Trying to replace the laterals (fingers) in my filter

79TAKid · May 29, 2017

Hi all,

Probably going to put my house up for sale, but been meaning to fix these broken laterals for like 3 seasons. Sand leaks into the pool (quite a bit) and I have to vacuum it all up all the time. I haven't opened the pool up yet, so I figured it would be best to vacuum out the sand now and do this.

So here are some pics, I vacuumed out enough sand to pull it out, but I cant figure out what to do. Everything ive seen online, the laterals fold up. Mine dont look/feel like they do that? Ive tried twisting and pulling. Maybe im missing something. (also side note, should I replace my sand while its out? Ive seen people on here say you never have to?)

themadangler · May 29, 2017

Just replaced mine this weekend. Here's a pic of the old lateral assembly. you can kind of see the ball joint where they fold. I don't really see that on the one in your picture.

themadangler · May 29, 2017

If you're replacing the entire lateral assembly, I vote for break the old one, get it out of there, and refill with sand.

themadangler · May 29, 2017

Have you tried twisting/turning them?

zea3 · May 29, 2017

They probably unscrew at the base, especially if it is an older filter. You may need to get something to pick the sand out of the grooves where it would screw in to free it up. Do you know what brand and model it is?

The sand looks fine, you should be able to reuse it if you keep it clean.

79TAKid · May 29, 2017

So good news... I had someone stronger than me twist off those fingers off. Took everything to the pool store (got a new gasket and some other pieces for the valve area). They were out of the whole assembly, but they did have new laterals so I bought those. None really looked cracked, but there was sand leaking through them? (see pics) I dont see any cracks on the PVC pipe/assembly so i dunno.

Not sure exactly what brand, maybe ~10 years old

Fingers look okay but sand is getting through? Is the sand wrong? Like I said, I got new ones so ill give that a try.

79TAKid · May 30, 2017

Can anyone help me identify my filter? I think all the numbers are faded off, but trying to figure out how much sand to put in it. I guess i'll match it up with what I took out, and add a little extra

borjis · May 30, 2017

It looks very much like a Hayward Model.

Likely an "SXXXT" model where XXX = some number.

Mine is the S244T and looks exactly like yours with top connection plumbing.

Did you say it just started leaking sand one day? If that's the case then
it pretty much rules out the wrong sand being in it. I'd just put the old
sand back in if it were me.

79TAKid · May 30, 2017

borjis said:
It looks very much like a Hayward Model.

Likely an "SXXXT" model where XXX = some number.

Mine is the S244T and looks exactly like yours with top connection plumbing.

Did you say it just started leaking sand one day? If that's the case then
it pretty much rules out the wrong sand being in it. I'd just put the old
sand back in if it were me.

ah looks like about 100lbs is what I took out, I got 2 50lb bags. I only had to go right across the street for it so it was too bad. Thanks