Sand Filter Pressures

[aylad]

If this is the first time you've started the pump/filter, I would start by replacing the gauge. It's cheap, only takes a few minutes to do, and may be the solution to your problem. It takes very little moisture combined with cold air to render it useless!!

Annual replacement of sand is not a normal thing for a sand filter. If replacing the gauge doesn't help the problem, you need to start looking for something else. I'm not sure what, but there are other equipment folks around here that can offer some suggestions once they see this thread.

[waldreps]

Yeah, I don't think I should have to replace my sand every year. Last year when it did this, it was the first time I'd opened the pool in a couple of years and there was all kinds of goop in the pool. I can see how that would clog the sand filter. I drained the whole pool, cleaned and refilled and then replaced my sand. When I opened this year, the pool didn't look too bad except for a lot of fine dirt and silt that made its way through the mesh cover. As far as the gauge, it appears to work OK in that the dial moves freely like when I turn things off it pops right to zero and then goes back up when I turn things back on. I guess it could be reporting the incorrect pressure but I do notice reduced flow when the pressure goes up. If I take the eye on the return off, the pressure goes down by a couple of PSI. I just don't understand why backwashing doesn't cause things to go back down to at least where it was when I started it up this year. What kind of PSI reading should I be getting when I'm backwashing? Shouldn't it be quite a bit lower than the reading when I'm filtering? Thanks for any help anybody can give.

Thanks,
Stacy