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  • Bruce Hudson July 29, 2009 at 1:47pm
    My precious little armpit has borne the all night agony too many times to ever pull sand out through the top again.

    A peice of rain gutter makes a handy sleuce for getting sand out a filter room door. Of course, now I'll get called on to clean a filter WAY away from the door or in some other impossible situation and have to eat crow!

    I try to only reach into the fiter for a plumbing repair. One trick that an electrician taught me to reduce the amount of pricklies is to coat yourself with baby powder before working around fiberglass. It's better than nothing and leaves a "baby fresh" scent too!

    Might be good all by itself at the end of a long day eh?
  • Bronwyn Edgens July 24, 2009 at 4:12pm
    I use a 2" trash pump with a foot valve on the end of the suction hose while I keep the hose pipe running into the filter.
  • Scott Heusser July 15, 2009 at 3:42pm
    I used a vac truck once for a large commercial filter. Other than that I use the ol' wet-dry vac method.
  • Wendy Purser July 14, 2009 at 5:27pm
    Be careful because the old sand can irritate pets feet and if a child gets it in their eyes it can be a problem since it is a silica (glass) sand.

    Jeremy Hine said:
    My experience is with the and vac on a water hose. It takes too long and you get a sore back and wet feet. We usually catch the sand in a couple of 5 gallon buckets, tote and dump 'em off somewhere in the yard.

    I've never bothered to remember to throw the wet dry vac on the truck those days I've got a sand filter job scheduled. When we have a split tank to work with, thats easy, just scoop out the sand with the DE Scoop, and spread out the sand in the yard somewhere.

    -Jeremy
    I fix broken pools, spas, and hot tubs
    Florida Leisure Pool & Spa
    www.FLLeisure.com
  • Bruce Hudson July 11, 2009 at 9:04am
    Come on guys, your working too hard. Most Fiberglss filters have had drain plugs at the bottom for years. Unless the filter is located indoors, remove the plug and begin backwashing. The sand will be blown out the itty bitty hole. Have a flat shovel handy to continuously move the expelledsand to the side. You may need to clear the hole periodically of larger clumps. Then use a garden hose from the top side to further flush the tank. The shop vac works well to remove the small amount remaining in the bottom of the tank. Once the expelled sand has drained a bit it can be relocated.

    When reinstalling the plug, wash of EVERY grain of sand from the threads at the filter and on the plug. Wrap it with teflon tape 3 to 4 turns and coat the threads with RTV silicone sealant. Once the sand is back in the filter is an awfull time to discover you have a leaking plug. Be carefull and sure.

    Before adding the new sand, put 8-12 inches of water in the filter.

    Also, don't cut your sand bags in the middle. Stand them upright on top of the filter and cut a triangle in the bottom. The sand will flow easily into the filter with less strain on your back.

    Finally, restart the filter on "Backwash" to clean and distribute the sand.
  • Marc L. Brown December 24, 2008 at 8:00am
    What a good Idea. I just cut a hole in a plastic bag and put it over the filter hole

    I am running senimars at the NESPA Atlantic City Show on Monday and Wednesday. We are, and have been looking for additional tips for this " Tricks Of The Trade Senimar ". Please join us if your there. We welcome additional ideas from all.
  • Rebecca L. Smith December 24, 2008 at 7:51am
    We tape duct tape around the hole of the sand filter while working on the filters-no more fiberglass in my arms! Just remember to remove before screwing on the lid.
    Rebecca
    Splash Pool Management Co
    www.splashpoolmgt.com
    Splash Pool Management Company
    Splash Pool Management Company provides exceptional pool management service and services exclusively to the North West Cobb County and North East Pau…
  • Marc L. Brown December 15, 2008 at 2:22pm
    Go back and read tll the replies
  • poolman58 December 15, 2008 at 1:40pm
    Don't laugh I have done jobs with a 3" homelite trash pump then put screen in the dump body and start pumping works great when you have a flooded system.
    Brian
    Jeremy Hine said:
    what a great idea. carry a spare trash pump on the truck w/ flexible suction and discharge. I bet sand removal is a matter of 5 minutes. Less wear and tear on my back too.

    -Jeremy
    Florida Leisure Pool & Spa
    www.FLLeisure.com

    Scott Walters said:
    I have used an old super pump and pumped the sand out up to 50 ft away from the filter. This works best on side Mont filters because when you get low on water in the filter you can turn on the pool pump to keep filter full of water and keep your prime on your pump.
  • Tony Roland December 11, 2008 at 5:27pm
    Sand Vac sold thru distibution
This reply was deleted.

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