Census Poll on Intex Users

[crookm11]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and new to pools. I have an Intex 16 x 48 Ultra Frame with the 1500 gph pump that came with the pool. The family has decided that our current pool is too small. I will be upgradeing to the 20 x 48 Ultra Frame here shortly. I have followed this thread and love how the Intex sand filter works. The sand filter is on the list of upgrades also. I used sand to smooth out the ground before the pool went up and have read on the forum that you can use styrofoam as a base for pools. Do you have to cover the styrofoam before you place the pool on top? Will the styrofoam mold and break apart if you don't cover it? In other words will the styrofoam stand up to the elements? When I upgrade to the larger size pool I'm going to build a small deck around the base of the pool to help support the pool legs and provide a cleam surface to walk around the pool. I have buildt a small deck at the base of the ladder to help with keeping sand and dirt out of the pool. I cant wait to start on the upgrading process.

Cheers, Mark

 

[crookm11]

:-D decided to make a short video of my intex sand filter. if anyone is on the fence about upgrading their intex pump, i can highly recommend this sand filter. it has improved my circulation vastly and i dont even have to vacumm the pool anymore. it keeps the bottom clean!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPfO2GPgCPs

JS,

That is a great video of the sand filter. I like the water flow it creates. Do you think the sand filter and pump have enough head pressure to create a water fountain or two? My kids love the slide you put on your deck. I hope you don't mind me being a copy cat of that idea :lol: I think I read that you were going to do the through wall skimmer to your pool. Have you done that yet? I'm thinking of doing that to mine. I hate the Intex skimmer that came with the pool. You have done a great job on your pool, keep it up. I will be posting pictures as my pool changes.

Cheers, Mark

 

[jsf0656]

:-D decided to make a short video of my intex sand filter. if anyone is on the fence about upgrading their intex pump, i can highly recommend this sand filter. it has improved my circulation vastly and i dont even have to vacumm the pool anymore. it keeps the bottom clean!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPfO2GPgCPs

JS,

That is a great video of the sand filter. I like the water flow it creates. Do you think the sand filter and pump have enough head pressure to create a water fountain or two? My kids love the slide you put on your deck. I hope you don't mind me being a copy cat of that idea :lol: I think I read that you were going to do the through wall skimmer to your pool. Have you done that yet? I'm thinking of doing that to mine. I hate the Intex skimmer that came with the pool. You have done a great job on your pool, keep it up. I will be posting pictures as my pool changes.

Cheers, Mark

by all means copy anything you want. the whole purpose of the pics and vids are to hopefully give people ideas on how to enjoy their intex pools even more! i guarantee the power of the pump is more than powerful enough to support a fountain. i'm thinking about adding one myself now that i have a better pump. i'm probably going to take down the pool at the end of season to treat the deck and work on leveling the ground a little more and to install supports under the legs. as you can see in the vid that one side of the pool as sunk about 2''. it has not been a problem. i still want it level with supports and when i put it up next year it will stay up. then i will install the skimmer thru the wall permanent. here is a video i took of the kids enjoying the speedwave slide. they LOVE IT! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvxyrEYVcvY

 

[naughtymr2]

I have a quick question... one of my buddies has a metal frame Intex pool. He said he dug down a couple feet in the center and caused the pool to be about 1.5 foot deeper. Has anyone else done this? Wouldn't that put extra stress on the legs and liner?

 

[rghilliard]

It would definitely create extra stress. The extra material needed to fill the hole has to come from somewhere. My guess is that it would tend to pull the floor section of the pool inwards. I guess the questions are how much stress is created and how much does it take to damage the pool. There must be some level of extra stress that is safe, like when the pool is not completely level. You just don't want to find out the hard way where do draw the line. It seems that this would work a lot better with the inflatable ring pools than it would with the metal frame that has a fixed height.

 

[TwinTurboMike]

How I Set Up On 2" Styrofoam and Pavers Above Ground:

After laying down styrofoam and setting up the pool frame and liner, I had to cut out styrofoam and drop in the cement paver blocks (also 2" thick). In order to do this, I made a template out of cardboard that was slightly larger than the brick itself, cut a smaller hole in the middle and a slit along one of the borders.

After the template was made, I then slipped the template around the leg, centered and laid it flat on the styrofoam. I then traced the template with a jagged kitchen knife, cutting down to the ground level. After the square had been cut and the leg pushed to the side, I also cut a diamond shape and an X shape to get the pieces of styrofoam out more easily.

Finally I dropped the paver into the square, and leveled the leg back onto the paver.

The challenge here is that when the pool is not full of water, the frame is very wobbly. The legs will have to be adjusted a couple of times around to make sure they are perfectly vertical. Every leg you move, offsets the others slightly in alignment. Of course, this also means that your blocks may need to shift a little. In this case, cut out a bit more styrofoam and shift the block.

Does this all work well? We'll see. The pool is still filling with water.

Question:
One problem I did notice is that I didn't center the top frame pipes inside of the pool liner sleeves perfectly. So they are about an inch and a half further out on one side than the other. Will this offset cause me problems down the road?

 

[TwinTurboMike]

It seems my pool has a difference of 3" in depth from one side to the other. Given that it is an ultra frame (18' x 54") should I stop filling and tear everything down, or should it still be stable?

Also, once the pool is full, are the legs movable/liftable? Hypothetically if I crack one of the paver blocks under a leg can I change it out? Can legs move due to water movement in the pool shifting the frame?

 

[rghilliard]

For a 3" difference you should probably level it some more. A less desirable approach that could work is to just remove the pavers from the high side, lowering it 2". The legs would probably sink another inch or so into the dirt without the pavers making it fairly level. That is not what I would recommend, but it would most likely work. Assuming it is late in your swim season and you plan to take it down for the winter, that is what I would likely do, then level more before putting it back up next spring. Just a thought.

 

[TwinTurboMike]

For a 3" difference you should probably level it some more. A less desirable approach that could work is to just remove the pavers from the high side, lowering it 2". The legs would probably sink another inch or so into the dirt without the pavers making it fairly level. That is not what I would recommend, but it would most likely work. Assuming it is late in your swim season and you plan to take it down for the winter, that is what I would likely do, then level more before putting it back up next spring. Just a thought.

Thanks rghilliard, the removal of pavers is a good suggestion!

To be more specific, I think the problem is actually that about 1/4 of the pool sags down a bit. The majority of the pool is reasonably level. I'm going to have to climb in and take a few measurements around the whole thing I think.

The caveat here is that the pool is sitting on top of 2" styrofoam as well. While the legs would lower, the pool floor would still be elevated. I suppose an alternative approach would be to stage the styrofoam in levels from 2", 1.5", 1", .5", then none. The floor would still be staggered a little, but the water distribution will likely be a lot more level that way. I've probably got about 1,000 gallons of water in it right now. Maybe I won't fill it too full and hope for the best until the end of the season. I don't suspect there will be too many warm days left up here in the NW anyway.

 

[geekgranny]

here is a video i took of the kids enjoying the speedwave slide. they LOVE IT! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvxyrEYVcvY

So cute. I really enjoyed this and giggled some. Enjoy every moment. They grow up so fast.

gg=alice

 

[naughtymr2]

It would definitely create extra stress. The extra material needed to fill the hole has to come from somewhere. My guess is that it would tend to pull the floor section of the pool inwards. I guess the questions are how much stress is created and how much does it take to damage the pool. There must be some level of extra stress that is safe, like when the pool is not completely level. You just don't want to find out the hard way where do draw the line. It seems that this would work a lot better with the inflatable ring pools than it would with the metal frame that has a fixed height.

Interesting... thankyou. Well after reading some on this thread.. I've decided to buy an intex. I was going to buy a small base metal frame but found a used one (less than a year old) on craigs list. The liner seems to be stable. I am kind of concerned about it but I got a 24x52 Round that comes complete with a 2500 gph pump/filter and a SWG that is only 3 months old. Even comes with 6 bags of salt and a box of filters. I got it all for $400.

I'm in the process of beginning to prep my yard for it. The sheer size is going to be cutting it close. I will actually have it close to my fence and house due to its size and the layout of my yard. I'm excited and nervous at the same time as this is my first attempt into the world of owning a home with a pool.

 

[rghilliard]

That is a really good deal for all you got. Do you plan on leveling the ground by hand, renting equipment or hiring someone else to level it? Getting it level over 24' will take a lot of work, but will be well worth the effort.

 

[mcoonan]

Interesting... thankyou. Well after reading some on this thread.. I've decided to buy an intex. I was going to buy a small base metal frame but found a used one (less than a year old) on craigs list. The liner seems to be stable. I am kind of concerned about it but I got a 24x52 Round that comes complete with a 2500 gph pump/filter and a SWG that is only 3 months old. Even comes with 6 bags of salt and a box of filters. I got it all for $400.

I'm in the process of beginning to prep my yard for it. The sheer size is going to be cutting it close. I will actually have it close to my fence and house due to its size and the layout of my yard. I'm excited and nervous at the same time as this is my first attempt into the world of owning a home with a pool.

naughtymr2,
Here are a couple of links of what I did for my pool:
round-2-intex-abg-metal-frame-15x48-underlay-question-t18849.html
leveling-the-ground-for-intex-ultra-frame-pool-t21143.html
Mike

 

[naughtymr2]

So far... I am doing it all by hand. I was outside last night until 1am doing digging. I'm pretty much digging 6 inches down (to get through all the sod and roots. So far I have a 10x12 foot section dug. I have a feeling this is gonna take me a long time. If I wasn't so tapped out $$$ wise (i'm setting aside money for little things later on that might come up with pool) I'd rent equipment. She is going to keep it up at her house and allow the pump to run for a week if I need her to. That way I don't have to worry about taking it down and letting the liner spend so much time exposed and not set up. My two biggest concerns are the liner and leveling.

Right now.. my goals are:
1. to level out the best I can.
2. Treat twice with round up.
3. Lay a landscaping barrier
4. Lay foam padding
5. Lay a tarp
6. Then Build the top ring of the pool and figure out where I will be placing my stones for the legs

Mike, I already have that thread bookmarked for that information you posted.

 

[crek31]

Somewhere I read the suggestion to use treated wood instead of pavers under the legs -- theory being pavers might crack but the wood won't. Not sure if anyone here has had a problem using pavers, but I'll likely use wood next year unless someone here has information to change my mind.

 

[TwinTurboMike]

For a 3" difference you should probably level it some more. A less desirable approach that could work is to just remove the pavers from the high side, lowering it 2". The legs would probably sink another inch or so into the dirt without the pavers making it fairly level. That is not what I would recommend, but it would most likely work. Assuming it is late in your swim season and you plan to take it down for the winter, that is what I would likely do, then level more before putting it back up next spring. Just a thought.

Just a follow-up to how I resolved my level difference: I ended up buying pavers of multiple thickness and placing them under the legs accordingly. This of course will result in the bottom of the liner pulling up on the deep side and acting a bit as a wall, and the wall sitting a bit lower to the ground on the shallow side. So far it's holding up nicely. and the water level at the surface is pretty even with the top frame. Will report back again in a week to let everyone know how this works out. It may work for some of you who cannot bring in heavy equipment to dig out the ground.

 

[crookm11]

Sand Filter has Arrived !!!

Hello fellow Intex followers !!!!

Just thought I would let everyone know I just received my Intex Sand Filter yesterday. This thing is a monster. I have the 16' x 48" Ultra Frame and the pump that came with it was horrible. The circulation was non existent and couldn't even vacum with it. I should be able to now . I will be hooking it up today after work. I will post pictures.

Now lets talk about the pool liner. I want to add another return to my pool. I have noticed that the liner has extra material around the current holes. If I cut the liner for new holes, will I have to do the same for the new hole? Will the liner rip if there is no extra material placed around the new hole? What is the best way to glue more material to the liner?

Wall Skimmers. I also want to add a thru wall skimmer to the pool. I have seen this done so I know it works. Does anyone have a part number or model number to the skimmer? I want to make sure I get the right one.

I think that will do for now. Any help or feedback would be great.

Thanks, Mark

 

[rghilliard]

Re: Sand Filter has Arrived !!!

Now lets talk about the pool liner. I want to add another return to my pool. I have noticed that the liner has extra material around the current holes. If I cut the liner for new holes, will I have to do the same for the new hole? Will the liner rip if there is no extra material placed around the new hole? What is the best way to glue more material to the liner?

A simpler option would be to split the return right after it enters the pool. A 1-1/4" pvc slip coupling fits nicely over this http://www.intexstore.com/ProductDetail ... ductID=139 adapter. You could use a 1-1/4" pvc Y or T slip coupling to send the return into two different directions and plumb it with 1-1/4" pvc similar to what foster400 intex-pools-this-is-how-to-run-the-skim-and-main-together-t25132.html did on the the suction side. Of course, you wouldn't need the valves. Another helpful thread is this one pool-water-relief-in-an-intex-pool-t24483.html. It would be a lot safer than splitting the return line outside the pool and cutting a hole in the pool. Plus, you would not have to drain. Just an idea.

Whatever mod you do, post pictures. We love pictures!

 

[HeatherChampaggne]

OkayI have another question is there anyway I can heat the pool. We live in the mountains and the nights get chilly. I have a solar cover... but it really doesnt keep the water warm on the colder nights (I mean we see 50 now in AUGUST) And while it is nice to go in today the water is freezing. FOr me the season is about over. I am wondering for next year how I can battle this problem. ANy ideas? I would prefer an electrical heater... The solar ones... well I dont know that we have enough sun around her to support the kind of heat I need.

 

[crookm11]

Re: Sand Filter has Arrived !!!

A simpler option would be to split the return right after it enters the pool. A 1-1/4" pvc slip coupling fits nicely over this http://www.intexstore.com/ProductDetail ... ductID=139 adapter. You could use a 1-1/4" pvc Y or T slip coupling to send the return into two different directions and plumb it with 1-1/4" pvc similar to what foster400 intex-pools-this-is-how-to-run-the-skim-and-main-together-t25132.html did on the the suction side. Of course, you wouldn't need the valves. Another helpful thread is this one pool-water-relief-in-an-intex-pool-t24483.html. It would be a lot safer than splitting the return line outside the pool and cutting a hole in the pool. Plus, you would not have to drain. Just an idea.

Whatever mod you do, post pictures. We love pictures!

Thanks rghilliard for the ideas. I think I have read just about every thread on the intex pool to include the one you mentioned. I love all of the ideas people have to upgrade these pools. Now that I have the new Intex Sand Filter/Pump, I want to make my pool more efficient. I will be making changes to the suction side by adding a main drain towards the bottom of the pool. Same concept as above but done differently. I have thought about splitting the return side to add a second return but didn't want all the PVC pipe in the pool. I also don't want to ruin the liner either. So the split may be my only alternative. I will be adding a fountain to the return side also. More entertainment for the kids!!!

Everyone, I installed the sand filter last night. WOW what a differnce this filter and pump makes. My pool water was a little on the dull side last night before the new pump. I ran the pump all night and woke up to a CRYSTAL CLEAR pool this morning.

Picture of Sand Filter/Pump and pool. I will be building a new pump and SWG stand this weekend.

Enjoy!!! I know I will be tonight.