lateral down in the bottom may be dislodged. Since this is a new problem I doubt it is the stand pipe unless you took sand out and when putting it back in some got into it?
My last guess is the Spider Valve under the multiport valve. Check it for tears or gashes?
www.troublefreepool.com
Maddie
Sand actually doesn't "go bad"....it may need a good cleaning though? What chemicals do you use in the pool? Anything gummy? Floc? Clarifier?
Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter
This post will walk you through the anatomy of a sand filter, and then provide a video at the end for how to deep clean your sand filter. The filter used in the photos and videos is a Hayward S180T top mount sand filter. The images are of a similar filter. Obviously not all filters are...
www.troublefreepool.com
A lateral down in the bottom may be dislodged. Since this is a new problem I doubt it is the stand pipe unless you took sand out and when putting it back in some got into it?
My last guess is the Spider Valve under the multiport valve. Check it for tears or gashes?
MPV Valves - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
Maddie
I took all the sand out to check the laterals. No clogs or cracks. The spider gasket didn't look damaged. Tomorrow I am trying filter cleaner. If that still doesn't fix it, I'll replace the spider web.
Just reread your thread. All my chemicals are good. I have a 20 ft above ground. It uses the frog mineral system with chlorine insert. The winter ended rough. All way great until beginning of April when top blew off in storm. Dumped leaves in pool and things went green. It was early spring in St Louis area so just opened pool early. I got pool chemicals stable, but pool was always cloudy. This year decided to switch to pool balls for media instead of sand. Things have never been good since. Switched back to sand, but that's when sand in discharge to pool started. All chemicals are name brand.
Anyone else have similar problem - try to clean your sand! Fixed all my problems! I bought clorox filter cleaner and followed the directions on the back for DE & sand filters. It worked like a charm. My thought is something was spilled on the bag at the warehouse. I started by taking small amount of the sand and did a trial cleaning. The pre cleaned sand felt clumpy & dirty. After cleaning it felt lighter & more fluid.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,038
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Interesting. I don't recall anyone doing this. When you had the filter open and removed the sand previously, did the sand look all clumpy back then? In only 3 years I wouldn't think it should.
Do you suspect there were a lot of body oils and such from swimmer? I'm trying to understand how dirty sand would be light enough to blow out during start up. I thought perhaps you had some channeling, but you removed all the sand earlier, so that doesn't make sense either.