Doing some reading and research...are the Intex pools just as well made as some of the other pools out there. Their price is sure a lot less...I was quoted about $4000 for a 21 foot round pool from a local pool place. Intex pools are only about 800 for the same size.
Intex or some other brand?
- Thread starter snickers104
- Start date
I am guessing the pool places pool was a steel walled pool where the intex is not. Intex are considered "seasonal" pools in that they can be taken down once swim season is over. They do have a limited life span. With extra good care they can last 2 or 4 yrs where the steel walled pool can last much longer.
The equipment for both will be far different as well. The intex pump and filter as way too small and quite a few people end up buying better/bigger after battling what comes with it.
The equipment for both will be far different as well. The intex pump and filter as way too small and quite a few people end up buying better/bigger after battling what comes with it.
pitguy3
0
I have an Intex and have had it up for 3 years... I thought about the hard walled ones too but if you do the math, you can get 4-5 Intex pools (4 years of life out of each would give you 16 years) for the same price as one hard walled one and I doubt you will have zero issues for 16 years out of a hard walled pool... LOL!! JMO
I think this is a case of "you get what you pay for".
The Intex Ultra Frame we purchased last year only lasted one season before the legs rusted through. We bought another on clearance this year to replace the legs and are saving the other parts/liner as backups. We also purchased silicone tape to wrap the ends of the poles to help protect the inferior steel.
The filter that comes with the pool is *just* strong enough for basic filtering. You'll need to upgrade to an adequately sized sand filter to get enough power to run a vac.
Just know that everything on these pools should be considered disposable as they are made with the cheapest quality materials.
Have you had the joy of taking down and setting up these pools before? You should really factor in the time you'll be spending every year or two replacing parts and setting up/tearing down these things to compare these options.
If we had to do it again, I would have avoided Intex all together.
Hope this helps! Good luck.
The Intex Ultra Frame we purchased last year only lasted one season before the legs rusted through. We bought another on clearance this year to replace the legs and are saving the other parts/liner as backups. We also purchased silicone tape to wrap the ends of the poles to help protect the inferior steel.
The filter that comes with the pool is *just* strong enough for basic filtering. You'll need to upgrade to an adequately sized sand filter to get enough power to run a vac.
Just know that everything on these pools should be considered disposable as they are made with the cheapest quality materials.
Have you had the joy of taking down and setting up these pools before? You should really factor in the time you'll be spending every year or two replacing parts and setting up/tearing down these things to compare these options.
If we had to do it again, I would have avoided Intex all together.
Hope this helps! Good luck.
Thanks for the input...I think dealing with inferior equipment would drive me crazy.
Its common to say the stock pump is way too small and needs upgrading. But that's an oversimplification IMO.
My stock Intex pump turns over the water as well as most expensive inground pools. The circulation is as a good too...I have no dead spots. IMO, for filtering there is absolutely no need to upgrade the pump.
However for vacuuming the pump is too small. One could upgrade but I bought a robot instead (Pool Rover jr) and actually think that's a better way to go.
My stock pump is fine for solar panels if they are ground mounted. It is inadequate for roof mounted panels. At 90 watts solar is nicely efficient.
The stock filter is a different story. It filters poorly and can't really be cleaned/reused. An aftermarket Unicel cartridge filters much better and can be cleaned/reused. The Unicel filter is actually superior in filtering than many of the monster priced inground pool filters in that it uses a higher weight Remay material than most. So this minor upgrade makes it a first class filter except for cleaning frequency. Because of the small size it needs to be cleaned every 2-4 weeks while big cartridges might get cleaned once per season.
Overall I find the stock Intex quite well designed. The achilles heel seems to be rust. I'll be surprised to get more than four seasons out of mine. But $150 for everything is hard to beat. It only takes an hour to put up a new one so that part is pretty trivial. I wouldn't want to do it every year though. That's why I leave mine up.