Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UPDATE

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B

barlidge

0
Dec 21, 2011
39
Biggleswade, UK
Hi everyone, can I first just say what a great forum this is, loads of good info and mods on here and everyone seems very hepfull.

Having searched the site I've seen quite a few through wall skimmers have been fitted to round pools and am wondering if anyone has fitted one to a rectangle one.

I have a 16' x 9' Ultra Frame pool running a 24" sand filter. Last year my .75hp pump failed and I replaced it with a 1hp model, this seems to run the filter better (at about 8psi when clean,the old one only ran 1-2psi when clean) but the over the side intex skimmer just cant cope and the kids keep knocking it up so the pump runs dry.

My concern is the bottom corner of the rectangular liner is fairly curved which puts a lot of vertical weight on the sides of the liner, presumably its designed like this to stop the sides falling outwards as opposed to the circular ones which the circular top holds the sides up and seem to have a 90 degree bottom corner so probably very little vertical weight on the sides.

Any help or thoughts gratefully recieved.

Bruce
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame

I'll have to do some research about your pool.
I have a 16' round Intex. If you go to this link,
please-help-with-frame-pool-hook-asap-t37580.html?hilit=hayward%20skimmer
go to my post, then click to the PVC link where I posted how I installed my Hayward Skimmer with my big sand filter.
My post starts at the end of page one, top of page two and later in the thread.
P.S. Look also at the Hayward fittings I put in to hook up the overhang skimmer.
I drilled holes in it to lessen the suction on the stock Intex overhang skimmer so it would not suck in air and cause pump cavitation.
Chuck
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame

Hi Chuck, thanks for the reply, drilling holes in the overhang skimmer fitting, so simple but effective, I wish I'd thought of that last year, the suction was so great you only had to knock the pipe to the basket and it collapsed!

Your Hayward Skimmer install is exactly what I want to do add this year but as I say I'm a little nervous of the pools design, the sides frames angle inwards and it seems to be the vertical weight of the liner hanging on the frames prevents the lateral pressure from pushing them outwards if you get what I mean.

As far as pipework I ditched all the Intex pipes and valves straight away with the exception of the tank adaptor (Intex Part No 11235) that connects through the liner wall, I then screwed a standard 2" ABS elbow with an 1.5" reducer then a ball valve going onto a spigot and heavy duty flexi pipe as in this pic:

SDC14714.jpg


What I wanted to do this year was add the skimmer as above and use the existing return hole as an additional return with a elbow inserted into the fitting (as found on this forum :) ) going straight to the bottom with a grill to help pick up some of the rubbish from the bottom of the pool. This should take a lot of pressure away from the pump in that it wont have to suck as hard and maybe help a little with bottom cleaning:

SDC14715.jpg


Hope I'm making at least some sense lol!

Bruce
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame

Yes, We all know skimmers don't do much for cleaning the bottom, just top floating stuff.
The other main reason for me with the skimmer was the skimmer hat hookup for the hose to the vacuum head. This was great to have all of the junk stuff get caught in the skimmer basket :) and not the pump basket. :( (much harder to clean and shutting off the pump and re-priming)
I looked at a couple of Intex rectangle pools and was thinking I would mount a skimmer right in the center of the straight side in between the 2 closest support poles.
Hopefully someone here has picture of it being done on your pool. :idea:

Chuck
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame

Well I took the plunge and went for it and for anyone else thinking about it here is how it went for me:

The Skimmer mounted in the side of the pool
SDC14891.jpg


And form the inside
SDC14896.jpg


Making use of the original skimmer intake hole I rigged up an additional feed to the pump to try and catch some of the bottom dirt, the strainers were bought from Fish Fur and Feathers.
SDC14890.jpg


Fitted an elbow to the return fitting, this directs the water round the far end of the pool and stops the Crud from settling in those two corners.
SDC14889.jpg


The feed and return going back to the filter box
SDC14895.jpg


And finally the filter box, excuse the untidy wiring, I've still got to get back in there and fit some more cable clips.
SDC14894.jpg

SDC14893.jpg


So far this setup seems to be working really well, having two intakes to the pump has nearly doubled its efficience, last year on a clean sand filter it was running approx 10psi, now its running at 20psi and the power of the return jet is significantly stronger so I would assume the the flow rate is also much higher as the pump is pushing more than its pulling.

Hope this helps anyone thinking of similar upgrades.
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

thank you for the post & pics.. since installing the skimmer have you noticed the sidewalls leaning in any more than usual since the water level isnt as high?

Also, I see you used a solid pressure treated board under your legs. How is that working out? is it a 2x6?
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

My pool history started in 2009 with a 32' x 12' blue oval pool at my old house, this sat on the grass the entire summer with no supports under the legs and barely made a dent.

In 2010 after moving to a house with a smaller garden I sold that pool and bought the 18' x 9' ultra frame and set this up the same way, after 2 months the legs had sunk so much the sides were in danger of falling over so I had to drain it and pack under the legs with gravel and then treated 18mm gravel board. This helped but over the remainder of that summer the boards bowed significantly under the weight.

2011 was similar, packed the indentations from the previous year with sand and gravel and used the same type 18mm boards again, it didnt sink as much but still noticable. All this time trying to maitain any piece of real grass was nearly impossible (I have 7 kids running about over it).

Onto to this year, I spent Feb and March digging out over 6 tons of topsoil and levelling and then having 3" hardcore laid and compacted over the garden then 20mm foam shockpad then Artificial grass, yey no more mud! When it came to setting the pool and and having learned just how much weight is transmitted through the legs I decided to go with the 6" x "2 treated timber to avoid any possible indentations in the new garden. You can see that the timbers have sunk a little bit most probably by compressing the foam shockpad under the 'grass' so it doesnt jack the sides up as much as I originally feared it might, I have read on here about putting undue stress on the seams but the pool still seems to sit nicely with nothing appearing out of shape and I believe they are a little tolerant if everything is equal and level so I'm not fearing it will collapse.

Now to answer your original question, the sides do seem to be slightly more angled but not too much and I think this is more due to the 6x2's under the legs than the lower water level, although probably a combination of both, maybe 70/30 walls/water depth. The fact that the sides are a little higher compensates for the slightly lower water level in that I cant tell the difference from last year before the thru wall skimmer, the corners bars are still 'floating' and still slide in and out easily so the sides are not that much more inbound.

Just a note on skimmer location, I chose that position with the following factors in mid:

1) Furthest away from the Return.
2) Cose to filter box so easy to administer chorine etc and for switching off the pump for cleaning etc
3) In the centre of a support leg so as to ensure a continual horizantal support bar above as they are in sections and the joints in the bars seem to be in between the legs. Also the vertical seams of the liner are inbetween each set of legs and didnt want to cut through one of them.
4) I lined the top of the skimmer hole up with the bottom of the top seam, this was becuase I wanted the top set of skimmer screws to go through the reinforced seam for maximum strength, like you I hadnt seen it done on a rectangular pool and I was concerned about the amount of vertical weight that is on the liner.

So far everything seems to be working out very well, the only thing I may adjust is the skimmer door, I have a very high flow rate and the door is almost always nearly fully open so I may change the polystyrence boyancy pad for something a little more boyant. Having said that the skimmer is working and I have no floating debri so I may just be trying to over tinker and decide to leave alone. Its only been about a week but as I say all good so far and NO over the side stupid skimmer getting in the way lol!

Sorry for the essay but I tried to consider everything I could thing of before taking the plunge and cutting the hole.

Any other questions just ask.
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

dont apologize for the essay.. I appreciate the detailed information. As I get closer & closer to actually setting up the new pool I find myself questioning each move I make more so than usual
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

LOL, best to be cautious when dealing with that amount of water, get it wrong and it could get very messy real quick!

Each year I have applied something from 'lessons learned' from the previous year even in year 1, within a week or two I realised the supplied intex combined pump/filter/salt chlorinator unit wasnt going to fly and vowed to rid my setup of every piece on Intex plumbing that I could.

Good luck with the new pool, if I'd stayed at my old house with the bigger garden I would have loved to have had that size, you may well find you need two skimmers but I believe you could fit a second once its full of water so if it was me I'd try with one first and see how it goes.
 

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Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

first off, thank you for all of the pics already posted
But of course I am being greedy - do you have more pics of the overall pool?
I want something to look at while I am still fighting with my backyard
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

Ok here goes, the gardens still a bit bare, going to crack on with that next week. I think yours is going to make mine look like a paddling pool lol.
SDC14912.jpg

SDC14913.jpg


I have a roller cover that used to sit on the edges of the pool, it was pretty Crud and kept falling off so this year I'm going to mount it on the back fence.
SDC14915.jpg

SDC14916.jpg
 
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Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

Got a question for you. I am interested in knowing how long and how wide the pool is including the legs. Looking at your pictures a 24 ft pool would be about 27 or more if measured from where the legs rest on the ground. Is it possible you could measure for me? If I am right, I have some more work to do!! Trying to level and haven't got the pool yet so it's guesswork!
 
Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

Hi, I had questions about the foot print dimensions also. So I did a google search and found this chart for the rectangular Intex pools.

Hope it helps.

I'd like to give credit for the chart to the appropriate people/site, but I cannot remember where I found it.
 

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Re: Through Wall Skimmer on Rectangular Intex Ultra Frame UP

Good save Taterfink, like you I have seen that drawing before and was looking for it again as I dont think my measurements are relevant to GreatCanadian's question as mine's 18' x 9' and I think his is the 24'. I seem to remember it was on the IntexCorp site but cant find it now.

GreatCanadian, I have checked my outer measurements against the drawing and the width is spot on and the length is within .5" so its an excellent good reference.

I've saved a copy for future reference, thanks Taterfink.
 

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