You use a hose and wash down into the sand with overflow out of the top of the filter. You must be careful to not damage the laterals. You do not drain or remove the drain plug.
WOW! The stuff that came out of there! I can already tell the difference with how the pool is filtering!
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I had the same reaction when I did a deep clean of my filter as well yesterday! "HOLY COW" I had so many particulates that were floating in suspension inside of the pool, and figured the filter wasn't working as well as it should. Here's what I was seeing in the pool, and what came out of my filter when I deep cleaned it. Year before last, I had an algae problem, and I followed the pool store recommendations as well, vacuuming to waste what was recirculated, and then settled on the floor. This year, I wasn't sure why my water was so cloudy. I did a drain and refill yesterday, and the water looks great! I've now decided that at the beginning of the season, it might be prudent to clean the filter.
