Depending on the filter it's usually pretty easy to change the sand. Basically all you have to do is remove the water lines to the filter, remove the filter head and scoop out the sand. Problem is, most filters usually leave you barely enough room to get your hand in to scoop. What I do is use a coffee mug to scoop out the sand until I get most of it out to be able to dump out the rest of it.
You'll probably want to wear a long-sleeve shirt and gloves because filter sand is sharp like glass chunks and will cut you up pretty good.
As far as the type of sand; just go to your local pool store and buy filter sand (usually about $6-7 for 50 lbs). Don't use regular sand because it's too fine and won't work.
With my pool and some of the others I take care of, I like to open up the filter every spring and dig around in the sand as far down as I possibly can to loosen up the trapped debris in the sand. I also remove any large chunks of crud which may have accumulated too. After I do that I put the filter back together and run the backwash for 5-7 minutes. The water coming out will be absolutely filthy.
Filter sand never goes bad, it does however break into smaller particles over time and get backwashed out. You may just be able to stir it up and add a fresh bag of sand on top. |
