pool question

[Brenjen]

Originally posted by FiLtH
Any home plumbing you do be aware of cross connections between potable and non potable water. Be sure to use some sort of backflow protection so the pool water can't contaminate your domestic water or your neighbor's.

 Huh?

[Holden McGroin]

There are chemicals that eat chlorine and the diatomaceous earth in the backwash may good for your lawn.

[Hawklore]

Wow great idea..

We just use it as a fire hose here in FL...

Or to dig holes..

[Gunslinger]

Like I said there's a ditch behind my house that I drain my water in and it is growing like crazy.  If it's not killing them it should be OK on grass.

[Drifter1234]

I have my pump/ filter setup to send the backwash to a patch of bushes about 20 ft from the pool.  1-1/2" pipe underground then a section about 2 ft high out of the ground with a Tee.  Waters the bushes but  I have noticed that it turns my st augustine grass a little lighter color around the bushes but they seem to enjoy the extra water.

As to how often you should backwash.  If your pool has a large blow up of algea blooms you probably need to backwash immediately after you shock and vaccum your pool.  I tend to vaccum every couple of weeks and backwash then.  There should be a pressure gauge on the pump/filter  head.  This measures the pressure required to push the water through the filter. Dirty filter means higher pressure on the gauge. When you water jets in the pool stop pushing water out as forcefully as usual check your pressure on the gauge.  My reads 12psi after I backwash and tends to need another backwash when it reaches 18-20 psi.

I have a 18'x36' inground pool approx 24k gals.  

Not a pool professional just seems like I have always have lived in a house with one.

[AquaShrimp]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Instead of backwashing the filter, have you considered placing a 150lb block of elemental sodium in the pool instead?  The drainage issue becomes a non-event, and you'll find that it both disinfects the pool and flushes all of the lines simultaneously.

Perhaps try it on another pool first, though, to perfect the technique.

Considering some of the people who surf the net, maybe you shouldn't dispense advice that would kill people.

[capt. apathy]

all debris could clog the sprinkler heads, so go with cheap and simple in that department. other than that it won't hurt anything.

I drain my back-flush over the front yard with no problems.

btw-you can save a few bucks on chems if you get them at the grocery store instead of the pool store.  baking soda is about 1/8th the price you pay to have it labeled 'PH up'(exactly the same stuff, different package).  borax works as well as any 'pH down' for much cheaper.

[SOB]

LOL, Chairboy, you are a bad bad man.

Elemental Sodium + Water:

http://www.pc.chemie.uni-siegen.de/pci/versuche/english/v44-1-1.html

[Brenjen]

Yep, jr. high chemistry.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by capt. apathy
all debris could clog the sprinkler heads, so go with cheap and simple in that department. other than that it won't hurt anything.

I drain my back-flush over the front yard with no problems.

btw-you can save a few bucks on chems if you get them at the grocery store instead of the pool store.  baking soda is about 1/8th the price you pay to have it labeled 'PH up'(exactly the same stuff, different package).  borax works as well as any 'pH down' for much cheaper.

After almost 3 months I've never had to add soda or PH+  It's allways muratic acid wich I got on sale 2 Gal /$8

[Angus]

Gunslinger: it should be okay unless you're using some really weird stuff in your pool. A little chlorine won't do a bit. Actually, there's even a good bit of Cl in fertilizer, as for your lawn! The Kalium (Fertilizer being mostly N-P-K, which is Nitrogen as Calcium ammonium nitrate, Phosphorus as P2O5 and Kalium as KCL or K2S), so you might be spreading it every year without knowing it. Note, the chloride is not needed. The K2S base is used in the growing of plants as Potatoes since the chloride dehydrates them a bit. But for the lawn, if you buy N-P-K it's KCl. So, I wouldn't worry.
Hope it helps.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Angus
Gunslinger: it should be okay unless you're using some really weird stuff in your pool. A little chlorine won't do a bit. Actually, there's even a good bit of Cl in fertilizer, as for your lawn! The Kalium (Fertilizer being mostly N-P-K, which is Nitrogen as Calcium ammonium nitrate, Phosphorus as P2O5 and Kalium as KCL or K2S), so you might be spreading it every year without knowing it. Note, the chloride is not needed. The K2S base is used in the growing of plants as Potatoes since the chloride dehydrates them a bit. But for the lawn, if you buy N-P-K it's KCl. So, I wouldn't worry.
Hope it helps.

I'm surrounded by brainiacs!  Thanks.

[Angus]

Lol, you're welcome.
Should have added that I studied this. It's a part of agricultural education, and agriculture is what I do.
If you have more questions, ask.