Intex Pool Sand Filter Setup/Demonstration 

@William - That's an awesome suggestion! I hadn't considered how the Sun will damage the plastic valve. I'll be sure to cover mine tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!

@@LivingCommonSense you can use UV spray protector for those too

@ulazerg - I imagine that would look more professional even if a little more expensive. Thanks for the tip!

Glad the video was helpful. You got this!

@@LivingCommonSense How did you get the dead algae out?

@Hammstar - As far as the original water, that all ended up on the ground. I expected to scrub algae off the sides and bottom as I drained the pool but there was practically none visible as you see in the video. There was some algae under some places where the pool material overlaps at the seams around the circumference of the pool at the bottom. I put in some algaecide and scrubbed that a couple of times but it eventually stopped growing once the pool chlorine levels stabilized for a week or so. It was at that point, probably no more than a couple of weeks that the filter backwash stopped being green and turned mostly cloudy until it runs clear. Now it’s a weekly 1lb pool shock and 3” chlorine tablet and it’s stays clean except for the leaves that blow in and bugs that choose to die in the pool 🤷‍♂️. I can’t believe I messed with those filter cartridges as long as I did.

@Survival - Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you found the information useful. Good luck with you pool and filter. Thanks for watching!

@Alicia - I m glad you liked the video and hope you found it useful. Thanks for watching!

You know what sucks. I think my pump being a 1,5 HP is too much for my sand filter. Do you know what will happen?

I cannot say. This filter/pump comes as a bundle, sized to properly match. A mismatched filter and pump setup may create higher back pressure that could damage your pump and/or filter. I really do not know what will happen with your setup.

Glad you enjoyed it

I originally thought the pump/filter may be one size too large but I'm very happy with it. I'm not sure how large too big would be. This one keeps the water moving in a slow circular motion which takes the floating leaves and debris over to the surface skimmer. It has been a labor saver. As for costs, seems to be the chlorine has gotten a lot more expensive in the last couple of years. Thanks for watching!

@JRich - I think it would have taken a week or so to clean it up with chemicals and I really didn't have the time do it properly. Also, I didn't have a lot of confidence I could get it done with the limited selection of pool products available near by but I do wish you luck and hope it works out good for you. Thanks for watching!

@@LivingCommonSense yeah, from the online article I was reading they said about a week too. I ordered pool tester strips last night, will test and hopefully balance on Thursday, then shock and flocculant on Friday/Saturday, vacuum on Sunday, which would be 5 days since getting the pump on. Things I'm not sure on is do I leave the pump running 24 hours or 12 or less? Also, when I add chemicals to balance do I leave it on filter or the "recirculate" option. Things I'll have to figure out.

@JRich - I ran my filter 24 hours a day until I got it clear and then moved to 12 hours a day starting each morning. I only add water treatment with the pump running. Whatever is growing in the pump needs a shot of treatment too. I don’t add treatment directly on the pump intake though. It has worked well so far.

It’s still working for me. Thanks for the comment

Thanks for the sub. Glad you liked the video!

@John - I'm not familiar with that sand or the PR product. I'm using plain pool sand and I'm adding about 1lb of pool shock and one 3" chlorine tablet each week which seems to be working. I'm running the filter about 8 hours a day, down from 12 hours when I made the video. How often do you have to add chlorine using those two products? What does your pump back pressure look like using the zeolite? Thanks for watching!

@@LivingCommonSense I don't use liquid chlorine, just the 3" tabs. The PR10000 kills the phosphates and the phosphates are what algae feeds on. No phosphates, no algae. Ever since changing my filter media to zeolite sand and using the PR10000, not one single problem. My pool use to stay green until finding the PR10000 and switching the filter media. Helped me tremendously, just thought I'd share. The pressure stays in the middle of the green. When it rises to the yellow I backwash.

@John - Thanks for sharing this. I'll check into the zeolite first time I change the sand. Removing the phosphates makes sense. I'm always a fan of using less chemicals

I was able to drain it in this case because it was above ground. There are some in ground pools that cannot be drained. I guess it is lots of money on chemicals for them. Thanks for watching!

I didn't bond either the pump or the pool. I didn't know I needed to. The pump has the gfci breaker on the cord and I also have it plugged into a GFCI outlet. Other than that, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess it wouldn't be hard to bond the pool frame to a ground rod since its basically a metal ring around the pool but I'd certainly consult a licensed electrician before I did anything regarding grounding. Thanks for the info!

I really was just figuring it out as I went, mostly putting it together by how the pictures looked in the instructions. After that, it was basically looking at what direction the water should travel through the pump and filter and not get the hoses backwards. I would never want to steer you wrong and since this was the first time I'd seen this pump, my advice was to follow the directions provided with the pump.

@tyson. This is a 18’ x 4’ deep pool and the pump/filter works great with it. It should have come with this unit because, like you said, the cartridge filter that came with is too small and junk. Thanks for watching!

I suppose it depends on the pool. Mine was full of green water but as long as I kept the loose ends of the hoses above the water level, it didn’t cause any problems. I had a little water leaking about as I connected the hoses to the pump but it was no big deal. As long as your connections to the pool are already done and the hoses connect to the pump like mine did, I can’t imagine you’ll have a lot of trouble connecting the hoses. Thanks for watching!

Good luck! It works great once it all gets going and the water and system are all stabilized.

Probably but I still don't want them bedding up around or getting inside the pool.

@tom - I’ve also heard that. I’ve never asked. I assumed the best time for them would be during regular business hours while I’m at work. Also I’m a bit out in the county so I’m not sure the nearby city fire dept would commit to allocating a truck that long for non emergency use. It’d be worth a shot if I was on limited well water.

@@LivingCommonSense always worth a shot, nothing to lose. 73

You and me both! I've just about let it get out of hand again even with this filter running. This time I'll dump a bunch of algae kill and chlorine in to see if I can bring it back. Thanks for watching!

@Comment - Yeah I’m new to pools and thought it might work but nope. Had to go another route 😆

My pool was like that I shocked the hell out of it ran my sand filter cleared right up

@Leek - I thought about trying that. I'm new to pool maintenance so I went with what I knew would work. I will try it your way if there is ever a next time.

You’d think I would have learned but I’ll be cleaning up again in a few days for the upcoming Summer. Thanks for watching.

I ran the filter until back pressure required running the backwash procedure. I could see no difference in the water. It would have taken a good amount of chemicals (and money) to kill the algae and then wait for the filter to remove the dead algae. It was less expensive to drain and refill the pool and made the pool usable much more quickly. So yes, we don't know if the filter alone would have cleaned the pool and that is part of the problem. How long would that have taken and how many water refills and chemical treatments would it have taken due to all the backwashing required? We know it would not have stayed clean without it. I showed you everything I did to make and keep the pool clean. Thanks for the comment! Each one helps the channel.

@@LivingCommonSense yeah and putting electrical equipment on a mischief flotation device is a good idea

It would have taken a few days to filter the water. But very high chlorine levels is what kills the alge makes it set to the bottom of the pool. Then you use the sand filter to vacuum up the stuff on waste setting. Then you make your chlorine levels balanced

There is absolutely no problem with putting the pump in the pool with the set up he had. To his defense, the pump was built to be in the water. The pump comes equipped with a GFCI plug that would trip is it sees a difference of amperage between the hot and the neutral. So if the pump was to be submerged in the water nothing will happen, because the wires in the pump are insulated with ceramic. No problem here bud I would have done the same thing to speed up the draining process.

I didn't know how much shock or how long it would take to clear up the water or if it would at all. I know the filter alone did not take of it so I went with water exchange.

Yeah, with the GFCI protection working, it is unlikely anything would happen but electricity demands respect always. Safety devices are generally good for protecting people from their own ignorance and lapse of judgements but no one should have jump in feet first with reckless abandon, relying solely on safety devices as a substitute for common sense....hence the advice I provided not to get in the water with a live 120v line in the pool. It's too easy to forget or make a mistake and the GFCI device is on $20 and they can fail. You are correct though, the protection devices would work and protect almost every time. Thanks for watching

@@LivingCommonSense I get your point, most pools with pump skimmer combinations, where the pump is completely submerged in water at all times, only depending on the construction of the pump and relying solely on the GFCI. Either way for anyone to get electrocuted you will need a path to ground, In which the pool liner provides enough insulation to Protect you. Am not saying go ahead and do it, but there is layers upon layers in which you will be protected.

A lot of garbage went out with that water

@@LivingCommonSenseawesome

Some of the lesser important parts were sped up to save the viewer some time. Thanks

Those strips seem to come with a lot of color already showing right out of the box. After a same some of the colors don't look like the colors on the chart either. I may need a better kit too.

@Aquaizm - At some point you got to decide just how bad you want the win🤣