Hayward Lateral Hub Assembly (S244S, S220S)

The Hayward SX242MA1S is the folding umbrella lateral assembly with center pipe for the Pro Series side mount S220S and S244S sand filters. It comes as one assembly: the hub, the laterals and the center pipe, so there is no threading individual laterals into a hub inside the tank.

Fit and history

It fits the S220S and S244S built after 1999, and it replaces the earlier SX242MA1. Hayward made the new version backward compatible, so it goes into the filters that originally shipped with the old number.

Why the folding design

The laterals fold up against the center pipe so the whole assembly passes through the tank opening, then unfold to lie flat on the tank floor under the sand. That is what makes a lateral swap possible without cutting the tank.

Diagnosis

Sand blowing back into the pool through the returns almost always means a cracked lateral. Drain the sand, inspect, and if any lateral is damaged replace the assembly rather than hunting for a single lateral.