Bad news: Rust. Good news: Time to upgrade.

[Brett S]

At the end of the summer of 2018 I got a 15’ intex ultraframe pool on clearance at target for $150. Over last summer I started noticing some rust forming on some of the supports. Once swimming season ended I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the pool, but I was out in the back yard yesterday and discovered that the pool is no longer structurally sound. In fact, I’m not entirely certain how it’s still standing:






Given that I only spent $150 on the pool I’m not too upset that I only got a season and a half out of it, but this was enough to give me the pool bug and now I want to replace it with something bigger and better.

Here are some of the things I’d like in a bigger and better pool:

Deeper water - This one was 48” deep and I’d like to go at least 52 or 54” deep with the next one
More room for exercise - I like to use the pool to exercise, but I discovered that swimming laps across the 15’ round pool was all but impossible. Swimming in circles around the outside kinda worked, but still wasn’t ideal, so I’d definitely like something larger.
Something that will last more than a year and a half.

I’m leaning toward an intex XTR as they are supposed to be more rust resistant, but after my rust issues with this one I’m a bit hesitant about going with intex again.

I also like the rectangular pools better than the round ones as I think a bigger rectangular pool will fit into my yard better than a large round pool. It’s also easier to put a cover on a roller with a rectangular pool. I used a solar cover on the round pool to try to extend the beginning and end of the pool season, but it was difficult to remove and replace the cover when I was using the pool alone. I feel like a roller will make that job much easier. I would also like to add a deck by the pool at some point and I feel like a rectangular pool would make that easier as well.

Here are some pictures of my yard:




There is only 35 feet from the back of the house to the fence, so a 24’ or 26’ round pool wouldn’t really leave much space between the pool and the fence and the pool and the house.

I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I think about this more, but for now, I guess here are my questions:

Are the Intex XTR pools more rust resistant than their non XTR pools? Or should I consider a “real” agp?

How big do I need to go to be able to exercise? I’m not a competitive swimmer or even a hard core exerciser, but it would be good to at least be able to get in more than one or two strokes before I reach the other side of the pool. It looks like intex offers a 12x24 as well as a 16x32. Would the 12x24 be enough?

Anything else that I’m not thinking of?

Thanks much,
Brett

 

[kimkats]

A oval pool might fit your needs better. You could also get a "swim tether" and put in a 4x4 deep in the ground to attach it to. I have a 33 round and do swim around in circles. I can only get about 5 good crawl stokes in from one side to the other.

Kim

 

[AusPhil]

At the end of the summer of 2018 I got a 15’ intex ultraframe

How big do I need to go to be able to exercise? I’m not a competitive swimmer or even a hard core exerciser, but it would be good to at least be able to get in more than one or two strokes before I reach the other side of the pool. It looks like intex offers a 12x24 as well as a 16x32. Would the 12x24 be enough?

Anything else that I’m not thinking of?

Thanks much,
Brett

My instincts says that based on your information and desire to swim that if the yard is big enough the 16x32 would be a good option
just for comparison i overlayed the relative sizing for each option, the 32 footer being just over two of your 15 foot rounds side by side

 

[Brett S]

Well, it is a sad day. The old pool is coming down



But once I get it down I’ll try to lay out lines where the new pool might go and try to get an idea of what size to go with. Thanks for the size comparisons, @AusPhil, that definitely helps.

 

[Anjayla0021]

Ours looked exactly the same after 3 seasons. We took it down and the end of our swim season last year. It was so corroded that some of the legs and footings were just broke. I too was surprised it was still standing, but didnt want to push my luck another season. Im sure the salt water didnt help.

We are upgrading to a true above ground this year, probably resin.

 

[Perdk]

Just about to setup a small metal frame pool from Intex and those rust pictures really worry me. Find it amazing it can rust that fast.

How is the weather where you live? Could that be the reason? or is it simply just the salt water?

 

[Brett S]

There are a lot of threads about the normal intex pools rusting. I think it just comes from the fact that they use normal steel and only powder coat the outside.

I’m sticking with intex for my new pool, but I’m going with their XTR line which uses galvanized steel and is powder coated on the inside and the outside and should be much more rust resistant.

 

[RMcGirr83]

Brett, were you using salt?

 

[Brett S]

Brett, were you using salt?

I was not using salt for the first 8 or 10 months and I started using salt after that.
I’m not really sure the salt made much of a difference. The salt level in a saltwater pool is pretty low and even non salt pools have a decent amount of salt in them because the chlorine will break down into salt.

 

[RMcGirr83]

Yeah I'm aware just thought I would ask as that's the first thing that is usually to blame for a premature failure. Many installers will actually void their warrantee because of it.