How to Change Sand in your Above Ground Pool Filter!

[Music] hey guys smart from hallmark pool supplies I'm here today to talk to you guys about changing sand and your above-ground filter there are many different filters on the market I will be making other videos on changing sand on other filters but for this demonstration we're going to be talking about the SD 40 which is made by Pentair it's a sand dollar system this particular tank has a hundred and fifty pounds of sand and before we get started we're going to go out to the pools and we're going to plug the return and the skimmer so we can show you how we change sand okay before we get started what we want to do is we want to be able to plug the skimmer in the return so that we can work on the system without getting wet so we want to turn off the pump you want to get a plug like this got an overhang on it doesn't have to go in but hand-tight we can remove the basket out of our skimmer we can put the plug down in the skimmer and just tighten our hand tight and this way it's gonna prevent the water from coming out we also want to use the same plug and we want to take the return fitting out this is where the water shoots back into the pool what we're gonna do is we're gonna unscrew that and we're gonna take this plug and screw it in so that this way the return is plugged so now we've got the return plug and we've got the skimmer plug so we can change sin we don't have to worry about getting wet now let's just suppose that you don't have one of these well we can cheat we have a little shortcut all we're gonna do is we're going to take the hose off the pump once I get this loose I'll be able to pull this off keep in mind when we take this off water is going to come out all we're going to do is hold the wall the water will prevent the water from coming out we will loosen this line and put the skimmer line over the return and we want to go ahead and just tighten this up snug it up a little bit and what we've done is we've created a loop from the skimmer to the return now the pool is separated from the system and we can work without getting wet so this is how one way we would do it if we do not have a plug handy now that we've got the pool plugged we can work on the system without getting wet so the first thing we want to do is we want to take this band off you just get yourself a Philips screwdriver so we can remove the band okay now that I've got the band off I want to go ahead and loosen my hose here take this off I want to be careful there is an o-ring here we want to make sure that when we pop this off it doesn't fall and we lose it to the side now there bill to come in here and wiggle off my top and it is very very important when we're changing sand and especially when we're putting sand back in the tank that we're not putting sand in here okay so we want to put a cup or something over this and that way will it'll prevent that from happening so now at this point what we're gonna do on this particular filter system is we're going to remove the drain cap and all we have to do is come down here unscrew the drain cap and once we've done so we now can turn this over and as a hex nut here as you can see that is actually gonna be a tool used to take the inside stem out so that the sand will come out so what we're gonna do is we're gonna rotate this because first of all by removing the cap it only allows water to come out by removing this inside piece now water and sand will come out so all we have to do and to make this easy as we get a garden hose and we stick the garden hose in here and we just go around and as this is filling with water and we're flushing it out it is going to allow that sand to come completely out and rinse the tank out we want to make sure that we do rinse it out completely and we get all the sand and everything out before we put the new sand in so now that we've got this rinsed out we want to make sure that the laterals and everything in here are good and clean want to make sure that nothing's broke before we put the new sand in we have to just examine that to make sure everything is good once this is good then we're going to be able to come back and we're going to be able to take our Center stem that removed the sand from the tank we're going to put it back in using the cap as our tool once we got this in good and tight and she's in and we turned this over make sure that your gasket on the cap is still here or your your tank could leak we make sure we put this back on and it gets good and hand tight okay so before we put the sand in what we want to do is we want to fill this up with water at least about this deep and the reason for doing so is before we put the sand in we want to fill the water up here we want to get a rag wipe this and dry it and just observe this and make sure that this isn't leaking because if you filled this up with sand and put water in it and this is leaking it we've got to take all this apart again you may be changing sand twice so this way we can make sure that hey it's dry nothing's leaking now we're going to be good to go and we can go ahead and put sand in the tank a second reason for filling this right here is so that as we pour sand in the top the sand isn't coming down especially if the sand is a little wet it's not going to fall and hit these laterals and crack and break something the water is going to actually act as a barrier and then we can go ahead and start putting the sand in once again very important we do not want to put sand in the pipe keep your cup on here this pipe will stay center of this hole we pour the sand in the sand itself is only going to be at about this level we do not fill the tank up all the way to the top you put the required amount and how do we know if you go to the side of your label plate it will always tell you how big your tank is and how much sand and this particular tank it's 150 pounds so it's three bags of sand once the sand is in then at this point what we want to do is we want to then remove the cup and we want to make sure that this is good and clean we don't have you sand around it and this is good and clean because when we put the top back on we want to make sure everything's nice and tight so it's sealed another step that I like to do is I like to get Jack's lube which is right here and Jack's lube is going to allow me to lube this as well as moving the inside of the multi-part why do we want to lube that so that next time you go to take this off it will slide out if not sometimes it creates some friction especially if you don't clean it and there's sand around this and you stick this in here it makes it very difficult to get that pipe out so by looping it it just allows the the multi-port to slide off the assembly here much easier so now that we've got this off we've got this lube we've made sure this is clean there's no sand around it we also want to do the same thing with the multi part here and make sure that this is cleaned you can Lube it like I said it'll make it slide on and off easier we want to make sure that this is lubed and want to make sure that there's no trash or sand or debris because you want a nice clean tight seal so what we do we'll get ready to put this on as we slide it back into position you know as you'll note it's get a crack here we're going to push it down and once it goes down you know it's nice and even all the way around we're gonna be ready to put our band on before we do so we want to also make sure that you're aware when we hook this plumbing back up that we hook it up properly this particular outlet here says pump this one here says waste and this one here says return it is very important that we hook up the hoses in the right position or we're gonna have a problem so now that I've got this hooked up I'll be able to come over here making sure that my ring is still here slide this up and we're gonna be able to tighten this back up okay now we're gonna put the band on and I like to position this in a way so that I can get to my bolt when I do put it on and we're gonna take our bolt put it in making sure the nut is still here so we don't lose that we can go ahead and snug this up and then I'm gonna come over here on this side and we're gonna do the same thing and we're gonna keep this space even on both sides and then we're gonna get this side snugged up and once we get it snug and I can tighten it down a little more then I come over here and I'll do the same on this side and then what we want to do is we want to tap around around again the reason we're doing this and we're tightening these evenly is so that it draws in evenly if we tighten one side and you then go try to tighten the other side you're gonna end up pinching it and you're gonna probably have a leak so at this point now we've got it where it's gonna be tight and of course if we turn the system on and everything's good we're done if we turn the system on and you do have a little bit of a leak no worry just turn it off tighten the band a little bit more and make sure that you tap evenly all the way around and keep tightening it until the leak stops and then you're good if you over tighten it that's not good and then you may have to take this back off and reseat this multi-part because you may not have it in there good and it is also very important like I said to make sure you don't have any sand or trash in and around this because that will also cause it to leak and there's a rule of thumb once we get the sand change what you want to do is you want to backwash and rinse the system why the new sand has film in it and we want to just clean it out so basically all you're gonna do is backwash the system for about a minute then rinse it for about 30 seconds get it back in filter and now you're ready to turn it on and start filtering your pool and in general it is best that you change sand at least every other year some people change sand once a year some people change sand every 3-4 years it really depends on your house keeping the type of chemicals that you're using every pool is different but what I like to do is I like to tell my customers to change sand at least every other year and then you'll have good filtering with your pools alright guys that wraps it up for this video do you have any questions feel free to comment down below don't forget to hit the subscribe button visit us at homework pool supplies com for all your pool needs my name is Mark as usual I appreciate you watching I'll see you on the next video [Music] [Music]

Channel: Hallmark Pool Supplies

Views: 53,462

Rating: 4.9191375 out of 5

Keywords: sand change, swimming pool, above ground pool, sand filter, diy, sand, pool sand, pentair, sand dollar, sd-40, sd-60, hallmark pool supplies, how to

Id: K0Gxxl_PQHw

Length: 10min 21sec (621 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 09 2020