First, I'd like to thank y'all for all the knowledge I've gained from reading these forums! We never would've been able to get it up without it. These pools should really come with a warning label that says you'll have to spend hundreds more to get it going, lol! So this is the installation story of our Coleman Oval 26x12x52 pool which we got almost two months ago. We wanted a round one, but this was all we could find, so we grabbed it since pools were hard to come by thanks to COVID.
We had someone who was supposed to come level the area for the pool, but they kept making promises and never came. So, we got to work doing it ourselves. I always thought that when y'all said leveling was the worst part, y'all meant the actual getting it flat part and maybe y'all did.
But, gosh if it wasn't hard work taking all that dirt outta that hole and the grass roots were crazy deep and strong. We ended up going down more than a foot in some places to get the roots up and to get it level. We made a water level like I saw from people on here and used that for awhile and it worked really well.
So mostly it was me and my 12 year old doing the digging and toting off of the dirt with a wheelbarrow we borrowed. My husband and my son's friend helped some when they could. We put the extra dirt in the driveway, which really felt like it was miles away while pushing that heavy wheelbarrow. But anyway, It took us around 3 weeks of working on and off in the heat, to get to where we could do the actual leveling part.
For that, my husband borrowed a laser level from work and that made it so much easier since it only took one person to check grade. Since hubby is a grader by trade, he had no problem smoothing it all out with a shovel and getting it level. That's when my oldest son came by for a few hours to help. Then we put down anti-fatigue mats from Harbor Freight and a tarp.
Last weekend is when we finally got it put up. We started late Sunday after getting it level earlier that day. We found a few more
The actual putting together of the pool was really easy. We had a harder time trying to figure out how to hook the pump, SWG, and the skimmer. After some trial and error, we got that done too. Then we started filling the pool. We only did it while we were able to watch the legs since they have to be pulled out sometimes. So it ended up taking about 3 days to get the water in. You can see the bowing these kinds of pools do while filling.
Then I put some CYA in a sock and dissolved it and put some chlorine in until we could get the salt in. Then we let my son and his friend get in and play. They deserved it after all the work they'd put in for weeks. We were very happy to see how level the water looks. After spending so much time on it, if it hadn't been level, I think my husband would've had a heart attack!
A couple days after that we got some salt put in. I put in 3 bags because I was scared to put too much and have to drain it out. The kids spread it around for me really well. Then me and hubby finally got in and swam some ourselves. The ladder that came with the pool says it holds up to 672 pounds! Not sure I believe that or not. I'm a big girl and it supported my weight okay, but it's a
I turned the SWG on after a day and I think I ran it too long because the next day my chlorine was really high. I left it off for a bit after that, just trying to figure out how long to run it. I guess it's kinda trial and error. Also, the suction on the skimmer wasn't good, so my hubby rigged up the faucet? in the picture to plug one of the holes up and just used one hose instead of two. That seemed to help a lot.
Here are today's test results:
PH- 7.5
FC- 3.5
CC- .5
TC- 4.0
CH- 75
TA- 50
CYA- 80
Salt- 2800
I think they look okay, but y'all let me know if I need to work on anything. Again thanks for everything!
Nancy
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