New owner of a 22'x52" Intex Ultra. Now what?

[Slayd]

Just purchased my first Intex pool for pickup later today.

So in the meantime, what should I be planning for? I'm going to move forward with permitting it out, even though I had heavily considered not doing so. But that aside, I need to level the ground. Once I have that level, planning on laying the ground cloth that comes with the pool, and a tarp on top of that. Then planning on putting pavers under each leg of the pool. I live in Central Florida, and the soil is pretty much sand here, so I see no point in purchasing sand for leveling.

I've learned this from creeping the forums here, from post to post. However, something I am not seeing talked about is electrical. How do you all power your pumps? I don't see many posts about putting in outlets after leveling? I have no issue installing an outlet myself if that's necessary. Do most people just bury a drop cord or what? Does the pool come with anything for this purpose?

Also, any further tips to add to what I'm already doing?

Thanks! Looking forward to being a part of this community.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP and congrats on the new pool!

There is a GFCI plug/cord on the pump. Some folks need to run an outlet to the pool location and others already have one close enough.

You will need a great test kit. I have used the TF100 from TFTestkits.net for years.

Pavers and level are the keys to a good install.

 

[tater_salad]

Don't use an extension cord, if you don't have power within reach of the pool, get someone to put it in, your code may require you to have an electrician put it in anyways. If it were me and I needed a trench and a post I'd put the electric in after doing a level and maybe I'd really wait until the pool was up and schedule the electrician to come by while filling it with water, that way if you need a post / trench it's out of the way and you dont' nick it putting the pool in. I had a deck that already had electrical that just needed a sign off.

I "leveled" the ground myself (I have 1 high spot I need to deal with after we do a drain for the winter... it's not bad enough to cause stress, 1 post is past 2 inches off level, everything else is fine. I'm in the NE so my ground is like a solid rock, if I did it again, I'd toss $250 or so to a guy in a bobcat. It probably cost me about 250 in rental for the sod cutter, and beer for friends while we dug it out, plus it took a week.

Pool school helped me understand my chemistry, get ready to spend on some testing supplies and chemicals. It seems like I"m at the walmart every other day.

 

[Slayd]

Thanks for the advise, guys. I'm a general contractor so having the electricity done is no issue, I just dont want to nickel and dime this thing unless I have to. If I can plug in to an outlet for now, I'd prefer that. I have two toddlers though, so anything remotely unsafe won't do.

The chemicals are what I'm not looking forward to. As of right now, however, I'm struggling with Code Enforcement here over the stupid permit for a temporary pool, how ridiculous is that.

 

[tater_salad]

On the electrical side, please make sure your pool outlet is a GFCI with a wet use cover. The video for my Bestway pool says USE GFCI OUTLET, and then they plug it into a 3 prong non GFCI outlet with a wet when closed cover, I was shaking my head.

Have fun dealing wit code and getting your permit, I think that's the hardest part of the whole install.