How Often To Replace Sand In Pool Filter
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Silica sand filters are cost effective, they piece of work well, and they practice not take a huge corporeality of ongoing maintenance twenty-four hour period to twenty-four hour period. In that location might be better options for pool filters that waste less h2o, are more period efficient and are capable of removing finer physical debris from the h2o than sand filters but that does nothing to diminish the popularity of sand filters. Y'all actually could make a very good case for upgrading to a more efficient filtration arrangement that has much less resistance to menses than a giant tank of sand that you are pushing water through.
A well designed and efficient plumbing system would be 1 that is easy for the filtration pump to draw and button water through. If you had a organization that was incredibly hard to button water through this would result in a less efficient plumbing system. This is actually kind of what a sand filter is, relatively speaking, and this is why an upgrade to something with a much amend flow design should always be on the table if y'all currently own a sand filter. Earlier yous consider spending whatever money on a filter service you should weigh the comparing of cost for servicing the filter yous accept now versus replacing with a new model. There could be enough advantage for you lot to upgrade already, and the money spent on service to the old filter might exist better off going towards the buy price of a newer, more reliable and more efficient filter system.
The single biggest problem with pool sand filters is the multiport valve they use to select filtration settings such every bit aftermath, rinse, winter, shut, recirculate and filter. User-friendly for the puddle operator, but definitely a huge flow brake when compared to pretty much every other valve, plumbing equipment and piece of equipment within your filtration arrangement. The maximum designed flow rate, a very important number relating to the volume of water your filter can handle before the potential exists for harm to internal components, is specifically low in sand filters versus whatever other filter type. Accept a look at this comparing between a sand filter and a cartridge filter, where both of these filters are of suitable size for a 20x40' swimming puddle.
Hayward S270T - 350 lbs sand filter
Maximum design flow rate = 74 GPM
Hayward C4030 - 425sf cartridge filter
Maximum design flow charge per unit = 150 GPM
Both of these filters are very large, but non the largest bachelor for either selection. Both of these filters will accept no trouble keeping an actress deep xl,000 gallon 20x40' pool clean and articulate, but as you can encounter those flow rates are majorly unlike. This is especially of import since average ane horsepower puddle pumps tin easily move fourscore+ GPM and new variable speed pool pumps in the 2 to 3 horsepower range similar the EcoStar, TriStar 950 and IntelliFlo are easily capable of 150+ GPM and so long as the plumbing arrangement tin handle this much menses. If you accept a sand filter, and you practice not have a flow meter telling you how many GPM is moving through your organisation, then y'all are almost certainly overdriving your sand filter. This is very important to know.
How does a sand puddle filter work? - A sand filter is a pressure vessel, essentially a tank filled with sand. H2o is applied under pressure level from the pump and forced through graded sand which removes all but the smallest concrete droppings before the water is collected clean on the other side of the sand and continues on through your plumbing system and back to your pool. Backwashing, a term synonymous with puddle sand filters, is exactly as information technology sounds in that the water is sent backwards through the filter from the direction it normally travels. This forces all the physical debris that is sitting in the beginning few layers of sand to wash out through the waste pipe or drain on your pool filter. When the pump applies water pressure the entire filter tank swells in size, a quite unsettling feeling when you are standing next to 1 while doing this as it actually shows you how much pressure and lower exists in these systems. The filter weighs hundreds of pounds and feels as solid as can exist, despite being made from resin. But when pressure applies from the pump the entire tank swells like an inflating airship. Definitely never take the potential for danger lightly with a pool filter.
A quick epitomize hither, a sand filter is a pressure vessel and swells and contracts every time you turn on and off the pump, and information technology is rated for a certain maximum flow rating that many pool owners accidentally exceed for the entire operating life of the filter. And then now we can start to talk about the master point of this commodity yous are reading, which is when should you replace your filter sand? As an experienced pool technician I can easily tell you that near of the people who alter their filter sand, or think that they need to alter their filter sand, actually do not demand to exercise this. Worse than this they specifically should avoid irresolute the sand in their filter.
If you want to follow the book about how often you lot should change your filter sand the answer will be either every three to 5 years, or every v to seven years, depending on who you inquire. But is this really good communication? I don't think and so. These established values for sand filter changes were developed and agreed to in a different age of pool equipment. Pumps were smaller and filters were built to last. Every pool pump these days is absolutely gigantic, and puddle filters, much like everything else these days is built to work, but not to terminal. Parts are made using the cheapest, thinnest possible materials, and and so these cheaply made filters are fastened to pumps that provide fashion as well much flow. The finish result is a filter that works, simply if you attempt to alter the sand every 3 to five years you are almost certainly going to encounter a trouble.
How long does filter sand last? - Puddle filter sand does vesture over time much like play sand versus a abrupt sand or brick sand. Once the edges of the sand have worn down the filter will have less filtering ability compared to what information technology was when it was new. Additionally a pool filter is the garbage can for every last disgusting thing that finds its way into your pool. After a few years time this becomes a bacterial breeding grounds. Sand filter changes every five to 7 years is how I was trained many years ago. However it was non exactly linear, information technology was told to me equally every 5 to 7 years, or when there is a problem. This is of import, considering nearly pool owners think sand irresolute is one of the offset things you should wait to when the pool is cloudy or dark-green. Filter sand is probably the last matter you lot should await at, percentage wise. Chances are extremely high that your problem with h2o quality is either a chemical imbalance of some kind, or y'all just are not running the filter plenty. It should be running 24/7 whatsoever fourth dimension you lot are having water quality issues.
Equally a service technician I have regularly removed sand filters from service that were still operating on original sand subsequently 25 years. There is no rule that says y'all must change your sand. Only a recommendation that if you take a problem with your h2o you might need to change it. If you lot don't have a trouble in the first place then I am of the opinion that you should leave your filter alone. If your pool is green and you call back maybe it is the filter sand, information technology is probably a chemistry outcome in well over 90% of cases.
Why you lot should NOT change your filter sand - Puddle filters used to be made to last a one-half century or and so, with some models even being stainless steel and strong enough to withstand decades of apply, or even a direct strike with a vehicle...nigh. Puddle filters manufactured today are mass produced with resin and e'er-cheaper materials, gaskets and moving parts. The end result is a product that works, but does not last. Add to this the fact that the filter is constantly exposed to chemicals, changing pressures, reversing pressures and physical debris and you lot might offset to see why opening yours to change the sand might be a bad idea. While I used to perform filter sand changes regularly at the beginning of my career this is something I would rarely recommend these days. The chances of damaging something within the filter during the sand removal process is very high. Fifty-fifty when yous're careful, many times the internal lateral assembly parts are hanging on by a thread and even the lightest disturbance causes them to fail immediately in your hand, or fail in a mode that you do not notice until the adjacent day when all the sand from your filter is now on the floor of your pool.
When a filter sand replacement service phone call goes well it is a quick, albeit gross job. When a filter sand change does not go well I spend the time cleaning the one-time sand out, bringing in hundreds of pounds of new sand, put it in the filter, clean upwards and kickoff up the system with a lengthy backwash to forbid the pool from going cloudy from the new sand. But then the next day I go a telephone call from y'all in a panic because the floor of your pool is covered with hundreds of pounds of sand. The standpipe or laterals bankrupt. You might be able to club replacement parts. If they brand them still, and if they will not take longer than 48 hours to get (special order parts is six weeks) you can buy new sand, supplant the cleaved office and begin cleaning hundreds of pounds of sand out of the pool. Remember one part already broke inside the filter, then unless yous replaced everything than another failure seems likely. This is why you lot should strongly consider not replacing the sand in your filter.
A new cartridge filter is a lot more than money than a sand filter, simply they are a much better filter in terms of what they can remove from the water, also as being vastly better from a hydraulic efficiency standpoint. On paper the increase in system efficiency will probably pay for the difference in price between a sand filter and a cartridge filter over the course of its service life. If yous factor in that you might pay a few hundred to have your filter sand inverse by a professional, and at best y'all have an old and possibly failing filter, for sure that few hundred would exist improve allocated towards purchasing a new, more efficient cartridge filter.
Channeling sand - If the sand in your filter solidifies from age or adverse chemical situations then this would exist one of the only reasons I would explore irresolute the sand in your filter, equally this could happen to a fairly immature filter that still has some life left in it. Calcium hardness and a scaling state co-ordinate to the LSI tin can cause your water to calcify and solidify your sand in your filter, such that the h2o no longer filters dainty and evenly, but has worked channels into the sand creating pathways of low resistance to menses through. The terminate outcome is that water is going through the filter just no h2o is really being filtered.
Bacterial buildup - The stuff inside a sand filter gets pretty gross after a while. A cartridge filter gets disgusting after a half flavour of functioning then you can just imagine what a sand filter is similar since it never gets cleaned out in the same thorough fashion that a cartridge filter does regularly. Instead of changing the sand to deal with the bacterial buildup in your sand filter you tin can too look towards a chemical treatment and cleaning to regenerate your sand media. This is a maintenance item that y'all would 100% try before you can fifty-fifty start to consider replacing the sand in your filter. If you take not been using a sand filter degreaser
Sand Filter Cleaner
I would say that regular use of a filter cleaner product is the only long term maintenance that sand filters need other than backwashing of course. Practice not look speedily to irresolute the sand in your filter every bit the respond to water quality problems. Filter your water 24/7 and ensure you are inside tolerance for your h2o chemical science equally that is almost e'er the source of water quality and clarity bug. Sand filters article of clothing out just the event would be a slow and steady turn down over years and years. Decades. Bacterial buildup and channeling is a concern but those are both best treated with proper h2o balancing every bit well as a filter cleaning handling, not sand changes. Finally, with the risk that you overdrive your filter being high, or at to the lowest degree operate it at the very maximum operating range as a guarantee, and with how cheaply things are made these days, irresolute the sand in your filter is as probable to cause a problem as it is to fix i. Perhaps even more so.
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Swimming Pool Steve is an honour winning, second generation swimming pool and spa specialist from Ontario Canada. With over ten,000,000 views on the Pond Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the 2018 Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print Steve is committed to helping puddle and spa owners also as puddle and spa manufacture workers learn more about the technical side of edifice, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
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