Tank Owner’s Manual Pg. 14 of 23
9/26/05 Rev. D
• Filters need to be moved from their current location. While these tanks are
designed to withstand internal pressure, they are not designed to be transported with
the added weight of the media inside of them. It is therefore necessary to remove as
much media as possible before relocating the filters.
• Inspections/repairs need to be made to inside of tank or internal components.
In order to reach certain components or areas of the tank, the sand has to be partially
or removed. These areas include laterals, effluent piping, media drain assembly,
inside walls of the filter.
If you need to remove the media the tanks must be drained first, see Draining Filters section.
After draining the filters, remove the manway cover (see Section 4.3.1). Removal can be done by
a variety of means, from using an ordinary shovel, to adding water to the sand and removing the
slurry with a pump truck. It is important that if using shovels or other devices with edges,
corners, etc. that care be taken to not scratch the inside walls of the tank. The inside walls
are coated with a material that protects the water from exposure to the fiberglass walls of the
tanks.
Remove only as much material as required to perform any maintenance operations. If all of
the sand needs to be removed for the purpose of replacement due to contamination, be sure to
rinse out the tank with clean water. It may be necessary to backwash the tank(s) after rinsing to
remove sand stuck in the laterals. Follow the backwash procedures outlined earlier in this
section.
4.5 Winterizing the filter tanks In areas where the tanks will not be in service during the winter months, or where tanks
may see freezing or below freezing temperatures, it is recommended that the tank(s) be
winterized. This will protect the tank(s) from being damaged due to ice expansion. Some items
that may be damaged due to this may include internal piping, internal components, and tank
walls. Below are the steps that should be performed when winterizing the tank(s):
• Thoroughly backwash each filter to remove foreign contaminates from the
filter bed prior to draining the system
• Shut off all electrical power to the filter system.
• Drain the tanks by removing the drain plug from the tank (See Section 4.2).
Opening the manual air relief valve cap will help in allowing the water to drain
out of the filters, as well as preventing a vacuum condition from occurring.
• When the water is drained from the system, drain all of the water in the
backwash line.
• Loosen any flanges in low-lying sections of piping to completely drain the
system of water.
• Store any plugs/caps removed near the filter and mark all flanges that have
been loosened so that they may be reinstalled and tightened at time of start
up.