Ideas on how to catch water spilling from this?

[essayer]

I need to give my pool’s sand filter a thorough clean, it’s like this:



The plan is to take the cap off, stick a hose in and overflow it so any solid material flows out the top

But: It’s inside a shed and I can’t have water splashing on the floor. It’s also too heavy to lift.

I’m trying to think of a way to catch a hosepipe’s worth of water constantly spilling out the top to divert it into a pipe or similar drainage so I can run it out the shed door

Suggestions welcomed ! Any clever ideas from the plumbing or nautical worlds?

[Fatboy]

Duct tape plastic sheeting round the neck, shaped to flow down into a spout/tub?

[sherman]

A length of hose pipe or blue poly pipe long enough for your needs
Cap one end and fill the pipe completely with water
Uncap the end and very quickly place the pipe in the water.
At the same time make sure the other end is lower and it will syphon the water as long as the pipe stays full.
Put the lower end in your drainage

[miniman]

[57Ford]

What about using a fish tank vac? They don’t have a great deal of suction so the sand would fall down like the gravel in a fish tank rather than being dragged out but any particles of muck would be pulled up and siphoned away. You can dig it in nice and deep to agitate the sand.
https://amzn.eu/d/g85vY0f

[Tymb]

If it’s a bit lumpy you could put something in the top and stir the media up.
Just be careful not to go too deep and damage the water outlets.
Then it is probably easiest just to put the valve in cleaning mode with the pump on.
That should reverse the flow, lift sand so the dirt can float out the waste.
Depending on the route of the waste from the valve you might be able to open it and the water drain from above the media, you could then use a hose just to loosen the media.
When done I’d check the media level, think there is normally a level line on these small units,
normally loose a bit of media down the waste over time and it might need a top up.
If you need to remove the media I’d try a wet and dry vac, digging it out is a pain.

[surveyor]

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb774vac-1300w-1...
or
https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb775vac-1400w-2...

[shtu]

Beaten to it, but my first thought was "some" water flow, and a wet vac to clean it out. You could probably do that entirely from the top with a hose and vac.

[essayer]

Thanks all.. not sure whether to remove the sand (and clean/put it back) or just fill it up with water in situ so that it flows out the top and I can skim off the worst of the crud

Never done this before so no idea if it’s pointless or I should just replace the sand with new while I’m faffing about

[shtu]

essayer said:

Never done this before

Maybe have a look at "backflushing" as a starter, then. Seems you can clean these things by reversing the water flow, though changing the sand every few years is also a thing.


edit - this seems to explain it, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIukd5sbNFw

Edited by shtu on Friday 11th April 14:30

[pidsy]

The filter and pump should have a backwash facility. Agitates the sand and removes all the rubbish out of a top drain?

Depends how old the sand is though - might just be worth replacing it all if it’s a few years old.

[Tymb]

If it’s a bit lumpy you could put something in the top and stir the media up.
Just be careful not to go too deep and damage the water outlets.
Then it is probably easiest just to put the valve in cleaning mode with the pump on.
That should reverse the flow, lift sand so the dirt can float out the waste.
Depending on the route of the waste from the valve you might be able to open it and the water drain from above the media, you could then use a hose just to loosen the media.
When done I’d check the media level, think there is normally a level line on these small units,
normally loose a bit of media down the waste over time and it might need a top up.
If you need to remove the media I’d try a wet and dry vac, digging it out is a pain.

[essayer]

So the fish tank vac worked best in the end - I could suck up all the debris and most of the sand stayed inside. Stuck the other end into a long length of 1.5” flexible hose out the door into the drain.

Gave it a few stirs and will have another go tomorrow. Looks a lot cleaner now!

Thanks all