No!
Perish the thought!
It's a standard sand filter.
but yes backwashing the filter fairly religiously is what we do. I think not being here for as long over the last two years may have had an effect. I'll get it sorted, just a matter of time and I first off have to source and fit a new pressure gauge as the old one is well fecked!
Thet'll tell me if I have anything serious to deal with, like a blocked pipe.
All I know is that we have had some very weird dirt/sand come over from the Sahara a year or two back. Where it settled on wall tops etc it turned them reddish. When I went to clear it off the bottom of the pool it was far more tenacious than most dust is, but I did manage to hoover it up.I am wondering now if it is sticking to the sand in a similarly tenacious fashion and that is why pressure or suction seems to be down despite all the visible filters being clean.
The sand dont last forever Changed ours a couple of years ago after a bad bout of alge think it was 8yrs old, it made a huge diff. Get in there its not to bad a job to scoop it out.
Off to watch the F1 with no Suzy or grid girls.
J