Stuff that happened to you that doesnt deserve a thread

Take that portal cover off, take the seal to the pool shop, get a replacement, clean area, lube up, bolt back! Much cheaper
Its not the seal, will post a pic once the rain stops. It is the third or fourth filter where the freaking plastic body gives in. Think I must build a stainless steel one. Gatvol of this cheap expensive stuff not lasting.

Regards
 
Its not the seal, will post a pic once the rain stops. It is the third or fourth filter where the freaking plastic body gives in. Think I must build a stainless steel one. Gatvol of this cheap expensive stuff not lasting.

Regards

The reason the filter itself cracks or splits is cos the filter media is dirty and needs to be replaced. It builds up too much pressure trying to pushbthe water through the media which results in the filter giving in.
Im assuming you dont backwash once a week as one should with sand, and u should backwash for about 4-5min.

Thats a speck filter, it has a 4-5yr warranty on it. Get it replaced under warranty
 
Sand should be replaced every 2-3yrs, glass 5-6yrs, OC-1 lasts about 9yrs, Clinobrite 5yrs or so... but its life span is all relevant to how often and how long you backwash etc
 
Its not the seal, will post a pic once the rain stops. It is the third or fourth filter where the freaking plastic body gives in. Think I must build a stainless steel one. Gatvol of this cheap expensive stuff not lasting.

Regards
Yip, then you are in kak. Sorry about that, it's frustrating when these things happen out of the blue
 
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Does one really have to buy a new one of these every four f****g years?!

Nope ... you are supposed to replace the sand every 3 to 5 years, however I just open mine up and wash the sand / break up any clumps , backwash and return to service once a year ... I have had to replace the valve top once and the filter top O-ring twice in 20+ years ...
O ya ... put some Copaslip on them top cover screws before tightening them up, as they're stainless and the inserts they go into are brass, else you may well have to replace the entire sand filter down the line should one or more of them "weld" themselves together.
 
Nope ... you are supposed to replace the sand every 3 to 5 years, however I just open mine up and wash the sand / break up any clumps , backwash and return to service once a year ... I have had to replace the valve top once and the filter top O-ring twice in 20+ years ...
O ya ... put some Copaslip on them top cover screws before tightening them up, as they're stainless and the inserts they go into are brass, else you may well have to replace the entire sand filter down the line should one or more of them "weld" themselves together.
3-5yrs if u backwash like you should, which 98% of people don't do, and most people dont do an open manual backwash as you do, so then it becomes every 2-3yrs
 
3-5yrs if u backwash like you should, which 98% of people don't do, and most people dont do an open manual backwash as you do, so then it becomes every 2-3yrs
To prolong the life of the sand you should in essence remove it all once a year, and give it a good wash. Also depends on which sand you use, the silica sand which is a course grit, or the consol sand which like fine beach sand
 
To prolong the life of the sand you should in essence remove it all once a year, and give it a good wash. Also depends on which sand you use, the silica sand which is a course grit, or the consol sand which like fine beach sand

Interesting ... I have extremely coarse sand in my Koi pond filter, and very fine sand in my pool filter, and whilst my pool filter is much larger version of the pond one, they both seem to need "declumping" / rinsing / backwashing roughly one a year.
 
Essentially you shouldnt ever have to replace the sand in the filter, only top it up over time as the sand erodes... this is of course in an ideal world, where everything works as it should and things are done as they should be and in a world where shit doesnt happen!!

..... nobody does things the way it ideally should be done, hence the approx lifespans of the different medias.

Just outta interested, a fun fact that no one listens to, lol, it is recommended that if your pool has gone green and been treated 3 times with sand in the filter, that the sand should be changed. (That is an internationally recognised reccomendation! One that no-one adheres to)
 
Interesting ... I have extremely coarse sand in my Koi pond filter, and very fine sand in my pool filter, and whilst my pool filter is much larger version of the pond one, they both seem to need "declumping" / rinsing / backwashing roughly one a year.
Thats why its clumping, is because sand should be backwashed once a week....

Not backwashing causes strain on the filtration as the dirt impacts at the bottom of the filter where the collectors are and decrease their effeciency of effectively filtering the water
 
Thats why its clumping, is because sand should be backwashed once a week....

Not backwashing causes strain on the filtration as the dirt impacts at the bottom of the filter where the collectors are and decrease their effeciency of effectively filtering the water
I backwash the filter twice a week, (well the gardener does) ... the back wash I'm referring to above is with the filter lid open ;)
 
I backwash the filter twice a week, (well the gardener does) ... the back wash I'm referring to above is with the filter lid open ;)
The manual open backwash... as i said earlier once a year its good to do.
However if your sand is clumping that badly, then you need to look at the sand itself, ie what grade sand is being used, and also look at what goes into the pool that filter is trapping. There are a multitude of things that cause clumping....
 
I guess you could well call them very small stones ... I would say they're probably about 3-5mm "pebbles"?
Yup! Thats right, its "koi gravel".
And if you look at the collectors in your koi filter you'll see that they differ from those in your pool filter as they have bigger openings in them
 
Yup! Thats right, its "koi gravel".
And if you look at the collectors in your koi filter you'll see that they differ from those in your pool filter as they have bigger openings in them
I on the other hand have cheated with my koi pond and am using a standard pool filter, slightly modified to work with OC1 media...
Any pool technician or koi "expert" will tell you its wrong and it wont work.. it does work, and works well too if you know what you doing
 
I on the other hand have cheated with my koi pond and am using a standard pool filter, slightly modified to work with OC1 media...
Any pool technician or koi "expert" will tell you its wrong and it wont work.. it does work, and works well too if you know what you doing

Pity you're in CT ... I'd invite you over for braai / checkout my pomp, I mean filters :giggle:
 
Hahaha!!! You should never ask me to check out your pomp... cos check her out I will!!
Oh crap... we talking about filters still hey :rofl:
 
Interesting ... I have extremely coarse sand in my Koi pond filter, and very fine sand in my pool filter, and whilst my pool filter is much larger version of the pond one, they both seem to need "declumping" / rinsing / backwashing roughly one a year.

If you can find cheap pumice pebbles use that in your pond filter.

I used to work as an aquascaping consultant in a petshop a few years back and I always found it immoral to charge thousands of rands for something the guys next to road sell for a few rands. It's the same as Seachem Matrix. Will need a bit more cleaning but you will definitely appreciate the results.
 
South Africa is not for sissies ... Our power went down at midday yesterday, (like what's new), only to find out this morning that it's apparently cable theft and sub station vandalism, that will take another four days to repair o_O
 

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On the story of pools, how do you get air out of the system. I have solar panels that drain when the pump goes off. That must let air in ? Sometimes when it goes off I get air coming out of the inlet.
 
On the story of pools, how do you get air out of the system. I have solar panels that drain when the pump goes off. That must let air in ? Sometimes when it goes off I get air coming out of the inlet.
Non-return valve? I haven't been able to get going on the pool, as we had rain all weekend, hopefully will get it sorted this weekend, the weather is looking up, and there are beers that need to be consumed while floating on a inflated tractor tube.....
 
On the story of pools, how do you get air out of the system. I have solar panels that drain when the pump goes off. That must let air in ? Sometimes when it goes off I get air coming out of the inlet.

That's easy ... put an anti-drain valve, (one way valve), on the feed pipe going to your roof from the pump.
 
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