The Above Ground Outdoor Swimming Pool Thread

[extraT]

I think these are going to be extremely popular this year… for obvious reasons. We just took delivery of the Intex ultra quadra xtr, which is about 10m x 5m x 132cm...so big.

Now looking at heating solutions etc... looking at solar mats combined with electric heater or some such combination.

What are you buying for the family? / what problems or experiences do you (did you) have with outdoor pools?

[mikees]

Wow that’s a big pool. It’s not far off my inground one. Expect to pay loads to heat to a decent temp.

Good luck and looking forward to the pics. We will start ours up first or second week of April and heat from the fourth depending how long the shock takes to make it clear

[homeimprovements]

I have this exact pool, which we installed last year in lockdown, worth every penny. Solar heating won’t cut it at all . We have a heat pump heating it and we had it running about 13hrs per day.

Water temp was sat at 28- 29 c. Cost of electric about £150 per month. We had pool set up ready to use from VE Day last year until mid October.

Buy a decent solar cover would be my main tip. We also built a composite deck around ours as well so once you have climbed the stair case to it it’s just like having a in ground one

[extraT]

homeimprovements said:

I have this exact pool, which we installed last year in lockdown, worth every penny. Solar heating won’t cut it at all . We have a heat pump heating it and we had it running about 13hrs per day.

Water temp was sat at 28- 29 c. Cost of electric about £150 per month. We had pool set up ready to use from VE Day last year until mid October.

Buy a decent solar cover would be my main tip. We also built a composite deck around ours as well so once you have climbed the stair case to it it’s just like having a in ground one

Thanks for the tip! Actually I’m quiet looking forward to using it! The box alone weights 250kgs...! What heater do you have for it, if I may ask?

[eniacs]

I bought an above ground 2 years ago, we dug down as much as we could be bothered and fitted 50mm XPS in the bottom. Then lined the outside of the pool with 20mm PIR then built a removable wooden cover with 50mm PIR panels and a EPDM cover over. We heat it with the house gas boiler (i regret this and should have just gone heat pump route as would have been easier...) and it costs about £1 a day in gas, boiler runs about 1.5 hours a day. Water temp is 31-32deg.

Well worth it, just wish we had more space so I could have dug it fully inground and put a roof over it.

[Thermobaric]

I know someone that got one of the smaller Intex pools a decent temperature with 4 Intex solar mats but I imagine you would have to have a silly amount for a Ultra Quadra XTR.

[homeimprovements]

extraT said:

homeimprovements said:

I have this exact pool, which we installed last year in lockdown, worth every penny. Solar heating won’t cut it at all . We have a heat pump heating it and we had it running about 13hrs per day.

Water temp was sat at 28- 29 c. Cost of electric about £150 per month. We had pool set up ready to use from VE Day last year until mid October.

Buy a decent solar cover would be my main tip. We also built a composite deck around ours as well so once you have climbed the stair case to it it’s just like having a in ground one

Thanks for the tip! Actually I’m quiet looking forward to using it! The box alone weights 250kgs...! What heater do you have for it, if I may ask?

We have a 16kw invertor air source heat pump that is in direct sunlight 80% of the day. It raises the temp by about 1.5c per day. Being a builder we prob went a bit overkill in the ground prep but it’s on a hardcore base with 80mm pir insulation and is within 1mm of tolerance to level. Be aware that the evaporation can be quite high so use the cover when ever not in use. If your on a water meter make sure you inform the water supplier as they will only charge you for the water amd not the sewerage element as well. I have had a meter installed on one of our outside taps to get this lower rate all the time. Get stocked up on chemicals etc now as I have a feeling there will be a supply problem this year.

We have installed another 4 for customers as well amd they have all said it’s the best thing they have done .

[sunnygym]

I’ve been looking at these lately and thinking about going for a bestway 12ft steel pro max.

How has everyone got on with their above ground pools ? Any hints or tips welcome

Looking at getting a solar cover and air source heat pump and running for a few hours a day from April - September.

Was also going to get some interlocking rubber mats for underneath. My garden is pretty level so not going to dig out a patch or install a concrete slab.

If anyone has pics of their pools I would love to see them 👍

[sunnygym]

Cheeky bump

[erics2]

OK as no one else has helped, here goes.
I have a 15' by 48" bestway pool, it is about 8 years old now. I have put it down on interlocking mats as you are thinking. The only tip for that part is given the weight of the filled pool there is a lot of downwards pressure on the pool legs, they will sink into soft ground, so I have placed bits of broken slab under the matting where the legs go. I have a 'Sunnytent' dome cover for mine, it acts like a greenhouse to heat the pool, but it also helps keep the pool clean. It stop leaves etc from landing in the pool when it is not in use.
The problem with these pools is that the water outlet to the filter pump is in the side of the pool so 'stuff' can lay on the bottom of the pool, see the cloudy water thread. I use one of the battery cleaners and it works well, much better then a pump attached one.
To keep the pool clean I check the chemicals once a week and use a floating chlorine 'floater'
The other useful attachment I have is a skimmer, this attaches to the pump and takes the water from the top of the pool, with careful adjustment it will catch all the floating rubbish. To can get a range of these now including battery ones.
A 12' pool will be great for kids but not deep enough for an adult to swim in.
Hope this helps, good luck

[sunnygym]

erics2 said:

OK as no one else has helped, here goes.
I have a 15' by 48" bestway pool, it is about 8 years old now. I have put it down on interlocking mats as you are thinking. The only tip for that part is given the weight of the filled pool there is a lot of downwards pressure on the pool legs, they will sink into soft ground, so I have placed bits of broken slab under the matting where the legs go. I have a 'Sunnytent' dome cover for mine, it acts like a greenhouse to heat the pool, but it also helps keep the pool clean. It stop leaves etc from landing in the pool when it is not in use.
The problem with these pools is that the water outlet to the filter pump is in the side of the pool so 'stuff' can lay on the bottom of the pool, see the cloudy water thread. I use one of the battery cleaners and it works well, much better then a pump attached one.
To keep the pool clean I check the chemicals once a week and use a floating chlorine 'floater'
The other useful attachment I have is a skimmer, this attaches to the pump and takes the water from the top of the pool, with careful adjustment it will catch all the floating rubbish. To can get a range of these now including battery ones.
A 12' pool will be great for kids but not deep enough for an adult to swim in.
Hope this helps, good luck

Thank you for the reply and much appreciated.

I’ve purchased some scaffold base plates to stop the legs sinking into the ground based on your advise, £20 off Amazon which I thought was pretty decent. My pool
Is 12tf x 48inch so not as big but kids will love it so that’s all that matters. Got myself an up rated filer pump 1500 gal/hr a skimmer and a air source heat pump so hopefully next year we can have it out from may - sep ( fingers crossed for decent weather )

Just need the thing to be delivered !!

[insert coin]

I got the kids a 15ftx48" Intex pool about 2 months ago, it’s the newer ‘boltless’ system, our previous version had the crappy plastic rivets.

I’m currently struggling with cloudy water and the cartridge filter it came with just isn’t doing it’s job so I’ve had to buy an upgraded glass/sand filter for £400.

Hoping the new filter will clear the water assuming I’ve got the chemicals right, which I think I have.

[dmsims]

insert coin said:

I’m currently struggling with cloudy water

Have you tried shocking then flocculant ?

[insert coin]

I’ve shocked it twice in 5 days, I’ve been using a clarifier which is similar to a floc but doesn’t take the crud to the bottom only suspends it to help it get caught up in the filter.

I just think I either need to dump 50% of the water and fill with fresh or keep my fingers crossed that the new filter will do a better job at clearing the really fine particles that are making it cloudy.

This morning’s reads -

[dmsims]

Yeah, sometimes the only ingredient required is patience!

[insert coin]

dmsims said:

Yeah, sometimes the only ingredient required is patience!

I’ve been checking every hour or two and I can see nine squares down from the top now, it was only three or four this morning so it’s either clearing or settling.

I think the faster flow rate and better filter medium of the new filter/pump should sort things out.

Mind you, with this August weather it might not get used again this year

[extraT]

sunnygym said:

I’ve been looking at these lately and thinking about going for a bestway 12ft steel pro max.

How has everyone got on with their above ground pools ? Any hints or tips welcome

Looking at getting a solar cover and air source heat pump and running for a few hours a day from April - September.

Was also going to get some interlocking rubber mats for underneath. My garden is pretty level so not going to dig out a patch or install a concrete slab.

If anyone has pics of their pools I would love to see them ??

I built mine up on a st load of sand! Which I can highly recommend especially if, as in my case, it rains and the pool is at max capacity causing it to sink a bit!

I have a pool cleaning robot from bestway(?), charge it up and let it go, cleans the bottom of the pool superbly!

Heat source: in the end I got one from a local diy shop - solar just wasn’t cutting it for me, but to be fair, I live in Austria!

I

[extraT]

insert coin said:

I got the kids a 15ftx48" Intex pool about 2 months ago, it’s the newer ‘boltless’ system, our previous version had the crappy plastic rivets.

I’m currently struggling with cloudy water and the cartridge filter it came with just isn’t doing it’s job so I’ve had to buy an upgraded glass/sand filter for £400.

Hoping the new filter will clear the water assuming I’ve got the chemicals right, which I think I have.

This stuff is brilliant alternative to sand and sand particals making its way back into the pool: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aitsite-Filter-Balls-700g...

One tip a neighbour shared with me is: buy chlorine in liquid form (If not available then melt some tablets in water) and “paint” the solution over the inner walls/bottom of the pool- it will help with bloom and algae.

Not sure how you are handling the Chlorine aspect of your pool but I got one of those floating dispensers and long melting chlorine tabs which seem to do the trick, Pool is testing perfectly thankgoodness!

[insert coin]

The new filter had a choice of sand or glass, the guy recommended glass media so I’ve ordered that and it’s due any minute.

I got myself a Poollab 1.0 chemical tester which appears a lot more accurate than the crappy strips.

I’ve been changing the cartridge filter every 3 hours and I can now count about 16 squares down from the top, so it is slowly clearing.

All chemical reads are spot on currently so with some patience and a new filter I’m hoping to finally see the bottom again in 24 hours.

These ‘big’ outdoor pools take a lot of effort, the little 10ft we had a few years ago was so much easier.

[insert coin]

Well that was fairly straightforward, I fortunately ordered some hose adapters as Intex and the new pump are different sizes.

I’ll tidy the hoses up a little more once I’m sure everything is working ok.



Edit -20 squares down now

Edited by insert coin on Friday 6th August 14:14