Backwash? How?

[xtofer]

My wife and I just recently bought a house with a pool roughly 6000 gallons. I know that I need to backflush the Purex Triton sand filter periodically but I don't know exactly what to do. There seem to be about 8 settings on top of the filter (filter, closed, recirculate, backwash, ets) So I switch it to backwash and turn it on and the what? How long do I leave it on? Do I then just switch it back to filter? Do I need to run something else first? Kinda out on a limb here. Help?!:roll:

[Guest]

Typical sand filter backwashes go:

Turn off the pump motor
Push down on the filter lever and turn to Backwash
Turn on the pump motor and watch either the output or the little glass tube on top of the filter until it runs clear. Usually, that's anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Then, turn off the pump motor
Turn the filter to Rinse
Turn back on the pump motor and rinse for 20 - 30 seconds. Rinsing basically settles the sand back down in the filter.

Turn off the pump motor
Turn the filter back to Filter.
Turn on the pump motor.

NOTE: It's suggested that you always turn the sand filter handle in one direction to minimize the chance of pinching the spider gasket on the filter top. So, either go clockwise or counterclockwise, but again, it's suggested you don't go back and forth with the knob.

[Backglass]

There seem to be about 8 settings on top of the filter (filter, closed, recirculate, backwash, ets)

Here is what they all are for:

• "Filter" is for normal operation, including vacuuming as the water is returned to the pool (clean).
  
• "Backwash" - is how you clean your filter. It runs the water backwards through the sand and sends all the trapped junk out the waste port. You should NOT be vacuuming while your system is set to backwash as you will be putting dirt through your filter backwards, potentially clogging things up.
  
• "Recirculate" just bypasses the filter altogether. It would be as if you had no filter at all as the water is sent from the in port directly to the out port. It is rarely used.
  
• "Rinse" should be used for a few minutes after backwashing as it settles the sand and minimizes the amount of sand in the pool. It is the same as Filter except it send the water to the waste port instead of back to the pool.
  
• "Waste" just takes whatever is coming from the pump and dumps it out the waste port, bypassing the filter. This is good for spring cleanup when you are sucking up a LOT of crap from the bottom of the pool and don't want to needlessly backwash. It's also the way to lower the level of your pool after a big rain or for other maintenence purposes as there is no need to filter water thats going down the drain anyway.
  
• "Closed" is also rarely used as it blocks the input to the filter completely. You might use this is you have to work on a hose or pipe downstream of the filter.