New Intex Owner

Jump to latest Follow Reply
D

DiscoDan

0
May 6, 2012
37
Denver, CO
On Saturday I purchased an 18'X48" Intex Ultra Frame pool. I spent part of Saturday evening working on leveling the site and yesterday I wrapped up the leveling and assembly. After getting a few inches of water in the bottom of the pool I noticed some pooling of water on the ground cover cloth.

After noticing the water I immediately stopped filling the pool and have yet to restart the fill process. Now the tricky part is going to be locating the leak. Based on where the water pooled up on the ground cover I have a general idea of where the leak is. Is there an easy way to find the leak without taking everything apart and doing the flashlight test I have seen others recommend?

Based on what I've been reading it seems like leaks with these Intex pools are pretty much guaranteed upon first fill up. I was hoping I would have nay leaks since I went with the Ultra Frame but I was wrong.
 
We had the same problem with our blue 15x48" metal frame pool 5 yrs ago. We about panicked, when we noticed the water on the tarp when it was almost completely filled for the first time. We took an old blanket and dried it completely to make sure it wasn't splashed out from filling. We were able to locate the fine stream running down the side and pinpoint the other small leak that was just barely under the pool. We did have two people lift up on vertical posts, first,so that we could dry up the water and then again to patch it. The patch adhesive works amazing both on wet surfaces and underwater. We only had a couple of other leaks in the 5yrs and they were easy to locate/fix without draining. One was a puncture in the bottom that we noticed with our feet and didn't seem to leak out under the pool onto the tarp. So I'm thinking your problem is some where on the solid liner. There was quite a bit of water on the tarp and our leaks were pin head size and slightly larger. The fine stream of water probably shows up better on the bright blue liner as opposed to the tan. We're are prob getting ready to find out ourselves when we put up our new pool. I wonder if you wait until night and shine a flashlight if you might be able to see the leak glisten.
 
I went outside this morning and noticed the water level in the pool was the same as it was last night when I stopped filling it up. The water level on the tarp had also not changed. I went ahead and started filling the pool up with water again, the water on the tarp hasn't increased so I'm a little baffled at whats going on right now.

My next question is how important is it to have the liner bottom smooth against the ground? I was not able to get all the wrinkles out of the bottom of the liner. Will this cause any problems down the road or is smoothing the liner out more of a cosmetic issue rather than functionality?
 
We made sure the bottom of ours was perfectly smooth and wrinkle free but now not quite even a year later the bottom is covered with ripples! :rant: We leave ours up all year so I'm pretty sure it has to do with the temperature changes and the liner expanding and contracting. Still it's annoying after all the time I spent smoothing out the wrinkles as it filled...
 
I'm a stickler for a non-wrinkled pool liner. I will work a liner over time if I have to and I have! :mrgreen:
 
I could not possibly be anymore bummed right now. :(

I came home excited to start the initial shock process. I went outside and immediately noticed the right side of the pool had dropped 4". Not the water but the frame.

I decided to put my pool in an area that was originally used for a childs play set. The base is pea gravel. Prior to purchasing my pool and finding this site I found many places online that said pea gravel was a great base for AGP. I was worried that the legs would press down and dig into the pea gravel but a buddy of mine said not to worry it'll be fine... :rant:

Well my worst fear became a reality the right side of the frame dug into the pea gravel and caused the frame to drop 4". So bad in fact that a couple of the little plastic tabs in the pool have completely snapped due to the pressure shift.

I'm now going to drain the pool. I don't have the time to dig out all the pea gravel and replace with sand so I think my pool season is over before it even got to start.... :grrrr:
 
Take a couple days to recover from this. You will get through it. Just get through this initial set back and re-evealuate the situation in a few days. It's a tough set back. Maybe you can go get some pavers and set it up on them.

Sorry! :(
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I have no idea but I'm sure someone will know. Sit tight! Someone will comment!
 
Thought I'd post an update. The weather here has been pretty crummy lately so I have not had a chance to do much with the pool.

Thursday night I took the frame apart and tore everything down. It rained for most of the day today so I didn't get to do much but I got the site level again and have started sinking pavers. I thought I had the site pretty level before we started dropping the pavers but once we had a few pavers in we realized we still had some high spots. After using the pavers I can personally say that Intex should strongly encourage owners to use them, personally I would not install a pool without them for any reason after what I went through the first time not using them.

My father in law brought over a sand filter that he used to use. It's a jacuzzi unit and its probably 15 years old, he used it for about about 5 years and shut it down. Im trying to figure out how to test it because if I can get it to work it would sure as heck beat the Intex cartridge filter that came with the pool.

Things are starting to look up. I hope to have the pavers sunk and start filling the pool again by mid afternoon tomorrow.
 
The pool is just about full of water and everything seems to be pretty good. I got everything to within 3/4" of level and I'm okay with that.

After looking over the sand filter my FIL gave me I am concerned that it is to old and will need all of the o rings replaced to keep it water tight. In Colorado the weather is very dry and things have a tendancy to dry out here. I am considering the Infect 2650 sand filter, it is definitely priced right. What is exeryones experience like with this filter?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply