Hello All! This post will be a little long as it's the culmination of all my research into installing an AGP correctly.
I've been a long time lurker/reader and have finally decided to join the forums! We've always wanted a pool and now that we fenced in our yard this spring, we've gone ahead and purchased an Intex 54949EG which is a 24' x 52" standard metal frame pool with sand filter and saltwater system combination. It was an amazing after season deal that I was waiting for. Now that we have the pool, I have been researching in even more detail about its installation and have come up with the below plan. I was hoping for your advice and tips!
Electrically speaking, Intex claims this pool is a storable pool with a double insulated pump and per NEC definition, it seems to be as well, which makes the electrical work a little bit easier, following all NEC codes. The pool will be about 100' away from the house so I'll be running approximately 150' of electric wire to get power out to the site. Given the length of the run, I've chosen 10/2 UF-B W/G wire to keep the voltage drop to a minimum, with a 20A GFCI breaker in the main panel, directly buried at a minimum of 12". The wire will not be buried anywhere within 5' of the pool and come up out of the ground a minimum of 6' away from the pool via a 3/4" schedule 40 pvc conduit into a pvc box with a weather proof 20A duplex outlet and an in-use cover attached to a pressure treated 4x4 approximately 2' high. Bonding for storable pools is not required. I've been researching the electrical side ad nauseum and hopefully have it all right!
In terms of site preparation I was thinking to measure an extra 1' around the pool, so a 26' diameter circle for the 24' pool, then spray round up to kill the existing grass and dig out the dead grass/roots an inch or two exposing the dirt. Our ground is fairly flat but once the grass is gone it'll be leveled perfectly. It'd then be tamped down and sprayed with more weed/grass killer or some other product(?) to make sure nothing new grows. I don't see many doing this but it was my intention to put 5 oz super thick landscaping fabric and staple it down over the dirt. On top of that I'd put a 27' Gorilla Pad, the larger size so I could cut it to size and maintain the 1' extra space around the pool (for lawn mowing purposes) and still keep it looking pretty for the wife!
Our ground is fairly soft and sandy. I've been reading that many put pavers under the pool legs to keep them from sinking in. What size pavers? I read to bury them flush with the ground or maybe 1/4" higher to avoid damaging the liner? Damaging the liner is my biggest concern but so is keeping the pool level. I also read that the pool legs will move out 3-6" as the pool is filled with water so it would make sense to bury the pavers leaving room for the legs to expand out? I've read to fill the pool with 1-2" of water and then make sure the bottom of the liner is stretched out flat before filling it further along with checking the level of the pool legs and paver location along the way.
I have the liner stored in our basement in a 95 gallon toter garbage can. The metal supports and everything else in a separate 65 gallon toter. It's my intention to dismantle the pool before each winter and store everything in these toters in our basement. The only thing left outside during the off season would be a big circle covered in the thick landscape fabric where the pool used to be. It is my hope that the landscape fabric would prevent any weed/grass growth until next spring. I may buy the fake green carpet type grass to put over the landscape fabric so it can blend in nicer to the lawn and also help further prevent any weed growth, not sure?
I'd be most curious to see photos and/or videos of various members installations processes. I've read so many horror stories and want to make sure to get this right the first time around.
Are there any changes/improvements I could make? Thank you for all your suggestions!
I've been a long time lurker/reader and have finally decided to join the forums! We've always wanted a pool and now that we fenced in our yard this spring, we've gone ahead and purchased an Intex 54949EG which is a 24' x 52" standard metal frame pool with sand filter and saltwater system combination. It was an amazing after season deal that I was waiting for. Now that we have the pool, I have been researching in even more detail about its installation and have come up with the below plan. I was hoping for your advice and tips!
Electrically speaking, Intex claims this pool is a storable pool with a double insulated pump and per NEC definition, it seems to be as well, which makes the electrical work a little bit easier, following all NEC codes. The pool will be about 100' away from the house so I'll be running approximately 150' of electric wire to get power out to the site. Given the length of the run, I've chosen 10/2 UF-B W/G wire to keep the voltage drop to a minimum, with a 20A GFCI breaker in the main panel, directly buried at a minimum of 12". The wire will not be buried anywhere within 5' of the pool and come up out of the ground a minimum of 6' away from the pool via a 3/4" schedule 40 pvc conduit into a pvc box with a weather proof 20A duplex outlet and an in-use cover attached to a pressure treated 4x4 approximately 2' high. Bonding for storable pools is not required. I've been researching the electrical side ad nauseum and hopefully have it all right!
In terms of site preparation I was thinking to measure an extra 1' around the pool, so a 26' diameter circle for the 24' pool, then spray round up to kill the existing grass and dig out the dead grass/roots an inch or two exposing the dirt. Our ground is fairly flat but once the grass is gone it'll be leveled perfectly. It'd then be tamped down and sprayed with more weed/grass killer or some other product(?) to make sure nothing new grows. I don't see many doing this but it was my intention to put 5 oz super thick landscaping fabric and staple it down over the dirt. On top of that I'd put a 27' Gorilla Pad, the larger size so I could cut it to size and maintain the 1' extra space around the pool (for lawn mowing purposes) and still keep it looking pretty for the wife!
Our ground is fairly soft and sandy. I've been reading that many put pavers under the pool legs to keep them from sinking in. What size pavers? I read to bury them flush with the ground or maybe 1/4" higher to avoid damaging the liner? Damaging the liner is my biggest concern but so is keeping the pool level. I also read that the pool legs will move out 3-6" as the pool is filled with water so it would make sense to bury the pavers leaving room for the legs to expand out? I've read to fill the pool with 1-2" of water and then make sure the bottom of the liner is stretched out flat before filling it further along with checking the level of the pool legs and paver location along the way.
I have the liner stored in our basement in a 95 gallon toter garbage can. The metal supports and everything else in a separate 65 gallon toter. It's my intention to dismantle the pool before each winter and store everything in these toters in our basement. The only thing left outside during the off season would be a big circle covered in the thick landscape fabric where the pool used to be. It is my hope that the landscape fabric would prevent any weed/grass growth until next spring. I may buy the fake green carpet type grass to put over the landscape fabric so it can blend in nicer to the lawn and also help further prevent any weed growth, not sure?
I'd be most curious to see photos and/or videos of various members installations processes. I've read so many horror stories and want to make sure to get this right the first time around.
Are there any changes/improvements I could make? Thank you for all your suggestions!
