How to use your Swimming Pool Sand Filter | In-Depth Operational Guide

[Music] hey guys it's mark from hallmark pool supplies I'm here today to talk to you about general filter operation there are a lot of different filters on the market such as sand de cartridge but today we're going to talk about sand systems and how they operate and I want to show you a few things in front of me here I have a hayward top-mount filter and we're gonna dive right into it and show you how to operate and go over the procedures on basic filtration okay when we talk about basic filter operation up here we have the multi port and this is like I said before a top mount filter we have basically filter we're gonna have backwash and we're gonna have rinse these are your three main positions but we're gonna cover all of them and explain exactly what each one does and how to operate so as we run in filter basically what we have if we step down and look you've got a skimmer line a drain line the water's coming in from the pool going through the pump going up through your plumbing and what it's doing is actually in filter mode it's spraying the water out of the multi port it sifts through the sand the water goes then through the laterals and then the clean water goes back up the pipe and then returns back to the pool and that's how the water is running when it's in filter so up here on top of the multiple we have a pressure gage the gage is there to indicate what pressure we have so we know when to backwash and rinse the pool all gauges are gonna read a little bit off I can put several gauges on this system and they're all gonna fluctuate it's not a hundred percent accurate but it does give us an indication when we need to backwash pressures in pools will vary depending on the size filter you have for the size pump how many returns you have in the pool all of this plays a part in regards to how much pressure your pool will have and so what we want to do is we want a backwash rinse the system and put it in filter and whatever the pressure is at that point as long as the gauge is working properly that is our starting pressure and in this case for this demonstration we're going to say this time is running about 15 to 16 pounds of pressure so most manufacturers will tell you when the pressure exceeds 6 to 8 pounds over normal operating pressure is when we need to backwash so we're just gonna say that at this point the pressure is up we know we need to backwash it the first thing we want to do is we want to turn the pump off you never rotate this handle or move this handle with the system running so we turn the pump off and we rotate to what's called backwash we always want to rotate in a clockwise motion for an example let's say I was going to backwash and I accidentally passed it you don't want to go back you want to actually go all the way around again and then go back to backwash rotate this in one direction one direction only it is for better we're inside the multiple once we have it on backwash we will then turn the pump on and we will let the system run for at least one minute now when it's in the backwash mode let's step down I'm going to show you what happens when it's in the backwash mode the water is coming through as before going through and instead of spraying out like it does in filter mode the water now runs through the pipe and goes in reverse and comes up this way and we're sifting the water and the dirt and the debris through the sand and automatically it then goes up and goes out your backwash line and so the filter is running in the opposite direction because we're flushing the sand out so we're in backwash one minutes past we turn the system off and now we're going to rotate clockwise to rinse and once we're in the rinse position then we're able to turn the pump back on and at this point we want to rinse it for about 30 seconds and in the rinse position this is the way the water is traveling through the system water here again comes through from the pool up the pipe it then goes through just as it does and filter and sprays out sifts through the sand goes back up comes up but instead of going back to the pool it's going out of the backwash the rinses basically rinsing out the murky water that the backwash has broke up while you were back washing so after 30 seconds we turned the pump off we rotate the handle clockwise back to filter we were able now to turn it on pressure is down we're good to go now let's just say hypothetically that we did the backwash in the rinse and the pressure came down but it's still high what does that tell us that tells us that we need to backwash and rinse it again or a little bit longer when I back wash and rinse a system out of habit I always go back and back wash and rinse again I always repeat it back to back just to make sure that the tank has got a thorough clean it doesn't hurt anything it just assures us that the filter is clean and we're ready to go now when we back wash or rinse we have what's called a sight glass as you can see here and as we're back washing or rinsing you will see the dirty water as it's going through the sight glass leaving the pool and this is a sight indicator just letting us know how dirty the system really is like I said you back wash for a minute you rinse for 30 seconds or in some cases you back wash and rinse until the sight glass becomes clear here again this is a visual reference and once we're done if it's not clean enough or the pressure still high we can just back wash and rinse it again until we get it right where we want it now what you don't want to do is you don't want to backwash the system every day or several times a week that's too much and we don't want to back wash the system once a month that's not enough especially during the swimming season the average back washing on them on an average pool would be about every 7 to 10 days so you have to basically check it and this way if you see that it needs to be back washed go ahead and backwash if it doesn't you can let it run a little bit longer and back wash it a few days later another thing you don't want to do is you don't want to backwash within 24 hours after adding chemicals if you have to go home and add chemicals to your pool make sure the system is clean you've got good pressure and it's running good before adding chemicals if adding chemicals 24 hours or several days later you need to backwash that spine just don't backwash within 24 hours after adding the chemicals because you're not going to do the pool any justice you want to make sure that that system is running clean and then add your chemicals and if you need to backwash at a later time that's fine just don't do it within the same 24 hours now let's just say that you have a pressure gauge that's broke it's not reading properly doesn't work or let's say you don't even have a pressure gauge how would one know that we need to backwash this we definitely don't want to come out just backwash it and guess what we can do is we can go to the pool as a visual reference and if you look at the returns in your pool and you see that your return is running weak that's an indication that it's time to backwash once you've back washed and rinsed the system and you go to your pool and you see the returns running strong then you know you've got a good clean system you've got good pressure and everything's flowing the way it's supposed to be at this point we have talked about filter back wash and rinse like I said does your three main positions the next position over from filter is what's called waste what is waste and what does it do when we put the system on waste and turn the pump on the water is coming from the pool through the pump going through the multi part and directly out your backwash we are bypassing the filter water is now no longer going through the filter and one of the main reasons we would use waste is if there was a rainstorm or someone left the garden hose in the pool and overfilled the pool and we needed to lower the water level is a quick way of us lowering the water level when you put it on waste you do not want to go back in the house you want to stay out here with the system because the water is traveling much faster because it's not going through the tank and the water level will go down once we get to the correct water level we'll be able to turn off the system and put it back in filter and you're good to go there is another reason we would also use waste for an example of a pool was extremely dirty and we were vacuuming and it was just putting all that debris in the filter and you don't want a backwash and rinse a hundred times trying to clean a dirty pool we can put it on waste and it will automatically take that dirt dirty water and debris right out the back wash it doesn't affect the filter this way we're able to suck all the debris out and clean the pool much quicker however when one vacuums in waste you may have to stop add some water to the pool and then continue vacuuming because like I said the water does go out very quickly that's another reason you would be using waste if you didn't want to put all the debris and dirt into a filter most of the time when you vacuum you will vacuum in the filter position but this is only pertaining to people that have pools that are extremely dirty then you would use the waste feature we have another position here it's called winter and if I put it in winter that is in a non groove position as you see if I do this if I do this or if I do this it's basically the same thing what we're doing is we're lifting diverter up so that this way if we're going to drain the equipment for the winter time if you're covering the pool you would put it on winter and when it's on the winter position or a non group position you would not be running the pump and that's how you shut your pool down as far as winterization vacuuming changing sand there will be other videos pertaining to those issues this is just basic filter operation and so at this point in time winter is for those that are winterizing their pool some people keep their pool open year-round and don't even use that position it just depends on if you're gonna open it and leave it open or if you're gonna close the pool and shut it down at this point in time there's a position called closed when we put it in closed we definitely do not want to run the pump what we're doing now is we're locking everything and closed in most cases is so that we can service and work on the unit and not have to worry about getting wet and that is just a way we can shut our lines down so that we can service the filter system here again it's not a position that's going to be used very often but that is what closed is we have another position here called recirculate and it's the last position when we put the system on recirculate what's happening is the water is coming from the pools going through the pump goes up through the multi-part and automatically turns around and goes back through the returned it is not going into the filter we're bypassing the filter recirculate is for people that live way up north if they want to drain their equipment but keep the pool running they can do so by leaving it and recirculate this allows them to circulate water in the pool but we're not filtering it because we've drained the equipment recirculate can also be used when adding chemicals sometimes certain chemicals they will tell you to add to the pool if it's running in filter sometimes they'll tell you to add chemicals to the pool and put it in recirculate and if they're asking you to do that this is the position you would use and once we're done then we'll be able to turn off the pump and then put it back in filter and then turn it back on basically we have covered the basic general operation of the multi-port like I said filter back wash and rinse are the main positions the other positions you now know what they are what they do even though they're that use that often this is just a general guideline of how to operate a sand system for your pool and hopefully you guys found this video to be helpful and if you have any questions that you would like to see us make a video on comment down below or email us we will be glad to help and remember to visit hallmark pool supplies for all your pool needs and as always my name is Mark I appreciate you watching I'll see you on the next video [Music]

Channel: Hallmark Pool Supplies

Views: 258,287

Rating: 4.9418125 out of 5

Keywords: swimming pool, above ground pools, in ground pools, sand filter, filtration, how to, tutorial, multiport, multiport valvue, filter operation, pool filter, swimming pool filter, pool sand filter, hallmark pool supplies, Hayward, Pentair

Id: HfY71R1U4_Q

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 29 2020