18' Intex Ultra Frame Hard Plumb Thread

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J

Jeepfreak81

0
May 11, 2013
23
Littleton, NH
Hi again everyone,

So I've been sorting and sifting through lots of stuff here about hard plumbing my 18' Intex pool. I've found that information is a little scattered and a ton of helpful images are missing. So I've started this thread for two reasons. The first is to get some questions answered and some help plumbing my new pool, and the second is to provide a place for others to easily find all the information in one place. I plan to take lots of pictures when I actually start plumbing the pool and I'll try to provide some step by step instructions.

First, my setup. It's an 18' X 48" Ultra Frame pool. I'll be keeping the pump that comes with the pool for at least this season (might upgrade in the future). This is one reason I want to hard plumb, so I can get rid of some of the restriction. When the pool is first setup over the coming weeks there will be no other additions or modifications. HOWEVER, I plan to add a 4'X10' solar heater to the system sometime in the near future (as funds allow). The water stays pretty cool up here in the white mountains.

Here's a link to the heater for anyone interested - http://www.amazon.com/Pool-Solar-Heatin ... BWLCPZJQ1L

So I'll need to have a way to add that heater in for the future without having to hack up my system. Will spend some time trying to figure this out, but if anyone has some good suggestions, I'm all ears.

I'll be able to source the 1.5" adapter no problem as Lowe's carries them. The item # is 49111 and here's a link - http://www.lowes.com/pd_49111-1716-L513 ... facetInfo=

The plan is to use 1 1/2" PVC to plumb everything. I saw on here that somebody used two 3' sections of flexible 1 1/2" pvc to accommodate any pool movement. I'd love to do this but I'm only able to find 25' sections and I'm not spending $70 for it. If anyone knows of a better place to source this in small sections please let me know.

So at this point, I'm collecting parts and preparing for the pool. Here are some questions I have.........

1. Where do I need to have ball valves? I plan to get ride of the Intex Plungers as I hear they are trouble.
2. Any ideas on how to leave a way to hitch up the Solar heater in the future without having to hack into the system?
3. Any other issues tips or tricks I should know about?

That's all I can think of at the moment. Like I say, I want to make this thread useful for others as well so I will try to add to it as I complete each step. Thanks!
 
I recently did this myself, so I'll share a bit of my experience. First thing I'd recommend if you're going to hard plumb it I'd replace the shoddy skimmer that comes with intex pools and cut a hole in your liner :) This is the one I bought from amazon http://www.amazon.com/Hayward-SP1091LX- ... 002DPY196/

From what I can tell it doesn't matter where the ball valves are, I put mine in the same place that the intex plungers were - right at the inlet and outlet, but I've seen others put them closer to the pump...

I also have solar panels and wanted to be able to run them independently from the intex pump/filter, so I bought a standalone pump at harbor freight. This is the link to it http://www.harborfreight.com/submersibl ... 68418.html I think the instructions said not to use it in pools, but I really can't see why not. It is hooked up to a GFCI so I feel safe using the pool with or without the pump going. To get it in and out of the pool I bought some cheapo 25' or so ?basement sump pump? tubing at Lowes. The pump goes in the pool at one end and I have the hot water come in on the other side of the pool attached with a zip tie (velcro for ease of removal), it isn't the most elegant solution, but it works ;)

If you didn't want to go that route you'd just need extra ball valves to turn off the water flow to it.

Good luck!
 
I saw on here that somebody used two 3' sections of flexible 1 1/2" pvc to accommodate any pool movement. I'd love to do this but I'm only able to find 25' sections and I'm not spending $70 for it. If anyone knows of a better place to source this in small sections please let me know.
Click to expand...

I've seen it at my local Lowe's on a roll to be cut to length, I don't remember the price per foot.
 
The pump is the standard one that comes with the pool, not sure the model but I'll check it tomorrow when I pick it up. I'll have to consider the skimmer, the pool will only be up 3 months out of the year so I hate to have to take apart the skimmer to fold the liner up....also I'm just scared to cut a big ol' hole in my brand new pool...haha
 
Happy Sunday Morning everyone! So my pool is filling up as we speak, about 1/3 full right now so I'm going to go plumb it before the water gets too high. I have a thought and wondered if there's any reason to not do this. Because getting the pool temp up in this part of the country can be challenging, and I'll be adding a solar heater, I thought "why not paint the PVC black?" I'm thinking even with just the 15 ft or so of plumbing I have, that black pipe might help pull the water temps up a tad. Any little bit will help.

I will probably just paint it after it's all together, and I'll be sure to take pictures.
 
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