Converting Pool Filter From Sand To Glass

[Speedster]

It will take a few thousand years before the sand's edges become "smooth". Silica is one of the hardest substances in nature.

What really happens is that the small cracks and crevices become filled with dirt and that makes it smooth.

So you use specific chemicals that also clean the sand in your filter and make it rough again.

There's quite a few articles re. this on the internet.

I'm certainly no pool filter expert. We moved into a home with a pool a year ago and I spent a bit of time reading up about pool maintenance and pretty much everything I read referred to the sand become smoothed over time. Perhaps you can link to an article that explains why this isn't so?

 

[TheMightyQuin]

I'm certainly no pool filter expert. We moved into a home with a pool a year ago and I spent a bit of time reading up about pool maintenance and pretty much everything I read referred to the sand become smoothed over time. Perhaps you can link to an article that explains why this isn't so?

It DOES become smoothed...but NOT because the sand rubs smooth against each other.

The sand becomes dirty and needs to be cleaned again...and you do that by circulating a specific cleaning agent through the sand. It is actually a fat build up that smooths and rounds the sand particle.

I read the article years ago when I still had a pool.

Edit: Found it.

Why Your Pool Filter Sand May Not Need Changing

Secrets of never having to change your pool filter sand to save money

www.pooldiagnostics.co.za

 

[Napalm2880]

What I've found after looking into a filter that wasn't maintained for 30 years is that if you live at the coast, a lot of beach sand can form a cake at the bottom of the filter and no matter how much backwashing you do it won't come out. Then it makes sense to empty the filter completely and put in new filter sand.

 

[capd]

What I've found after looking into a filter that wasn't maintained for 30 years is that if you live at the coast, a lot of beach sand can form a cake at the bottom of the filter and no matter how much backwashing you do it won't come out. Then it makes sense to empty the filter completely and put in new filter sand.

That's interesting. We live at the coast and beach a lot. I'll stop cleaning our sandy feet in the pool!

 

[Speedster]

It DOES become smoothed...but NOT because the sand rubs smooth against each other.

The sand becomes dirty and needs to be cleaned again...and you do that by circulating a specific cleaning agent through the sand. It is actually a fat build up that smooths and rounds the sand particle.

I read the article years ago when I still had a pool.

Edit: Found it.

Why Your Pool Filter Sand May Not Need Changing

Secrets of never having to change your pool filter sand to save money

www.pooldiagnostics.co.za

These guys disagree. Who do we believe?

How to Change Pool Filter Sand

Save money, clarify pool water, and keep your family safe from dangerous water-borne illnesses by changing pool filter sand yourself, quickly and easily.

www.swimuniversity.com

Edit: the consensus from my quick googling seems to be that it does wear out. While silica is a reasonably hard substance, it is not nearly as hard as claimed by the pooldiagnostics guys. It is a 7 on the MOHS scale, which is less than my masonry drill bit. Sadly my drill bit does very definitely lose its edge with use so it stands to reason that the sand would too.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Wouldn't it have been much easier to just melt the sand so it becomes glass?

/I kid I kid.

 

[TheMightyQuin]

These guys disagree. Who do we believe?

How to Change Pool Filter Sand

Save money, clarify pool water, and keep your family safe from dangerous water-borne illnesses by changing pool filter sand yourself, quickly and easily.

www.swimuniversity.com

Edit: the consensus from my quick googling seems to be that it does wear out. While silica is a reasonably hard substance, it is not nearly as hard as claimed by the pooldiagnostics guys. It is a 7 on the MOHS scale, which is less than my masonry drill bit. Sadly my drill bit does very definitely lose its edge with use so it stands to reason that the sand would too.

No...just no.

 

[Speedster]

No...just no.

Why not? Because some random pool shop in Jhb disagrees? My threshold of proof is slightly higher than that.

 

[TheMightyQuin]

Why not? Because some random pool shop in Jhb disagrees? My threshold of proof is slightly higher than that.

I was referring to the part I highlighted.

Some sand particles bumping off one another while suspended in cold water....is NOT the same as your drillbit rotating against masonry at 3 000 rpm.

It is also steel/carbite against clay....

So not remotely comparable.

 

[Speedster]

I was referring to the part I highlighted.

Some sand particles bumping off one another while suspended in cold water....is NOT the same as your drillbit rotating against masonry at 3 000 rpm.

It is also steel/carbite against clay....

So not remotely comparable.

The point is that given enough friction the silica loses its edge. It might not be 3000rpm, but it is a good couple of hours each day for a number of years. And we're not talking about totally round, just the smoothing of edges a couple of microns big.

 

[Dooks111]

Just use the cheapest silica sand you can find, It lasts for years.

Don't use:
- Ecofibre
- Glass
- Clinobrite
- Cartridge filters
- or any other "new and improved" product on the market.

You WILL waste your money, be frustrated, and maybe even think about filling in/closing your pool altogether.

I've been down this path, lost thousands and hours of struggling.

Plain old sand filter, with cheap silica sand - it has been working for pools for many many years and still does.