About 4 years ago, I had to re-level my dad's pool filter, and fix a few couplers on it. At the time the fix was a bit of a kludge, but it actually lasted much longer than I expected. This season, when he went to start up the pool, the filter started spewing water, which was due to a broken lower bulkhead fitting on the filter. And that was due to the filter shifting again, putting stress on the fitting. So it was time to do the job again, and hopefully better this time. The root of the problem is the slab that the filter sets on, which had cracked pretty badly, and had to be swapped out. I could have poured a new slab, but decided to pick up a pre-fab slab instead. I hit the new slab with a couple coats of Thompson's Water Seal spray before I started removing the old one. The pre-fab slab was about 3" thick, vs the 2" thick slab that was in there, so I had to lower everything, which became quite the job. Fortunately there was one brick set below the old slab, which I could use to gauge how low to set the new base (below the slab). That required doing one half the of the base at a time though, so I could level to the old block, remove the old block and then do the side the block was on.
Since I planned to swap the sand in the filter out, I used up the old sand, with a bag and a half of quickcrete, and some fill dirt at about 60/40 dirt and sand and concrete, to create the base for the slab, along with some concrete blocks. I set in a couple blocks at the base level, and filled and leveled around them, to form the final base for the new slab. Since the prior slab had settled and cracked, I did not want the same thing happening with the new one (if possible). After the compacted base fill dried, it seems quite sturdy, so I think it will last.
Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the new slab in place, but will grab some more pics when I finish this up. I found that after placing the filter back, that the pool pump was too high (it also sits on the same slab). I'm not sure why that happened, but my plan is to print a new stand for the pump, which will have some adjustment if I need to fine tune the height. My best guess is that when the manifold was replaced years ago, the slab was already off kilter, and therefore the pump too. It's another kludgy fix, but I don't want to hack up the stand it's on, to remove enough material to fit the pump. I think the printed stand will be a bit better than the original anyway. I plan to use PETG, since I don't have any ABS handy.
Update 3/13/2026: Happy Friday the 13th! Well, as expected I have some leaks to deal with, but fortunately the saddle is working OK, and the pump and filter appears to be as well. I plan to monitor the saddle over the summer, and if it starts to sag, I will re-print it in ABS or ASA, despite the foul smells.
The leaks I have to deal with now are in the bulkhead fittings between the filter and the Hayward Vari-Flow valve. The old o-rings in the fittings appeared stretched to the point they did not look worth re-using. I've purchased two sets of replacement o-rings, with the 2nd being directly from my competent local pool store, but both leaked. The Hayward part for the o-rings is SX200Z4, and what I was sold was a generic o-ring of the same size, which should be cool. The stock o-ring dimensions are: ID 2.25", OD 2.5", CS 0.125", and they appear to fit, but as noted, still leak (with a propper coating of silicone grease). The valve fittings appear to be seated in the bulkhead fittings, and tighten down correctly, so nothing looks to be amiss. Being at a loss for what to do, I decided to upsize the o-ring to a AS568-331 EPDM o-ring. The AS568-331 has the same centerline dimension as the stock size o-rings, but has a thicker cross section diameter of 0.210". Unfortunately, these are hard to find, so I'm getting bent over for a couple o-rings (almost $20 with shipping). so hopefully it works.
Below are some pics I took when I finished up the pool pump re-install and got the filter filled back up with sand. The new slab just fits the pump and filter (it's 2'x4'), and I'm really happy with how it turned out (which is nice and level, and at the correct height). But what a pain lol.
The leaks I have to deal with now are in the bulkhead fittings between the filter and the Hayward Vari-Flow valve. The old o-rings in the fittings appeared stretched to the point they did not look worth re-using. I've purchased two sets of replacement o-rings, with the 2nd being directly from my competent local pool store, but both leaked. The Hayward part for the o-rings is SX200Z4, and what I was sold was a generic o-ring of the same size, which should be cool. The stock o-ring dimensions are: ID 2.25", OD 2.5", CS 0.125", and they appear to fit, but as noted, still leak (with a propper coating of silicone grease). The valve fittings appear to be seated in the bulkhead fittings, and tighten down correctly, so nothing looks to be amiss. Being at a loss for what to do, I decided to upsize the o-ring to a AS568-331 EPDM o-ring. The AS568-331 has the same centerline dimension as the stock size o-rings, but has a thicker cross section diameter of 0.210". Unfortunately, these are hard to find, so I'm getting bent over for a couple o-rings (almost $20 with shipping). so hopefully it works.
Below are some pics I took when I finished up the pool pump re-install and got the filter filled back up with sand. The new slab just fits the pump and filter (it's 2'x4'), and I'm really happy with how it turned out (which is nice and level, and at the correct height). But what a pain lol.
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