Abilene Texas,Installing Intex Pool, questions galore!

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cmilliorn

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hello, I live in Abilene Texas to give you a sense of the climate...HOT. I have not purchased anything yet but have got the prices and am willing to put in the work to make this thing amazing. I want to install the pool first and then probably a month or two later if its used enough and we like as much as we think we will I plan to put a deck up around it. I was looking at the ultra frame round pools. I like the 26x52 but am not sure I have enough room due to the placement of a tree in my yard. I do for sure have the room for the 22 x 52. So here are my questions.

What is the best underlayment under the pool? I heard that just leveling the ground then adding 2 inches of sand will do the trick. How about the legs? Is adding like a stone underneath them a good idea? I heard something about foam but can't find it on the forum.

Leveling-I am doing this with my father and father in law so someone with solid experience in this matter would be appreciated.

Filters/Pump- I was thinking about buying this http://www.ebay.com/itm/330903800443. Its the sand filter pump and salt water together in one which I like because the timer works for both. But I would buy a bigger version of this since I am buying such a large pool but I can't seem to find one. Open for suggestions but would prefer not to spend more than $400 here. I really like the way the salt works since I have a 3 year old who is learning and hate to see those red eyes and tears from the chlorine.

Does anyone that lives in Texas or hotter regions use the salt water system? Ive heard that in hotter regions it doesn't work as well but this was from a salesman who wanted me to buy his chlorine system so just curious on this.

Can you winterize these pools and leave them up with water all year? Our winters are mild so I figured this wouldn't be too bad.

Lastly, I plan on buying the pool from walmart since they are good with covering their stuff and you can get the extended warranties from them. I also plan on buying the 2 year coverage on the filter system we buy as well.

Any other suggestions are welcome. I plan on buying in the next week and have been doing lots of research but I think that you kind folks that have already done this probably have the best info!!! Thanks so much. Im fine with spending up to $1000 on the pool, $400 on the filter/saltwater system and then $250 for the ground work. Thanks again in advance for all the help.
 
Welcome everyone here is great i have the 22x52 ultra frame..first q. Its huge i had five kids aand nine adults in mine lyestrday and there was room for many more youll be surprised how big it is..for cleaning sake uf u can get as far away from tree as possible the better im in az so i know hot its 110-115 here till sept. Take a look at all the info here on upgrades if u have trees etc u might want to install a thru the wall skimmer it means cutting the pool but lots of people here have done it find the threads and read hayward wide mouth seems to be a good match. I upgraded to a sand filter went with a pentaire dynamo 1hp pump with sand dollar sand filter. Alot of people here like hayward. Again lots of help here on install if u upgrade u will Be able to run an auto vac. Intex also sells sand filters but if want to run auto vac wouldnt do under 3/4 hp. 1 hp is Better.
I didnt place anything under my legs and as far as leveling well i hired a landscaper 40 in supplies 100 for labor and im level within less then 1/4 of an inch. I had hard ground so didnt use a pad but u can look at using a gorilla pad lots of people dont recommend sand it can wash away dig to level dont add is what id been told. Once we leveled we did place 1/2 inch sand for a softer feel then used 2 layers of 5ml thick plastic drop cloth. Sealed the seams with a caulk for plastic then ground cover.
The 22x52 should run u 699/753 with tax think youll find money well spent is on ground prep and pump/filter system. I havent decided on the swg yet im using the bbb system which is bleach,baking soda & borax best place to start read all the categories in pool school u will face same issue as me so much direct sun and heat it breaks down the chlorine but the bbb method is easy cheaper and i have had no complaints of stinging eyes. Since So hot i put my chems in at night run filter for eight hrs. Once my motor is fixed and my sand filter is up will only have to run four hrs. Go to tab says pool school and readit all youll find alit of your answers there and anything not there people here are fantastic i couldnt have done mine without them.
We r buying 2 of the 11 ft tilting umbrellas to give some shade and installing a fountain will help airate your water and cool it a bit my umbrellas are not up yet first day filled it water was Already 90 degrees but the up sjde for us is like me wont cool off till sept get a solar blanket use starting mid aug youll have water warm thru nov. We had smaller intex few yrs ago and a small solar heater lil disc looking thing and a solar blanket and husband says they swam till xmas. I was sick and in hosp most of that yr so i didnt really see or know anything about that pool. This is my first time with this uf intex i love it. Welcome and remember no such thing as a dumb qs..start with pool school then go through each thread u will find answers to any q
 
Hello im a fellow abilenian. I have a 18x48 ultraframe that we love. I also upgraded to the intex 2650 gph from the stock one. The pump is amazing and has more than enough power to make my hayward wanda the whale pool cleaner work. I also have the intex swg and wouldnt trade it for the world.

P.S. My pool is up to 94 degrees today!!!
 
Houde said:
Hello im a fellow abilenian. I have a 18x48 ultraframe that we love. I also upgraded to the intex 2650 gph from the stock one. The pump is amazing and has more than enough power to make my hayward wanda the whale pool cleaner work. I also have the intex swg and wouldnt trade it for the world.

P.S. My pool is up to 94 degrees today!!!
Click to expand...

Hi there, I was looking at pool cleaners for it, any suggestions?
 
Welcome. I'm on my phone so forgive me if this is different since I can't easily go to your links and you may be thinking different from your original post. You mentioned the combo SWG and filter. A better idea is to go separate. If either breaks in any way, you only have to replace what broke rather than the entire combo unit.

Another reason since you mentioned it is the timer. My filter pump timer never worked. I wanted to upgrade to sand so I just manually turnrd the filter on and off and tge separate SWG timer ran as it should. This year I cut the gfi plug off the filter (already plugged into a gfi outlet) and wire a regular plug on so I could use my own timer. With the stock gfi plug, it tripped every time my own timer would shut the power down. Now I am using my timer and the SWG turns off with the unit's timer and tge whole system shuts down witg my timer at the end of the day.

You mention winterizing. I'm up here in PA and left mine up over winter as many others do also. It was a.solid chunk of ice about 3/4 full all winter and I had no problems. You should have less problems than my none down there in Texas. Heck my kids were swimming a month ago in probably the equivalent of your winter, lol.

Finally, we love our 22x52!
 

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