Filter Not Cleaning Properly

I have a Sand filter on a 15' round pool. I believe it's a Jacuzzi bros SS185 and has a 1 1/2 hp pump. When I bought it a few years back I believed it was way more than I needed.

My chemicals stay balanced and the water is clean but I feel like I am always vacuuming. My skimmer is close to my return and I have the return point to circulate the water around the pool. The center of my pool is where I have dirt accumulating.

I immediately assumed it was because of the way I had the return pointed and since it was circulating the water it was leaving the middle to not circulate well but that is not the case. I have tried even pointing the return to the middle of the pool and all that does is take the debris and dirt from the middle and have it spread all around the outer portion of the pool.

This is my first pool so I may not have good context but it doesn't seem like my pool should need to be vacuumed daily. I did try changing the sand a couple of years back but that did not help at all. I use a pool rover so that does clean up the debris. What could be wrong?

Hi.

The biggest point to make about 1 1/2 HP pumps is that they need two returns to operate effectively. Adding a second return would solve some of your problems and allow your filter to operate much better.

The other consideration might be changing the pump. In many cases a 1 1/2 HP pump pushes the water through the filter too fast. It takes a large tank, full of lots of sand, to handle that kind of pressure. A two speed pump is ideal where the 3/4 HP setting is perfect for normal filtering and the 1 1/2 HP is good for vacuuming and backwashing.

If your only problem is a little dirt in the pool then allowing the cleaner to operate a few hours a day should take care of that. In most areas that would be perfectly normal. I don't like the setups where the cleaner runs every time the filter does, and yes, a lot of folks do that, but a few hours a day in pretty normal.

Filter not Cleaning Algae

by S Taylor

New Doughboy 24 ft round pool, we vacuum up the dead algae and it comes right back into the pool. We run the filter 24/7 and have continued to shock the pool. Chemicals are perfect according to the computers at the pool store.

Hi.

Algae will blow right through most filters so it is best to vacuum it right out of the pool. If you have a filter with a waist, or vacuum to waist, position I would use that. You will loose some water but you will also get rid of the algae.

If you do not have a waist position on the filter you could disconnect the hose from the pump to the filter. A longer hose could be attached to the top of the pump and you could vacuum the algae out that way.