Winterizing 18’ Intex Easy Set this year...looking for advice...experience from others

[DebsIn7]

Greetings and Salutations...I am new here..desperately searching for details to help me winterize my 18’ Intex Easy Set. This is our 5th year with one of these pools and it has to somehow survive the winter. Seems we became ultra ambitious during Lock-Down and decided to build a mini-deck for our grandkids to have something to jump off into the pool. It was also kind of awesome to be able to sit poolside with feet in the water. We were well aware of possible ramifications of building something this permanent for a blow-up pool but by then we had gone quite mad and just didn’t care! Lol Anyway I have been searching all over and have read related posts on this forum including others’ experience. I understand having to maintain the air level in the ring and cleaning and adding extra shock, etc. In Missouri we can get some nasty cold temps and some heavy duty snows...sometimes. I have seen some suggest lowering the water to below the lowest outlets, some say to keep it almost full. Some say to leave it uncovered...some say cover it and use pool pillows. My pool has the plunger valves, one where the dual inlet hoses meet the single hose to the pump, the other where the inlet meets the pool. Pool sits perfectly level on thick sand base topped with 3 layers of tarp. I have questions: What would be the best water level? And there are no inlet or outlet fittings so I have no way to “plug” those three holes, it has been suggested to close the plunger valves then remove all the rest...hoses, pump & filter. My concern is that the plunger valves are plastic as is that one hose and could freeze and crack. Is there some tip for protecting the plastic plunger valves? Do I use the pool pillows and cover it? Do I need to continue running the pump/filter and wait to do all of this until it cools outside to a certain temp? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Mdragger88]

So did u leave it up in the past?

the main issue is the ring - if it deflates the water will go & possibly all at once flooding whatever’s in the surrounding area.

The next issue is having any water on the cover as it would cause pressure to the ring causing it to collapse & lose all the water. Similar to what happens when u overfill one.
As for plugging the holes - there are little plugs that likely came with it or u can order some - you remove the interior fittings , put the plug in & then put the fitting back on.


You would then remove all hoses, valves, pump etc & store it all.

It is generally recommended to just drain these pools & store them for the winter for these reasons. They do not have the same structural integrity as the ones with a frame. Their integrity is dependent upon the water level & inflatable ring.

 

[matasoj]

I had a 15' easy set pool and I just bought a deck box and drained the pool completely, folded it up and put it in the deck box with all of the pipes and such, then re-set it up the next spring.

 

[matasoj]

OH - I see - you have the Easy Set with the inflatable ring. Ours popped midway through the summer, so we did the intex frame pool 15'. I would definitely not try to keep an easy-set up through the winter. Save the wear and tear on it and empty it and put it in a shed or box or something. Then you may get another year or two out of it before you need to get a different one...