New to pools - Need some advice please

[Goodsteward]

Hello there,
I am new to this forum, and I'm (obviously) looking at above ground pools. My wife and I went to our local Big Lots fully prepared to get a summer wave 10x30" pool, but soon realized we needed to buy the cover, ladder, and a tarp for under it. Realizing the price and how they didn't have what we needed, we left and ended up coming home to research. I don't normally buy on impulse, and I'm glad I didn't today either. Boy, have I been tracing a rabbit since then. It's hard to find all the info you would need without getting into high end professional pools. Not many places for the less expensive pools.

I have a lot I need help with so here goes. We plan to keep it close to our house, and I want it hidden from the road. I have trees in the way to put it directly behind my house, so it will go beside my back deck a few feet off the house. To fit in this spot I'm limited to a 14-15' pool. I would like round. We started out looking at 30" until we realized how shallow that would be, so now I am wanting a 48" preferably. I have been looking at Coleman, Bestway, Intex, etc. The usual's from what I can tell. Is there a line I should stay away from?

From a pump side can I live with what it has and add a SWG to it? I know enough about pools to know I don't want chlorine. However, I also don't want to keep dumping money into what I don't understand, so I didn't think a sand pump was needed. Am I wrong? It adds a lot more money. Been looking at a Bestway 14' x 48" Camo Steel Pro Frame at Walmart for 250, or a 14' by 42" Coleman Power Steel at Walmart for 279. By the time I add the salt system and some other things like a skimmer it got up to $500. At that rate, I started wondering if I needed to get into professional grade pools and let them do it and be done with it. Is it worth it to go that route?

I have already learned I should dig down to level it. Thanks for that! Any advice for a complete pool noob is appreciated!

 

[Patrick_B]

Hey there, I just wanted to say welcome, and touch briefly on a couple of things.

If you add a SWG you will have a Chlorine pool. If you really think you don't want a Chlorine pool, what do you have in mind? There precious few options.

As for brands, we don't endorse any really, but intex have earned a good reputation for overall quality, and I would suggest them to anyone in that market.

 

[Goodsteward]

Well then. I guess I'm stuck with chlorine. Shows my lack of understanding. Lol. So salt water systems are still chlorine, but without chemicals ? Do I still have to test weekly and is it as complicated? I was leaning towards a nicer grade to last and the ultra frames seem to have a lot of trouble. Are they ok? And is an extended warranty worth it in this price range?

We are also discussing finishing the pricacy fence which allows for a little bigger pool.

 

[Patrick_B]

Yes SWGs make Chlorine out of the salt, and yes, if you want a nice pool that's clean and safe for your family, you'll need to test a few times per week after you learn it. Before then, it will be at least every other day for the first two, maybe three weeks. Most people that don't like or want Chlorine pools have misconceptions about them because of poorly kept ones. You could swim in any successful TFP pool and never know it was Chlorine. Not sure about the problems you mention. I have known two people with Ultra Frames and they lasted for years. One moved away, and the other is on its third season, and has never been taken down.

 

[splash79]

We bought a 15x48" Intex Ultra Frame pool last summer and are/were very happy with the pool itself. It's very sturdy and held up against some serious rain/wind storms we had, one of which happened while we were on vacation and I completely expected to come home to a destroyed pool, but it hadn't moved an inch.

That said, I decided to upgrade the pump for this year to the Intex 2150 GPH sand filter. The pump that comes with the pool worked, but we had it running 24/7 and I got tired of cleaning the filters all the time.

In my youth, we had a hard side above ground pool and my parents were sold on using baquacil. It was my responsibility to take care of the pool and it was such a pain to deal with. I spent more time cleaning the pool and fussing with the chemicals that I did actually use the pool.

When I told people we were going to buy our current pool, so many people said it was a bad idea, because all I'd do was try to get the chemicals right, so I had flashbacks of the baquacil nonsense. I ended up stumbling upon this site at some point before we bought our pool and decided to give the TFP method a try and I'll never do anything else. Basically, my routine was to come home from work, crack open a beer, get some pool water to test, adjust things, finish my beer, and hop in.

Granted, I made some newbie mistakes that required me to SLAM the pool twice, but I've learned from them and I don't think it'll happen this year.

We bought our pool as a kind of test run for an inground pool and I don't think I'm the only one, as I've seen quite a few of what I have advertised on craigslist as being a couple of years old.

 

[Goodsteward]

What is SLAMing?

 

[clauderdale]

IWe bought a 14 x 42 Intex Ultra Frame pool last year and loved it! I used the pump that came with it last year and it worked fine. I did have to clean the filter out about once or twice a week. This year I am upgrading to a 2500GPH filter pump. I meant to order the 1500GPH but accidentally ordered the wrong one. This has proved to be a real pain as it doesn't have all the parts to connect it,so I am having to research what I need. If it were me and my first year, I would go with the deeper pool(48inches) and I would also use the pump that came with it for the first month at least. Then you can make a better decision about what you need. It's easy set up and frustration free. Enjoy your pool!