Swapping from DE back to Sand

[dwright0723]

Hello! I originally had a sand filter on my pool, and the pressure gauge broke. I had a friend that was selling his DE filter at the time, and I wanted to give it a whirl. So instead of buying a new pressure gauge, I purchased his filter. I've used it for a few years and it seems ok, but nothing spectacular. It seems to do just as good of a job as my sand filter, but the sand filter was much more simple. We turned on the pool for the first time this season, and I noticed little chunks of leaves coming out of the returns. I took the filter apart and noticed 4 of the 8 grids have holes in the bottom of them. We have been talking about swapping back to sand for a while, and figured that now would be a good time. The problem is, the old plastic distributor on my sand filter broke, and I'm not sure where to find another one. Also, there is 'another part', and I can't figure out where it goes! Any ideas? With the holes in the DE, would it still filter until I can find the proper parts for my sand filter? The water looks awful!

the distributor

Unknown part

Sexy water

 

[Richard320]

The DE filter won't work with holes in the screens. Some may stick, but the majority will blow right back into the pool. And the next on-off cycle will probably shoot the rest of it into the water.

Unless the sand filter is really really old, the parts should still be available. You just need to know the brand and model number.

If you have a multiport valve hooked up right now, you can set things to recirculate which will bypass the filter completely and let you start killing algae. You could also vacuum to waste. But the water won't really clear up until you have a working filter. The best you can hope for is to stop the water from getting thick and gooey with the warmer temperatures.

 

[dwright0723]

It's an older Sta Rite Filter. That part sits at the top of the upper pipe. I googled the model number(8252005), but didn't find anything.