16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting over.

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kimberleigh13

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Jul 22, 2013
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Hi! New here!

So husband and I jumped in and put up a 16x48 ultra frame intex pool. We read so many reviews that we were certain that there was a 50/50 chance that we would get a ripped liner or holes, a broken pump, something. We took our chances and got the pool up and running this weekend. pump works fine (we added a saltwater pump) and no holes, broken seams, etc.

Well, we were so worried about all those other things we neglected the severity of an off level pool. :hammer: It even says in the dang instructions that when you start adding water, check for levelness before you proceed. It only looked an inch off or two so we proceeded. We were so worried about holes that it didn't seem a big concern.

so, jump ahead to now, we have looked, measured, researched and we seem to be off about 2 inches. I went around with a tape measure to each of the poles and two poles on one end are 40 and two poles on the other end are 42 with all the poles in between being about 41 and 41 1/2. ugh.

we have decided to drain and get the leveling right. A few questions.......

1. how long will it take to drain? we plan on running a garden hose out to the street.

2. we plan on trying to leave the t joints in and only removing the "legs" and trying to move the liner that way if it isn't too heavy and we can do it without damaging/dragging the liner.

3. Anyone do anything similar and have any advice? WE want to be back up and running as soon as possible. ;-) With a level pool!!!
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

to be honest it doesn't sound that bad to me. the majority of your pool only differs by half an inch. instead of moving i would probably try to put pavers under the two low legs and dig out half an inch under the two high legs.

draining with a garden hose is going to take longer than filling it up. it will be much quicker with a backwash hose (in addition to the garden hose).

after this season is over you could take down the pool and get the leveling perfect for next year.
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

thanks ugafan.

It's really not that bad but you can really notice at the two 42 poles and the two 40 poles. The frame is not leaning at all but I'd rather have it right.

thanks for the rec on the backwash hose. In your experience how long does it take to drain a pool? Are we talking days or ??? ;-)
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

From past experience I have found that if you can see a visible difference in the water level as you look at your pool from one side to the other it’s probably too much out of level.

I don’t think an inch will cause a problem beyond the fact that it just don’t look as good as being level and if your liner has the little squares you can tell it even more. With much more than that you are going to see your uprights start to lean toward the low side. There will also be a bulge on the low side that you may or may not be able to visually detect but it’s there.

Water exerts the same amount of pressure in every direction. By having the pool unlevel you are moving the center of the water column toward the low side without moving the frame. It may not fail but it very well could. (Kids and Adults can move a lot of water from one side to the other)

A 16 x 48 pool will hold approx 4800 – 5100 gal of water depending on how full you have it. A ¾” garden hose will drain the water at about 3 gal per minute as long as there is plenty of pressure…. And depending on how far you run the hose, as the pressure drops so will the flow rate.

If you have enough people to surround the pool frame and pick it up all together high enough to clear the ground I can see how that might work…I don’t think I would try it with just two people.
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

wow! thanks James!

so based on your input, we are looking at about 10 or so hours. our driveway steeps downward so that will assist the water in moving, I think. I might just come back and report how long it took just for other peoples reference.

when you say we need a pump or shop vac at the end, that makes me cringe a little. Is there no way to get the remaining water out without that equipment?
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

The little space below the drain hole in your pool hold quiet a bit of water over a 16 foot Dia. Most pumps dont do a very good job either at that low of a level. The tried and true shop vac is the best thing I found.
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

It took over 6 hours to drain down from the top to this level when the accident happend.....I'm glad my lab was there to stand guard and make sure none of the water got away

DSCN3094_zpse7986e69.jpg
 

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Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

The more hoses you can get in draining the faster it will go. If you have a vacuum hose it'll siphon even faster. Garden hoses I prefill with the faucet to start the siphon, vacuum hose prefill like you would to vacuum the pool, cap the end with your hand and pull out.
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

kimberleigh13 said:
when you say we need a pump or shop vac at the end, that makes me cringe a little. Is there no way to get the remaining water out without that equipment?
Click to expand...

you're going to have to collapse the pool down and remove the entire frame. gradually lift the liner from the high side so the water drains out the the low side. you'll want to make sure all the beams are gone when you do this so you don't accidentally cut the liner.

it's going to be a major headache to take it down and level.
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

I went through the same thing. We filled it, and it wasn't level. So we drained it (we have a 16X48 and it took 2 days to drain) and left it in tact, with a group of people moved it over to the driveway. I spent an entire Sunday leveling the area. I unfortunately didn't use a tamper and when we put the pool back as it started to fill I noticed it was going to be uneven again. So I started putting pavers under the legs that were uneven. After it filled all the way it was less than 1/4 inch off by 2 posts....but then it rained....and rained...and rained. It sunk lower and lower and I REFUSED to start over again - so I googled it and found this site. I saw where they used a hydraulic jack, and a 2x4 to jack up the legs and put pavers under them. I was pretty nervous that I would tear the liner but after days of contemplating I did it. It took me 5.5 hours to do three of the legs. I'll see if I can find the original thread. But it worked like a charm! We have had a lot of rain (again) and they seem to be holding steady. It's perfectly level now and being OCD I couldn't be happier! lol
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

reckerj said:
I went through the same thing. We filled it, and it wasn't level. So we drained it (we have a 16X48 and it took 2 days to drain) and left it in tact, with a group of people moved it over to the driveway. I spent an entire Sunday leveling the area. I unfortunately didn't use a tamper and when we put the pool back as it started to fill I noticed it was going to be uneven again. So I started putting pavers under the legs that were uneven. After it filled all the way it was less than 1/4 inch off by 2 posts....but then it rained....and rained...and rained. It sunk lower and lower and I REFUSED to start over again - so I googled it and found this site. I saw where they used a hydraulic jack, and a 2x4 to jack up the legs and put pavers under them. I was pretty nervous that I would tear the liner but after days of contemplating I did it. It took me 5.5 hours to do three of the legs. I'll see if I can find the original thread. But it worked like a charm! We have had a lot of rain (again) and they seem to be holding steady. It's perfectly level now and being OCD I couldn't be happier! lol
Click to expand...


thank you for the info. yeah, hubby is ****** at me! I am going to try my hardest to make it easy on him but I didn't want to spend the next two months worried about it being off level.

we were talking about pavers but I guess I don't understand how to do it. Do you bury them or set them on top of the dirt? My husband was worried that it would put pressure on the liner?
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

If you use pavers or foundation caps (I think caps have a 2" thickness) you will need to level the ground and then dig out and set the top of the cap at the same grade or about a 1/4" above so they can settle a smidge.

Just get 16 of them.....dig out a hole big enough for them to fit and level them up flush with the ground.

Don't set them on top of the dirt. You will be increasing the length of the uprights by 2" and the wall height will be staying the same....the bottom of the pool needs to set flat on the ground
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

almost forgot....be sure and mark where the legs on your pool are setting before you move it out of the way. Then you wont have to measure around the circle to lay out the caps. If you have already moved it the spacing between the uprights will be be 3.14 ft if the dia. of your pool is exactly 16 feet, but you might want to check that also. It could and probably is more like 15'-6" and then you will need to adjust the spacing a little
 
Re: 16x48 intex ultra frame........I think we are starting o

Here is the post that I found here originally that gave me the idea.

successfully-jacked-up-an-intex-summer-escapes-pool-t45938.html

I didn't use full size pavers. We have a ridiculous amount of them stacked behind the garage so I broke them up and used smaller pieces like the one pictured in the link above. I didn't put them close to the pool side, it was even with the leg and stuck out more on the outside. Well you'll see from the link, lol!
 
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