Our pool - Questions

[byron366]

Hey everybody. I am kind of taking over responsibility for the pool because of my dad's back.

First off, I'll have to say that our pool and equipment are OLD. The pool was put in back in the 70's from what my neighbors tell me. I guess all of the equipment is that old too. The pump and sand filter are both made by Sta-Rite.

We opened the pool about a week and a half ago after sitting for two years. We opened it up to a green stinking mess. I then proceeded to hook the filter system up, and it fired right up.

All I can say is, we are still pool dummies even after owning the pool for 13 years. I added shock to it, and the water turned the usual milky aqua color. It started to clear up over the period of days, so I decided to vacuum the bottom. This was my worst nightmare. There are 3 trees on each property around mine. All the leaves and other crap fly into my pool by murphy's law. Well I vacuumed it, and after a minute or so, brown water started exiting the jets. After shutting the pump off, I removed the skimmer basket to find it completey filled with 5" of leaves and other stuff. (I don't have a leaf canister on my hose) I then backwashed, and the brown water continued for like 2 minutes. Once it cleared, I vacuumed again.

I must of vacuumed 3 or 4 times. Each time the basket was full. The brown water out the jets always happened too. Now the pool is sitting there with all the small particulate stirred up, making the pool look horrible again.

Do you think something is wrong with my filter? It must be over 25 years old from what I understand.

[chem geek]

Well I vacuumed it, and after a minute or so, brown water started exiting the jets.
:
The brown water out the jets always happened too.

Unless you mistakenly had your valve set to recirculate instead of filter or waste, then it does sound like your filter is not catching everything and yes, that will make it virtually impossible to clear the pool. So, check the filter -- if it's sand, look for channeling; if it's cartridge, look for tears/holes.

[byron366]

My valve was actually in the filter position. I do think that the filter is catching some stuff, because when my mom was vacuuming, I was watching the pump setup. There is that flexible see through PVC pipe installed, and I could see the water passing through. After I backwashed the filter, we set it back to filter mode and continued vacuuming. The water was all dirty and brown coming into the pump and going into the filter, but, the water was clear coming out of the filter. It was clear for about a minute or so, then the brown water started. I backwashed once again, and the same routine happened again. So I think my filter is still filtering a little bit.

If it is bad though, I can just replace the sand right? For the record, its a Sta-Rite Swimquip. Don't have a model number though.

Thanks

[POOLPUMPREPAIRGUYFLORIDA]

STA RITE IS MY FAVORITE HANDS DOWN. sounds like you should have done a drain and fill. if you insist on doing it your way, you must be patient. repeat this cleaning process you are doing, it may take you 3-4 days to get all the crap off the bottom , get the inline filter for the vac. you will need to constantly clean it. but with persistence it will clear up for you .. it's nothing that time and hard work can't fix

[SPMG]

Hello Byron,

A sand filter should have the contents replaced every 4 years if you're using sand, or 7 years if you're using Zeolite.

Getting a dirty pool back into shape is straightforward.
First balance pH and then superchlorinate

Use a net to remove as many leaves as you can, then scrub all pool surfaces as well as you can see/feel to loosen dirt adhering to the sides and bottom.

Next apply a flocculant

Follow the instructions in the above download but, in a nutshell, this is what you must do - apply the flocculant, leave the pump OFF overnight and next morning vacuum the pool to WASTE

You'll find answers to 99% of your pool problems

Good luck! Ken