Vacuuming sand out of pool

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Yorker

Silver Supporter
Apr 22, 2017
489
Cathedral City, CA
OK - it's been five years now and I'm looking for a way to keep as much sand out of our filter when we have our wind storms. Yesterday I spend 2 hours cleaning the filters and I cleaned it just 3 months ago. While this past wind season is near it's end (I HOPE). The amount of sand that gets trapped in our filter would seem to require filter cleaning every month or less. Is there something I might try to limit the sand that reached the filter?

Perhaps a skimmer sock in the basket before the water reaches the filter (emptying it out frequently during vacuuming the bottom)?

A portable pump/filter system like I see pool guys use when they clean pools?

Help, my back hurts:)
 
PS,

I am not against the pre-filter, I'm against installing things are not necessary. Most pools do not have a sand problem, so it makes no sense to me to install something just because it looks cool.

That said, we have several members that love them. They have convinced me that if you live in a place that gets a lot of sand/dust storms, then it makes perfect sense to try to prefilter out the sand before it gets to your filter. @bertschb ..

If I had this problem, I'd like to see something that captures the sand before it gets to the pump and not after, but I have no clue if that option even exists.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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Yorker said:
Is there something I might try to limit the sand that reached the filter?
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I have the MultiCyclone and it works great at catching sand and dirt before it gets to your filter. We spent five winters in the Palm Springs area after retiring so we're very familiar with how much sand and dirt gets blown around during wind storms. I use skimmer socks but they don't trap the small particles that the MultiCyclone does.

This is how much sand/dirt my MultiCyclone trapped in just five days and we had no wind storms during that time.
MultiCyclone.jpg
 
Thanks Everyone! Such a quick response. I was not aware of this product, and excited to check it out and how I can add it to my system.

Bart, I know you feel my pain. I'm in north Cathedral City and this has been the worst sand/wind we've experienced in the 6 years we've been here (last year was pleasant in comparison). I may have some questions in the near future. I'm ashamed to show this, but this is what I dealt with yesterday:-0IMG_8381.jpg
 
Yorker said:
I'm ashamed to show this,
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HECK NO !!!! That's bragging rights there. It would have been 2 or 3 cleanings with a smaller filter.

Are you watching your PSI or just cleaning when it seems right ? As nasty as those filters look, I wouldn't have seen a PSI increase with that and could have gone much longer.
 

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It just occurred to me that if you don't have a suction cleaner or in floor cleaning system, the MultiCyclone may not help much. My in floor cleaning system stirs up the sand/dirt which gets drawn into the MultiCyclone. And of course, a vacuum system would pull dirt into the MultiCyclone.

@Yorker How do you clean your pool?
 
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bertschb said:
It just occurred to me that if you don't have a suction cleaner or in floor cleaning system, the MultiCyclone may not help much. My in floor cleaning system stirs up the sand/dirt which gets drawn into the MultiCyclone. And of course, a vacuum system would pull dirt into the MultiCyclone.

@Yorker How do you clean your pool?
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We hand vacuum it with something like this... 1655397273609.png
 
Newdude said:
HECK NO !!!! That's bragging rights there. It would have been 2 or 3 cleanings with a smaller filter.

Are you watching your PSI or just cleaning when it seems right ? As nasty as those filters look, I wouldn't have seen a PSI increase with that and could have gone much longer.
Click to expand...
I have done my best to keep the CSI near zero. With out of control CH I have been delaying another full drain. In prep for a tile cleaning. I drained and refilled about 18" yesterday evening (as a practice run) and will drain another 12-24" tonight for the tile work tomorrow morning. A couple years ago I tried the water exchange method of pumping from the bottom while gently adding equal water to the top. I did that for what should have been 50% new water, though it did not lower the CH anywhere near 50%. This year I will bite the bullet and see how low I can get and manage the CH until our weather cools down and I can do a full drain. With the water restrictions I imagine that will cost a pretty penny (or two)
 
Yorker said:
have done my best to keep the CSI near zero.
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*PSI* not CSI. :) The PSI of your filter. It's what let's you know the filters are restricting flow and it's time to clean. As nasty as the filters look, you may be cleaning them earlier than you need to.

We reccomend cleaning when the PSI goes up 25% from clean. If you are free before that and want to reset the clock, you certainly may, but you might not need to as often as you think.
 
Toxophilite said:
You might invest in a robot with a sand/silt basket and run daily till you run it in the ground (pool)!
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I think I need to look into that again. I think with the design of our pool that would not do a good overall job BUT during the windy season, and to get the sand at the bottom of the pool (and not in the filter) could be a game changer. How much sand could it hold. While I have never measured it but the bottom of the light blue pool turns to a very very dark gray.
 
Newdude said:
*PSI* not CSI. :) The PSI of your filter. It's what let's you know the filters are restricting flow and it's time to clean. As nasty as the filters look, you may be cleaning them earlier than you need to.

We reccomend cleaning when the PSI goes up 25% from clean. If you are free before that and want to reset the clock, you certainly may, but you might not need to as often as you think.
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Thanks for that correction NewDude. I think I have too much sand in my head. PSI. I have not paid close attention, but I do look. It was at 12psi just before cleaning and 11psi after cleaning. I was shocked. Though I wonder if the arrow was kinda stuck.
 

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Brian,

I use the corrugated looking filters in my S200 and that is exactly what they do.

One of my pools has flagstone coping that sheds very thin layers of sand/dirt. If you brush it, it goes "poof" just like algae. The Robot has no problems picking that up.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 

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