Hi gang,
First let me say that this website has been a tremendous help for a new pool owner (house purchased with existing pool). Following the basic chemistry steps outlined here I only purchased bleach last year for pool maintenance. The previous owner left a few things that were all I needed to keep the pH in check.
I have two problems: air leak that appears to be coming from under the ground of the suction side and sand in the pool. I think I have the air leak identified, but I mention it just in case it relates to the sand. I tried the shaving cream, then water to identify the leak and only when I let the hose run into the ground next to the suction pipe did the air bubbles stop. Now the sand. At the beginning of last season I had to replace my multiport valve "handle cover assembly" (the one without the replaceable spider gasket on my Hayward S244T. Occasionally I would get a little sand here or there, but nothing really significant until late in the season. About a month before closing the sand loss was getting significant. I would end up with what looked like a dixie cup full of sand in the pool after running the pump for 10hrs or so. Over the winter I pulled the laterals out and inspected them and found them (to the best I could see) to be intact. I did notice that small grains of sand were stuck in the lateral slots. I put the sand I recovered from the filter back in and opened the pool. Unfortunately, the same story as last year.
To try and keep my test results short and sweet, here are some bullet point results:
* Filter and multiport valve worked nearly a full season without sand loss. When I bought the house in Nov. of the prior year, no sand issues
* laterals appear intact as does the stand pipe and lateral assembly
* sand appears small in grain size to me, but when measuring some with calipers I get .70-1.0mm. This seems to correlate to #20-40 sieve, assuming my measurements are rough. I do not know what is in my filter currently
* sand level seems low based on what I read in the hayward manual. I would guess about half full or so? Guessing at the weight when compared to a 50# sack of playsand i could believe there was ~300#, as it should be
* Unless I am redistributing sand already in the pool, sand is deposited during recirculate mode
* no water leakage out the waste line while in filter mode
* my pressure rarely moved much last year. 10psi is about normal and it might hit 15 before I backwashed, which was probably less than 4 times the entire summer.
What do you guys think? The sand I am picking up, as seen out the discharge line, does not look like the kind of dirt we have here in Alabama. Therefore, I don't think I am picking up dirt from the suction side line. I am thinking the first step is to remove the sand and re-check the laterals again. After that I am worried I am just throwing money at ideas, but I guess sand is next followed by a new multiport valve top. Thoughts?
Thanks
ben
First let me say that this website has been a tremendous help for a new pool owner (house purchased with existing pool). Following the basic chemistry steps outlined here I only purchased bleach last year for pool maintenance. The previous owner left a few things that were all I needed to keep the pH in check.
I have two problems: air leak that appears to be coming from under the ground of the suction side and sand in the pool. I think I have the air leak identified, but I mention it just in case it relates to the sand. I tried the shaving cream, then water to identify the leak and only when I let the hose run into the ground next to the suction pipe did the air bubbles stop. Now the sand. At the beginning of last season I had to replace my multiport valve "handle cover assembly" (the one without the replaceable spider gasket on my Hayward S244T. Occasionally I would get a little sand here or there, but nothing really significant until late in the season. About a month before closing the sand loss was getting significant. I would end up with what looked like a dixie cup full of sand in the pool after running the pump for 10hrs or so. Over the winter I pulled the laterals out and inspected them and found them (to the best I could see) to be intact. I did notice that small grains of sand were stuck in the lateral slots. I put the sand I recovered from the filter back in and opened the pool. Unfortunately, the same story as last year.
To try and keep my test results short and sweet, here are some bullet point results:
* Filter and multiport valve worked nearly a full season without sand loss. When I bought the house in Nov. of the prior year, no sand issues
* laterals appear intact as does the stand pipe and lateral assembly
* sand appears small in grain size to me, but when measuring some with calipers I get .70-1.0mm. This seems to correlate to #20-40 sieve, assuming my measurements are rough. I do not know what is in my filter currently
* sand level seems low based on what I read in the hayward manual. I would guess about half full or so? Guessing at the weight when compared to a 50# sack of playsand i could believe there was ~300#, as it should be
* Unless I am redistributing sand already in the pool, sand is deposited during recirculate mode
* no water leakage out the waste line while in filter mode
* my pressure rarely moved much last year. 10psi is about normal and it might hit 15 before I backwashed, which was probably less than 4 times the entire summer.
What do you guys think? The sand I am picking up, as seen out the discharge line, does not look like the kind of dirt we have here in Alabama. Therefore, I don't think I am picking up dirt from the suction side line. I am thinking the first step is to remove the sand and re-check the laterals again. After that I am worried I am just throwing money at ideas, but I guess sand is next followed by a new multiport valve top. Thoughts?
Thanks
ben