Thanks so much for all the great information and experiences.
Has anyone who has buried the aluminum wall (generation 4) ever encountered a corrosion problem from the bottom up?
I never heard of the doughboy pool before and as a result of this thread researched it in my area.
I have talked to two sales people about the doughboy and compared what they said about the in ground burial system.
First thing I was told was that lowmart, embassy , and doughboy share the same manufacturing plant here in America and all are top quality according to doughboy standards-- posts and walls. Although I haven’t actually fully researched this I thought it was interesting.
The only pool the sales persons would say was fully buried in ground guaranteed was the INTRIGUE by doughboy. The reason being is not the walls but the posts!
There are 26 posts on a 21X41 oval. I think we calculated that is about every foot and a half to two feet around the circumference of the pool.
The embassy pool also had this.
The posts are what Doughboy is counting on to counteract the dirt fill and water pressure equalization so the walls won’t buckle.
Ok, that makes sense to me for their guarantee.
Because the doughboy guarantees the whole thing to be buried then they also guaranteed the walls corrosion and all.
But, the walls are not coated any different than other walls I have seen.
So the corrosion part I wouldn’t have to worry about, unless I use the salt water system.
I didn’t understand about the big deal with salt water system corroding the pool.
The sales person told me that when you splash the pool sides that the water would touch the on top rails and may drip onto the inner walls and touch the screws (where aluminum wall and steal screws touch --two different metals) that would facilitate corrosion.
So due to chemicals the warranty wouldn’t cover that.
Well that means I am still in a pickle because I believe I want the salt system.
To me the only way to counteract that type of chemical corrosion would be to put some kind of liquid gasket type spray around each screw. Also because doughboy has metal top rails there would have to be something up under the railing that covered the screws and connects. Not to mention I would have to really watch that the rails coating on top did not become scratched.
Ok so doughboy costs much more. And the burring into the ground the dig would cost about $2000 for my area. And in TN it’s not a guarantee they won’t hit rock. So I decided against the whole thing being in the ground.
So the total on a fully buried large Intrigue doughboy (oval 21X41) , gravel sand and dig, would be around $3000 for construction and $11,800 for pool itself. Still not a bad deal if I wanted to do the whole thing in ground.
About $15,000 for an above ground fully buried. BUT the half in half out non above ground , where they put concrete at the bottom and steal wall panels also costs that much..
So not to much difference there.
For me the in ground is not option anymore.
But hopefully what I found can help someone else
So I am back to the other two deals I found.
I really liked the second deal (see first post) because it comes with the saltwater system, a 22mil liner and 2speed 2 hp pump. The pool is a Blossom (from SPA DEPOT in Nashville)
21X43 X54, and of course the sales person put in lots of "extras" nice for me but that didn’t sell me on it. The top rails are the heavy wide pvc...no fuss for me with salt water.
And they were willing to spray gasket screws with the install.
That pool can be buried not past 30" (leaving two feet above ground) and still be warranted by the manufacture for the walls.
This will allow me to get the pool height very close to my deck height ...so I won’t have to do so much creative decking.
(of course i'm going to get this in writing)
Then comes the topic of drainage for the in ground part. My yard is pretty level but I am not in a flood zone. The sales person said a sump pump at first and gravel for the backfill.
Well I asked him to talk to the construction person to see how much more gravel.
The construction person told him not to use gravel...but to do the back fill with the dirt from the dig and create a FRENCH DRAIN.. eliminating the use of a sump pump??
OK I have no clue as to what a French drain is except It is suppose to pull water away from the mote around the pool.
So I am off to do more research about that.
If anyone can add their experience with going all the way in ground or part in ground please comment. I really want to know about the corrosion issue and the wall buckling issue.
If you know how many posts you have pleas also leave that in the comment.
Thank you in advance for your input!
