What's the final word on the quikrete sand?
- Thread starter cnshough
- Start date
I am very new to this forum, as a matter of fact this is my first post. I came to this site because I had to troubleshoot my brand new intex sand filter which was allowing sand by the laterals and into the pool from the very moment of first start-up. I had used the quikrete sand from Menards. It was confusing because this is my first sand filter and I had researched a lot before purchasing and I knew that I had set it up correctly. I got quite frustrated and ended up reading everything I could find about the situation, including a few threads on this forum.
I ended up taking the filter completely apart yesterday and upon inspection I was not able to find anything wrong with any of the laterals. I went to our local pool store and asked if they had heard anything about the quikrete sand being too fine. The guy I talked to stated that he hadn't heard anything about it. I bought a few bags of their sand which did not have any label or brand name that I could find. It was priced at $15/bag which is about double the price I had paid for the quikrete. They promised me that it was good stuff and I would be fine using it.
When I got home I compared the quikrete sand to the sand from the pool store and I could not believe the difference. I should have taken pictures.
After putting everything back together and cleaning out the sand in the bottom of my pool it has been working great with no sand entering the pool.
So, I am not going to tell anyone here what to use but I can promise that I will not be using the quikrete sand again.
I ended up taking the filter completely apart yesterday and upon inspection I was not able to find anything wrong with any of the laterals. I went to our local pool store and asked if they had heard anything about the quikrete sand being too fine. The guy I talked to stated that he hadn't heard anything about it. I bought a few bags of their sand which did not have any label or brand name that I could find. It was priced at $15/bag which is about double the price I had paid for the quikrete. They promised me that it was good stuff and I would be fine using it.
When I got home I compared the quikrete sand to the sand from the pool store and I could not believe the difference. I should have taken pictures.
After putting everything back together and cleaning out the sand in the bottom of my pool it has been working great with no sand entering the pool.
So, I am not going to tell anyone here what to use but I can promise that I will not be using the quikrete sand again.
i have been using quickrete for 3 years with no issues. some sand will always come through the laterals. its the nature of the material and how its screened.
what makes pool filter sand pool filter sand is that its fractured. this creates sharp edges that allow it to pack together more closely. Masonry sand is round from being tumbled in the river. it can filter, but not as well as the sand with sharp edges.
what makes pool filter sand pool filter sand is that its fractured. this creates sharp edges that allow it to pack together more closely. Masonry sand is round from being tumbled in the river. it can filter, but not as well as the sand with sharp edges.
Not quite right. Yes pool filter sand is fractured. The other thing that makes it filter sand is that it is graded to a uniform size. In this case a #20 sive. Proper filter sand should never get past the laterals and in to the pool. At least mine hasn't in 3 years.
You can see in the photo comparing the quickrete sand to filter sand that the quickrete sand does not look like fractured sand at all and is not graded properly.
You can see in the photo comparing the quickrete sand to filter sand that the quickrete sand does not look like fractured sand at all and is not graded properly.
The sand that I had before the quickrete was the pool store sand. All of the pool stores buy from Independent Materials here in Tulsa. Their sand was twice as much when I bought Quickrete from HD. Before I swapped mine I always had sand in the Polaris bag. Like a handful. I wonder if it is just a certain plant that makes the sand you guys are having problems with? We have a Quickrete plant in town.
Sorry to keep bringing this back up but I’ve been meaning to share this picture. Here is the size of the Quikrete I got. I wish I knew what I know now. But I had no idea there would be this significant of a difference. I wasn’t going for the cheapest sand I was simply buying what was available closest to me.