Hi. After reading on a thread about burying AG pools, there seems to be a lot of differing opinions. Some are from folks who have never had a buried AG, some from our experts who have had lots of experience repairing buried AG's and very few are from actual owners of buried AG's.
So I thought it might be an informative thread to begin so that those of us who have taken the chance and buried our AG's can all share with each other, as well as those who are contemplating a buried AG, the trials, problems and successes of a buried AG pool.
I posted install pics of our AG install/bury earlier. Here's the link:
http://photobucket.com/Doughboy_album
We have had our pool for one full year now and absolutely do not regret burying it. Maintenance on it is a breeze, thanks to this site
and we don't expect to have any water problems such that we'll ever need to drain it. Because we are in Texas, we won't be closing for the winters. So low water level and torrential downpours are not a problem either.
So when contemplating an AG bury, I suppose you would need to consider all these factors. I am also copying the PM's between myself and Dennis for additional information on this issue, to-wit:
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Hi Dennis. So as not to continue threadjacking, I thought it best to PM you. I wanted to ask you if you ever had a problem with your pool that you buried and how much did you leave on top and how long did you have it? We've invested a total of $10K in our pool, installation and plumbing and I'd like to know what kind of problems we may be looking at. We don't close it for winter - since we live in Texas. So it's always full of water. But I did check today with Crown to ask how risky it would be to drain it for any reason, say to change out the water or install new liner. He told me definitely not more than a week and as short a time as possible. Our installer simply told us, with a very stern voice to NEVER EVER drain the pool.
I can start a thread on this in order to help others who may be considering burying theirs. But so far, we absolutely love ours and the fact that it's almost an inground. We're hoping too that because it's mostly buried, that it will make it safer (for the pool) for kids to jump in and slide into the deep end.
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Hi Cherie, yes, there is a reason. The weight of the water against the side wall is the only thing keeping the pool from collapsing from the weight of the dirt on the outside. If you go above the water line with the dirt, the pool caves in around the top. Six inches is minimal, that puts the dirt close to the water line and is usually OK. One foot is so much better.
An example. The pool is six inches out of the ground and you are on vacation. After a week the water gets a little low, near the bottom of the pool. A storm rolls in and water logs the ground around the pool and it caves in. The dirt has become unstable and there is no water pressure pushing against it. The pool becomes a very expensive mess to fix. When the wall caves in around the top, the metal rods come off, and usually wind up through the liner at some point.
The first one I did for my self was in the ground as far as I could put it. I also kept the water as high as possible at all times.
Later, Dennis
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Hi. I never had a problem with my personal pool and it was just about all the way in the ground. I only had it a few years when we sold the house. Most of my experience comes from the hundreds of liners I have changed out in pools that were sunk, and the many cave in repairs I have done.
It takes the ground around the pool about two years to pack solid so that a liner change can be done safely. After that time it just needs to be done quickly. You drain it, change the liner and refill, over a couple day period and you should be just fine.
The problems we have had with cave ins go something like this. The person who let the pool sit empty for the winter, planning to change the liner in the spring. The pool has usually caved in by spring, usually caused by a few days of heavy rain at some point.
There have been a couple of unfortunate cases where they planned it right but things went wrong. A broken sprinkler line and a massive rain storm were the cause of the cave ins.
The biggest problem we have is usually the landscaping around the pool. Changing a liner involves a certain amount of movement on the sidewall. River rock or landscaping rock of just about any type will start to work it's way behind the wall and start cave ins. This can be a real pain.
Cave ins do not ruin a pool, they can be fixed, it just takes a lot of time. Something you want to avoid if at all possible.
Later, Dennis
******************************END************************
From what I have gleened so far is that most of the buried AG problems stem from owner-error and not from having the pool buried. But it would be nice to hear from folks who have had buried AG's for some time and share with us their problems and successes and hints to make a successful AG bury!
Thanks.
So I thought it might be an informative thread to begin so that those of us who have taken the chance and buried our AG's can all share with each other, as well as those who are contemplating a buried AG, the trials, problems and successes of a buried AG pool.
I posted install pics of our AG install/bury earlier. Here's the link:
http://photobucket.com/Doughboy_album
We have had our pool for one full year now and absolutely do not regret burying it. Maintenance on it is a breeze, thanks to this site
and we don't expect to have any water problems such that we'll ever need to drain it. Because we are in Texas, we won't be closing for the winters. So low water level and torrential downpours are not a problem either. So when contemplating an AG bury, I suppose you would need to consider all these factors. I am also copying the PM's between myself and Dennis for additional information on this issue, to-wit:
******************************
Hi Dennis. So as not to continue threadjacking, I thought it best to PM you. I wanted to ask you if you ever had a problem with your pool that you buried and how much did you leave on top and how long did you have it? We've invested a total of $10K in our pool, installation and plumbing and I'd like to know what kind of problems we may be looking at. We don't close it for winter - since we live in Texas. So it's always full of water. But I did check today with Crown to ask how risky it would be to drain it for any reason, say to change out the water or install new liner. He told me definitely not more than a week and as short a time as possible. Our installer simply told us, with a very stern voice to NEVER EVER drain the pool.
I can start a thread on this in order to help others who may be considering burying theirs. But so far, we absolutely love ours and the fact that it's almost an inground. We're hoping too that because it's mostly buried, that it will make it safer (for the pool) for kids to jump in and slide into the deep end.
*************************************
Hi Cherie, yes, there is a reason. The weight of the water against the side wall is the only thing keeping the pool from collapsing from the weight of the dirt on the outside. If you go above the water line with the dirt, the pool caves in around the top. Six inches is minimal, that puts the dirt close to the water line and is usually OK. One foot is so much better.
An example. The pool is six inches out of the ground and you are on vacation. After a week the water gets a little low, near the bottom of the pool. A storm rolls in and water logs the ground around the pool and it caves in. The dirt has become unstable and there is no water pressure pushing against it. The pool becomes a very expensive mess to fix. When the wall caves in around the top, the metal rods come off, and usually wind up through the liner at some point.
The first one I did for my self was in the ground as far as I could put it. I also kept the water as high as possible at all times.
Later, Dennis
*************************************
Hi. I never had a problem with my personal pool and it was just about all the way in the ground. I only had it a few years when we sold the house. Most of my experience comes from the hundreds of liners I have changed out in pools that were sunk, and the many cave in repairs I have done.
It takes the ground around the pool about two years to pack solid so that a liner change can be done safely. After that time it just needs to be done quickly. You drain it, change the liner and refill, over a couple day period and you should be just fine.
The problems we have had with cave ins go something like this. The person who let the pool sit empty for the winter, planning to change the liner in the spring. The pool has usually caved in by spring, usually caused by a few days of heavy rain at some point.
There have been a couple of unfortunate cases where they planned it right but things went wrong. A broken sprinkler line and a massive rain storm were the cause of the cave ins.
The biggest problem we have is usually the landscaping around the pool. Changing a liner involves a certain amount of movement on the sidewall. River rock or landscaping rock of just about any type will start to work it's way behind the wall and start cave ins. This can be a real pain.
Cave ins do not ruin a pool, they can be fixed, it just takes a lot of time. Something you want to avoid if at all possible.
Later, Dennis
******************************END************************
From what I have gleened so far is that most of the buried AG problems stem from owner-error and not from having the pool buried. But it would be nice to hear from folks who have had buried AG's for some time and share with us their problems and successes and hints to make a successful AG bury!
Thanks.
So when we found out we could buy a Doughboy and have it buried, with a 7' deep end and ledge around it, and hard-plumbed for $10K, we jumped on it! 
(mainly had it removed because it was cheaper than having it resurfaced and maintenance)
to another 5 years!