Pool Troubleshooting

How to Get Sand Out of Your Pool?

How to Remove Fine Dust, Sand or Sediment From a Swimming Pool.

By Allen Hayward

Does your swimming pool use a sand filter? Does the bottom of the pool have sand there? If you answered “yes” to both questions, then your sand filter is the cause of the sand accumulation at the bottom.

But if there is no sand filter used, and there is no sand anywhere close to the pool, then it might be something else at the bottom besides sand. Likely, it is yellow algae at the bottom. To find out the truth, brush up the yellow substance and see if cloudiness forms. If there are clouds in the pool after you do this, then it means it’s yellow algae.

Why is There Sand in the Pool?

Pools with sand filters will likely see sand in the pool at some point. There is a standpipe in the sand filter which runs through the middle of the sand, and laterals at the bottom of it. If you see any cracks in the laterals or the standpipe, then it is likely the cause of the sand in the pool. Since the standpipe is more durable and thicker, cracks are more often found in the laterals. One lateral cracking is enough for sand to leak out and get all over the bottom of the pool.

How it happened might be a mystery. If the filter inadvertently gets moved, the standpipe could shift. With all the heavy weight placed on the laterals from the sand, it might cause cracks to form. Sometimes old filters just go bad and crack up too. Regardless of the cause, you must remedy the situation immediately.

How to Repair Cracked Sand Filter Laterals or Standpipe

Get ready to disassemble your sand filter and take out all the sand in there. You must do this because you need to replace the piece inside that is broken. Once you do that, you’ll need to put new sand in there again. This is a very time-consuming job which most people probably won’t want to do. It is easy to do without professional assistance, though.

There is a video available which provides a visual tutorial of the entire process of removing sand from your filter and adding sand to your filter. The process should not take longer than 2 hours to complete.

The only thing the video doesn’t show is how to replace the pieces within the filter that are broken. You do this after you remove the sand, but before you add new sand.

How to Remove Sand from Your Pool

After you’ve fixed your sand filter and it’s running again just fine, the next step is to remove the sand which built up at the bottom of your pool from before. You can use a manual vacuum to remove the sand.

Don’t use the “filter” setting on the multiport valve. Use the “waste” setting instead because it’ll pull pool water and send it away through the backwash port. The water is not supposed to go to the filter. The sand should get vacuumed right out from the pool instead of through the filter because you don’t want the laterals to get sand stuck in them.

This process must be done fast because the water will drain quickly. That is why it’s a good idea to add more water to your pool prior to beginning this process. Then you can afford to lose extra amounts of water without losing too much. It is also a good idea to keep running your garden hose to the pool during this process. Remember, vacuum the sand up quickly.

But first, try to gather all the sand together in one location of the pool by using a pool brush. This will make vacuuming the sand so much easier.


This whole process is so easy. It is even easier than how it seems from the description. Give it a shot and see what happens.