NEw Intex owner and ......sigh.

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kaxfenix

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Jun 22, 2009
10
Saginaw Texas
Been about 24 hours since I had my pool up and it looks like I am going to have to take it down now.

This was my Father's day present and I surely enjoyed it until I noticed that the un-leveled ground monster as struck again!

When setting it up. My back yard was, "Or so I thought" relatively flat by using the ol trusty eye ball.

As it turns out while filling it with water it turns out that of course was perhaps off by an inch or 3. Not so much a big deal, "Or so I thought!"


As of tonight I notice the weight of the water is starting to push the wall down on the "lower side" which will eventually cause the pool to collapse. It is pushed down so much so that the drain plug is now on on the ground.

I have let out a lot of water to alleviate this for now so it does not collapse entirely while I am at work tomorrow.

The pump is shut down and will not run on its timer tonight. I am so bummed.
My next thought is Now I will need to level the ground a little to ensure the pool is level. Is there a easy way about going about this?

I need your tips and tricks and perhaps I can actually bounce back from this.. I feel defeated at the moment.
 
I've noticed a lot of new Intex owners popping up lately and I've been thinking we should have some sort of article or collection of tips.

So, you learned the hard way the site has to be level. A 3000 gallon pool weighs something like 12 tons, it will want to flow downhill no matter how little the hill is. You probably also want it to be basically flat, which is not the same thing. I haven't laid eyes on one myself so take that part with a double hit of salt; I don't know what the Intex instructions say, if anything.

Something I've picked up while lurking around other construction threads: Don't try to build up the low side, dig down the high side. Any kind of fill you try to put in is liable to crumble under the weight or get washed out by rain.

Hope it works out for you....
--paulr
 
I remember a post by a kid, who had an intex, he actually put a deep end in it by digging out the center, he also added a water slide. Seems like as long as the perimeter is flat, the center doesn't matter. Now with that, would it be possible to use foam to level the base? Just a thought, easier than digging out several wheelbarrows of dirt. You can get it in 4x8 sheets, obviously you would want to dig the transition in so there was not a lip. And as for water weighing 12 tons, the surface pressure isn't 12 tons, it is some factor of the area of the pool.
 
You cant get around it, you have to excavate. No amount of "build up" with any kind of material will change that reality. Surface pressure doesnt matter. 12 tons is 12 tons. At some point that 12 tons of water will run down hill. You need to dig out a flat, level area bigger than the circumference of the pool to get to level. It really needs to be shot with a transit and graded. At least using a string level, and shovel.
 
I have a transit and grade pole, but I doubt it is anything that the majority of people have. If something is going to be rented, may I recommend a rotary laser and receiver? I do agree with building up with dirt though, don't do it, it will wash. Dig it in, probably dig a couple inches down on the low side too to allow for sand to be below grade, so it doesn't wash. A bobcat is about 200 bucks a day, and the city will pick up a pile of dirt off the street in my town. Look into it, save yourself some work.

As for 12 tons still being 12 tons, there is a difference, when it is spread out over an area. You are not building a pool on a one foot square block. Drive a truck on fresh layed asphalt, weighs less than a roller, but the distribution of weight allows the roller to drive on it, while a truck cannot.

Using foam as a base for half of it: honestly I cannot see a problem with it, dig it in so there is no lip. It is not proper, but an intex pool is also not a permanent structure. Just my opinion, doing it myself, I would rent a bobcat and do it right, digging it in below grade, but overkill is not a natural tendency for most people. Especially people who don't have years of construction related work under their belt.

I am only tossing in my two cents. This guy got a pool for a fathers day gift, probably the first one. Digging a crater in his yard is not what he signed up for. Using the pool is. Get it up, enjoy it, and decide on whether a pool is an option for the future. At that point a drastic landscaping overhaul can commence.

Good luck.

$0.02
 
Yea, bobcats are pretty cheap to rent.

But....for not much more than the rental, hassle, etc., a professional can be hired to do the job in less than half a day. About $600 bucks i would say ($200 an hour). Sounds like a lot, but the headaches it will relieve are well worth it. IMO, excavation is not a DYI job unless you know how to do it.
 
Brad S said:
Yea, bobcats are pretty cheap to rent.

But....for not much more than the rental, hassle, etc., a professional can be hired to do the job in less than half a day. About $600 bucks i would say ($200 an hour). Sounds like a lot, but the headaches it will relieve are well worth it. IMO, excavation is not a DYI job unless you know how to do it.
Click to expand...
Ditto. Gotta know how to drive a tractor. Oh, and if your Utilities come through the back yard, like alot of new subdivision do nowadays, better call for locates, and find them with a shovel first. New gas lines are plastic, and I have ripped several out with machines, and a few with hand tools. Not one of their better ideas.
 
sevver said:
And as for water weighing 12 tons, the surface pressure isn't 12 tons, it is some factor of the area of the pool.
Click to expand...
Right, the pressure would be 12 tons divided by bottom surface area and I make it something like 140 lb per sq ft. But even a 1" grade across 15' will be enough to make the water want to creep, and with the Intex being basically a giant water balloon, it needs to be as level as you can make it.

I was poking around in the Intex FAQs and it said when you fill, put in about 1" and stop to make sure it's filling evenly all the way around. If it isn't, you have more leveling work to do.
--paulr
 
I hear ya on the getting a pool for fathers day thing. I guess since i come form a long line of tradesmen, builders, and myself a liscenced plumber back in the day (nice way to put ones self thu college) i tend to over build stuff. But.. it looks like a lot of these intex things are showing up. Not as simple a set up as 1st appears. i gotta look at the web site and see how they say to set the things up.
Understand about the 12 tons. My point i guess, badly made, was that the entire 12 tons of water would run out of that thing at some point. And 12 tons of water rushin' out aint no little stream in a guys back yard!

I know about holding up water. :lol: My inground pool is held up on the backside by a 50,000 pound, 6 foot high by 100 ft long, engineered versa lok wall!
 
Update,

Ok I leveled the ground. I move the pool higher up in my yard closer to the house, and the level was only off by an inch after digging it out and dropping sand smoothing it out and all that jazz. I have level ground whew.. It was a job... Not very expensive though Cost be around 40 bucks in sound for a 15" area..

Any rate.. my pool is filling now. I have some stabilizer do you recommend I add it now while the pool is filling?

My test kit is pretty crappy I have not invested in a good one yet as well you know my issues I have been going through

Only thing I can test for at the moment is FC, PH and TA.
 

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Kax,

Welcome to the forum. There's a couple of options on how to maintain your pool.

The first is to buy a really good kit and learn all about all the parameters of pool water (BBB).

The other way (and it's really only practical with pools your size or smaller) is simply to manage the chlorine and pH and if things get too far out of whack, drain the pool and start over.

I you choose this path, test your pH and keep it around 7.5 all Summer. You raise it (pH) with 20 mule team borax and you lower it with muriatic acid.

Secondly, test your chlorine daily with your current test kit and add enough each evening to bring it up to around 5ppm. Do that religously (every day) and you'll probably have a great pool all summer. Again, if things go South, you can always simply drainthe pool and start over.

I cannot tell you how it hurts me to offer any alternative other than buying my kit :lol: :lol: :lol: but your enthusiasm for pools really shows in your post and this is a good way to see if pools are right for you. Many folks start just like you and end up very soon with a big inground (then you need my kit!! :shock: :shock:
 
Make no mistake, I plan to invest in a good test kit. Water testing has been a part of my daily routine in the past as I used to keep Salt water tanks.

I also plan on going with the BBB method in keeping my pool clean and right now have the supplies needed. as apart of my F-day gift they got me a little starter set that included Chlorine, "shock", and Stabilizer and little package of test strips which I mentioned before that can only test FC, PH, and AT so I am going to use that up.


My question still stands, is it wise to go ahead and drop in the stabilizer now? My little pool is full enough to run the pump as we speak
 
I would assume.. I could throw it in some panty hose or maybe a sock tie it off in front of the return jet. I would say I could place in my little skimmer but I do not have that set up yet and will probably not set it up until the pool is full. I do not want to run a risk of getting to much air into the lines.


I am good to go on adding chlorine.
 
I don't know that the full-bore test kit is really that necessary for one of these little pools, you figure out the right amount of stabilizer and then just manage the pH and chlorine. You could do TA as well or just let it sort itself out over time. Vinyl seems like it's pretty forgiving in terms of chemistry, and because you don't leave the thing up permanently a lot of the usual things you need to care about become non-issues.

But if you think testing is fun, well then go for it.
--paulr
 
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