Renewing or replacing sand in filter....

[barneysfriends]

our pool is 18months old and we think the sand in the filter needs replacing or renewing, or topping up, or whatever you have to do. My question is, how often should it need doing? And with a relatively new pool should it need doing so soon? Of course we could ask the folks who built it, and will, but need a bit of knowledge in hand before going in the shop in case we just get the gallic shrug!

[Poolguy]

Filter media should be changed every 3 -5 years depending on the frequency of use and the water quality you are interested in. The sand in your filter is the WORST form of filtration available and is worthless as a product.

Even though you have some 'life' left in it I recommend that you should throw it away and replace with zeolite, as the zeolite mineral is the BEST filtration medium possible and very easy to obtain and change. It will transform your water quality and make your pool that much easier to manage. You local pool shop will probably know nothing about it as they used sand in the first place and so that will probably advise you to use sand again. In reality this is the case for nearly every pool shop in France as they know nothing nor do they care on fig about the quality of water in your pool. All they want to do is to sell you more and more products to throw in there to keep it clear- even if that means that its not clean.  You see that CLEAR is not necessarily CLEAN - there is a lot in water that you cannot actually see and its these microscopic organisms that do the most harm so pay some attention to this.

Creptosporidium, and Giardia are two common parasites found in pool water, 4.5 micorn and 5.5 micron respectively; in a sand filter (best 30micron worst 40 micron) they just keep going round and round doing their worst.

Cryptosporidiosis: Cryptosporidium Infection is commonly spread through recreational water activities. Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium. Both the disease and the parasite are commonly known as "Crypto."

Many species of Cryptosporidium exist that infect humans and a wide range of animals. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive outside the body for long periods of time and makes it very resistant to chlorine disinfection.

While this parasite can be transmitted in several different ways, water is a common method of transmission and Cryptosporidium is one of the most frequent causes of waterborne disease (drinking water and recreational water) (Extract  US center for Desease control)

Giardiasis (GEE-are-DYE-uh-sis) is a diarrheal illness caused by a one-celled, microscopic parasite, Giardia intestinalis (also known as Giardia lamblia). Once an animal or person has been infected with Giardia intestinalis, the parasite lives in the intestine and is passed in the stool. Because the parasite is protected by an outer shell, it can survive outside the body and in the environment for long periods of time.

During the past 2 decades, Giardiainfection has become recognized as one of the most common causes of waterborne disease (found in both drinking and recreational water) in humans in the United States - Giardia are found worldwide (Extract  US center for Desease control)

In a Zeolite filter (1 micron filtration) these nasties get taken out in the first cycle, there really should be only one decision to make and that is why hasn't every filter in France changed over to ZELEAU. Certainly the answer is a mystery to me because there the reasons are so obvious that it doesn’t take any time at all to think about it.

Anyway, I hope that I've answered you question a little, or a lot .

Andrew

[Théière]

[quote user="Poolguy"]

there really should be only one decision to make and that is why hasn't every filter in France changed over to ZELEAU. Certainly the answer is a mystery to me because there the reasons are so obvious that it doesn’t take any time at all to think about it.

Andrew

[/quote]

 

Hi Andrew, I know one answer to your mystery, I PM'd you the other day about replacing with zeolite, as I will be replacing the sand for next year and you have not responded.

[Poolguy]

Teapot

Sorry to have been lax but After the vacaton break, I am still waist deep in contacts, enquiries and support for existing customers (who usually come first), eventually I'll get through them all but may take a while, mean while I have replied to your question over on the other forum. vis; send me your contact details....etcetterra

 

Andrew