Intex pools to Non-Intex equipment

Jun 15, 2008
582
S.E. Wisconsin
Someone on the forum PM'ed me and asked about my plumbing and how I hooked a normal filter to my Intex pool. I know other people have asked about this so I decided to make a thread showing how I did it. I know the new Intex pools have different connections then the old ones and that my way of plumbing the pool is totally custom. I will add though, that it works extremely well, and with a little ingenuity, you can do it too(and I can help if you have pics :p :wink: ).

Without further Adue, the pictures, with explanations above. Sorry if some of them are a little dark, I just took them at 11:00 pm.

These are the old valves that connected the pool to the hoses for the filter...
Notice that the area that the little peg is supposed to stay in to hold the valve toether when open has broken away, this was the reason for the new setup that I made.
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This picture shows that inside half of the valve... Notice how that bottom has those plastic cross pieces? Thoses were a huge pain when vacuuming because they would clog with leaves. On the top where the hole is, there used to be an L bend that was where it connected to the through-pool fitting. When I made the new assembly, I used the old through pool part with the L bend.
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This picture shows the L-bend, where it connects to the pool, and the rubber part that connects it to the regular PVC.
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Here we have the whole pool side assembly. It consists of a Union Valve(becasue it was cheaper and easier to open/close then a regular ball valve) glued to a 1 1/2" hose nipple.
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From there, the water goes through a flex hose and connects to another hose nipple, where it goes in the 2" PVC underground. Top pipe is suction, from pool and bottom pipe is the return.
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This is where the pipes come out of the ground on the filter side. The pipe with the valve connects to the pump inlet. The valve was placed there so I could easily close it to clean the skimmer basket on the pump. To close the other side I just close a valve on the Solar bypass. In the picture you can also see a rubber strap wrench, it works GREAT to loosen the pump basket lid!
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This picture shows the pump, filter, and solar bypass. Hopefully next year I will plumb it all in Hard PVC with Unions, at that time I will also add an SWCG, probably an Intex one(because they are inexpensive) so I won't have to listen to my mom complain about me adding enough chlorine to keep the pool sanitary. :roll: She just doesn't understand. :(
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This is what I use to direct the water in my pool because there is no eye on Intex Pools. It fits into a 1-1/2" to 2" PVC adapter that fits tightly into the return opening in the pool. It gives the pool great circulation.
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Here's a pic of it installed and directin the water down and to the left, so the fresh water goes opposite of the filter inlet.
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Oh, and of course, my stock of Pool Shock, and Emergency Supermarket bleach, because we ran out and the pool started to grow algae after 4 days. I vacuumed at night and added 1.5 gal. of 6% and the next morning the algae was gone!
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Just one last shot of our whole pool...
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I hope you found this helpful, or at least interesting to read,
Adam
 
Very intresting launboy! I'm impressed!

Keep up the good work! 8)
 
I also have an Intex easy set pool, 18'x 48". The problem I am having is the impellor in the pump. The little plastic tabs on the impellor keep breaking off. I am have just ordered my third pump in two months. They have a one year warranty but the next replacement will require me to return the old pump and that costs $28.00.
What I want to know is the app. cost to do your pump and filter setup? Also is there anyone that makes a better impellor for the intex pump?
By the way great looking setup.
Also, how will this setup affect the Intex SWG I am using?
 
If I may add to this thread, I'd like to show how I just hooked up a REAL pool pump to an Intex filter.
Mind you this is only temporary until I find all the needed doo-dads for my sand filter.

We Intex owners sure face some challenges trying to adapt these things I'll say that much :lol:

BTW I got this pump on Ebay for $99 w/free shipping, the deal of the century I say.
It just came today.
 

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levi1019 said:
I also have an Intex easy set pool, 18'x 48". The problem I am having is the impeller in the pump. The little plastic tabs on the impeller keep breaking off. I am have just ordered my third pump in two months. They have a one year warranty but the next replacement will require me to return the old pump and that costs $28.00.
What I want to know is the app. cost to do your pump and filter setup? Also is there anyone that makes a better impeller for the intex pump?
By the way great looking setup.
Also, how will this setup affect the Intex SWG I am using?

Why are the impeller blades breaking? Are you vacuuming leaves or something else hard? I've never heard of anyone with that problem before... Interesting.

To answer your second question, our pump and filter only cost us $40.00! We got lucky and found them at a garage sale from some people who where tearing down their pool. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, but still get a good filter, check Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com. There are some great deals to be had! Also, no, it shouldn't affect your Intex SWG, there are other forum members using them with normal pump and filters.

Crzyfrlss1, is your pump sucking the water through the cart. before it goes through the pump? It's hard to tell from those pics with all of the hoses. If it is, you have it backward and should consider switching to so the water goes through the pump, then is pushed through the cart.

If you post a few pics of the ends of the hoses you have and the connections on the sand filter, I can probably help you out with what parts can connect them.

HTH,
Adam
 
launboy said:
Crzyfrlss1, is your pump sucking the water through the cart. before it goes through the pump? It's hard to tell from those pics with all of the hoses. If it is, you have it backward and should consider switching to so the water goes through the pump, then is pushed through the cart.


Adam,

On my hose connections I have

-the skimmer hose into the cartridge intake
-hose from filter output to suction side of the pump
-pump return going to pool

I believe I have it hooked up all wrong now :scratch:
Thanks Adam :goodjob:
So it should be like this I take it :scratch:

-skimmer hose connected to pump intake
-pump output connected to filter input
-filter output going to pool return

Going out to fix shortly
New pics coming later after the correct hook-up is made :oops:

launboy said:
If you post a few pics of the ends of the hoses you have and the connections on the sand filter, I can probably help you out with what parts can connect them.

I have all the hoses and connectors for my sand filter, I'm just waiting for misc. small parts which go inside of the filter.

This is to be expected I guess when you get something on Craigslist, but hey it was cheap at $50 and I'm only out $22 for the misc. parts.
I'm waiting for
-air relief cap
-valve o-ring
-standpipe o-ring
 
Here are the pics of the now correct way to hook this all up :-D

Thank you Adam, I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

I hope this helps some people out there with these kind of pools.

PoolStuff006.jpg

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And here is my pool the day after I put it up.

PoolStuff.jpg
 
Thanks for the comeback Launboy. There are no leaves to vacuum in the pool. The only reason I need to vacuum is to remove small amounts of grass from the kids getting in the pool. This always gets caught in the vacuum strainer. I will check around for parts I need to convert to a regular pump and filter system.
 
Doh :oops:

I just realized I have the filter hooked up backwards in that last pic, I just ruined what was a perfectly good filter.

Oh well, gotta get to the pool store for silica sand anyway so I can hook up the sand filter.

More to follow, and I already corrected my connections again, third time is the charm I guess. :lol:
 

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What was wrong with the way it was hooked up in the second set of pictures? It looks fine to me... Water coming out of pump into side of filter, then exiting out the bottom to the pool. In the first set(with the pump sucking through filter) you had it the same way it looks like.

levi1019, well in that case, I don't know what to say, I've never heard of that before. The only thing I can think of now is you got a bad impeller, but that's unlikely if you have bought 3 of them and they all broke. Do you have any major restrictions on the suction or return side? This could put undue stress on an impeller(possibly a weak one from the factory) and broke it.

HTH,
Adam
 
launboy said:
What was wrong with the way it was hooked up in the second set of pictures? It looks fine to me... Water coming out of pump into side of filter, then exiting out the bottom to the pool. In the first set(with the pump sucking through filter) you had it the same way it looks like.

Adam

It was hooked up the same way almost

But it was sucking the debris to the internal part of the filter, now it's junk because I can't clean it.

Good thing I had a good clean filter on standby :lol:
 
Ohhh OK, now I understand.

Yesterday i was thinking about Why the Intex filters are so troublesome. I don't think it's the pump(if you have a larger model) I think it's the size of the cart. So I was thinking, what if you somehow(maybe from garage sales/eBay/craigslist) got a hold of 4 Intex filters, disconnected the water from the pumps and Tee'd off from one normal pump to the 4 filters. I don't know how many sq.ft. Intex carts are, but I think 3-4 of them would equal a small "real" cartridge filter's size.

This shows Exactly what I'm thinking(hey, I'm getting pretty good at using Paint)...
Adamscart.jpg


Adam
 
You would hook a vacuum to it like you would a sand filter. They both use the same type of pump to move the water. If you do it like I do, just stick the hose into the fitting where the skimmer hose or screen part goes. You could also get one of those flat skimmer hose plates that normal skimmers use.

Here is how I vac our pool.(Sorry about all the pics, but they make it easy to explain things, and I like making them).

Vacpic.jpg


HTH,
Adam
 
Hmmmm.... I've never heard of that happening before. I really have no clue what else to try, except get another impeller from a different supplier(still the correct OEM part) and see if that makes a difference. How long do they usually last? Also are you doing anything specific when they break, vacuuming, running the skimmer, etc.? I'm basically just guessing now. Have you tried calling Intex tech support and asking what they think?

HTH,
Adam
 
The first impellor went bad when I opened the pool after the winter. When I ordered a new pump I accidently ordered two. The second impellor lasted about two weeks. I luckily had a spare pump. I installed it and it lasted about two months.
 
Crzyfriss 1; To hook up the cart in the correct way you have to go through the pump housing. Did you remove the pump motor? How did you have the cart exit hose hooked up before? Through the bottom?
 
levi1019 said:
Crzyfriss 1; To hook up the cart in the correct way you have to go through the pump housing. Did you remove the pump motor? How did you have the cart exit hose hooked up before? Through the bottom?

I did not remove the pump motor.

And yes the exit hose was hooked up underneath.
I disconnected the the pump to filter hose and put the return hose in it's place.

Anyway....it's all moot to me now.

I got the sand filter hooked up yesterday :goodjob:
 

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