The Above Ground Outdoor Swimming Pool Thread
Discussion
Bannock said:
Yes, there is a lot of debris around my pool because of the trees surrounding my garden. Even cleaning the filter every day I ended up with grey clouds last year which I couldn't recover from.
Get a skimmer for the tree debris, Intex do one for £25ish, but it does need a half decent pump to provide the suction.Cloudy grey/milky water is usually a sign that the water isn’t being filtered enough, if you look up really closely you can see the zillions of little particles.
I was washing my cartridge filters out 4 or 5 times a day when my water was like that, found it impossible to get it clear again.
As soon as I swapped to a sand filter and stopped using chlorine granules it completely cleared and I’ve never had an issue since.
Fyi those with bestway pools it’s worth registering your warranty. As a few post above the drainage valve failed and they are replacing the liner free of charge. Tbf was a pretty painless process.
The new one should arrive next weekend and be all up and running soon….. fingers crossed
The new one should arrive next weekend and be all up and running soon….. fingers crossed
DirktheDaring said:
Bannock said:
Yes, there is a lot of debris around my pool because of the trees surrounding my garden. Even cleaning the filter every day I ended up with grey clouds last year which I couldn't recover from.
Get a skimmer for the tree debris, Intex do one for £25ish, but it does need a half decent pump to provide the suction.Cloudy grey/milky water is usually a sign that the water isn’t being filtered enough, if you look up really closely you can see the zillions of little particles.
I was washing my cartridge filters out 4 or 5 times a day when my water was like that, found it impossible to get it clear again.
As soon as I swapped to a sand filter and stopped using chlorine granules it completely cleared and I’ve never had an issue since.
Yes mate, this year all I’ve used is a Blue Horizons mushroom and some liquid chlorine, no granules at all.
My water is absolutely crystal clear, the sand filter (mine is glass media, the seller told me it’s better than sand) makes light work of keeping the pool clear.
I do have to backwash every 3 or 4 days, not sure if that’s a side effect of the pool being so clear that it clogs up quicker?
The water was 36c today, the solar cover really working, I finished work early and was bathing like a hippo in it before the kids got back from school
My water is absolutely crystal clear, the sand filter (mine is glass media, the seller told me it’s better than sand) makes light work of keeping the pool clear.
I do have to backwash every 3 or 4 days, not sure if that’s a side effect of the pool being so clear that it clogs up quicker?
The water was 36c today, the solar cover really working, I finished work early and was bathing like a hippo in it before the kids got back from school
A garden pool was briefly discussed in the Locoblade household last summer but was parked with a "I'll look into it for next year" promise, and predictably on the hottest day of the year I've just been reminded of that promise. 
I know very little about pools so if starting from scratch what's a good starter pool to go for without breaking the bank? The kids are teenagers so we'd like something reasonably deep, probably 4ft, is it a straight choice between Intex and Bestway and are there pro's and cons that dictate which to choose?
We've got space for a 12ft circular pool although the area needs a lot of levelling as its currently a combination of an old dried up water fountain pool that I need to fill in and a small rockery that needs knocking down, but once levelled what would be the best base to lay for it? We've got loads of cobbles in that area that are surplus to requirements, could I use those on top of soil in conjunction with some sand perhaps?
As to heating the pool, we don't have solar on the house so running a straight electric heater will be costly I imagine. I've seen videos on Youtube etc of people making DIY solar heaters with coiled pipework in a black cabinet, has anyone had success with this type of heater in UK weather? I've got a double garage with a flat roof nearby that would be the ideal location for something like this and I'm more than happy to make something.
I know very little about pools so if starting from scratch what's a good starter pool to go for without breaking the bank? The kids are teenagers so we'd like something reasonably deep, probably 4ft, is it a straight choice between Intex and Bestway and are there pro's and cons that dictate which to choose?
We've got space for a 12ft circular pool although the area needs a lot of levelling as its currently a combination of an old dried up water fountain pool that I need to fill in and a small rockery that needs knocking down, but once levelled what would be the best base to lay for it? We've got loads of cobbles in that area that are surplus to requirements, could I use those on top of soil in conjunction with some sand perhaps?
As to heating the pool, we don't have solar on the house so running a straight electric heater will be costly I imagine. I've seen videos on Youtube etc of people making DIY solar heaters with coiled pipework in a black cabinet, has anyone had success with this type of heater in UK weather? I've got a double garage with a flat roof nearby that would be the ideal location for something like this and I'm more than happy to make something.
I’d be reluctant to put the pool directly onto cobbles - you do stand on the base and it’d be very hard. I have ours on clay soil (badly levelled by hand, quite hard in this dry weather but with a bit of give compared to stone) and EVA interlocking floor tiles on that for a bit of give. Even the smallest pebble left on the clay can be felt through the base so you need to make sure the area isn’t rough.
Air source heat pump pool heaters are the most efficient - ours outputs up to 8kW from an input of 1.2kW on a hot day and costs £900; there is one with similar specs for £750 mentioned on this thread in the last few pages. I’ve only tried smaller black solar heaters and found them fairly useless because they restricted the flow so much. Probably only effective for small, shallow pools.
Air source heat pump pool heaters are the most efficient - ours outputs up to 8kW from an input of 1.2kW on a hot day and costs £900; there is one with similar specs for £750 mentioned on this thread in the last few pages. I’ve only tried smaller black solar heaters and found them fairly useless because they restricted the flow so much. Probably only effective for small, shallow pools.
Jobbo said:
I’d be reluctant to put the pool directly onto cobbles - you do stand on the base and it’d be very hard.
Cheers, yeh I probably didn't word that particularly well, what I meant was using the cobbles for a base and then laying some sand on top to fill the gaps to make a fairly flat surface.How long per day are you running the heat pump for and what temp does the pool get to?
Edited by LocoBlade on Saturday 10th June 16:00
I’m running the pump and heater 24 hours currently - no reason not to since it’s positioned where the noise is unobtrusive. I did find the pool cooled down a fair bit each night last year when I ran it during the daytime only.
Was at 30C at 9am today and 34C around 12.30. I normally set the thermostat to cut off the heater at 32C but I felt extravagant
Was at 30C at 9am today and 34C around 12.30. I normally set the thermostat to cut off the heater at 32C but I felt extravagant
Jobbo said:
I’m running the pump and heater 24 hours currently - no reason not to since it’s positioned where the noise is unobtrusive. I did find the pool cooled down a fair bit each night last year when I ran it during the daytime only.
Was at 30C at 9am today and 34C around 12.30. I normally set the thermostat to cut off the heater at 32C but I felt extravagant
Nice, do you have solar or is that all running from the grid? Even at 1.2Kw, 24/7 running works out about £10/day to run at current capped tariff doesn't it?Was at 30C at 9am today and 34C around 12.30. I normally set the thermostat to cut off the heater at 32C but I felt extravagant
I get a fair bit of gear from these guys - https://www.poolwarehouse.uk.com/index.php/product...
My pool is just sat on the patio slabs with a double tarp underneath.
My pool is just sat on the patio slabs with a double tarp underneath.
I_Am_Machine said:
Any recommendations on where to source one of these pools beyond the usual Amazon and eBay offerings?
We have a round patio just less than 3m diameter where we want to put one for the summer. Would foam tiles do to sit the pool on, maybe a double layer of them?
At less than 3m diameter you'll be limited to 8ft models unless you can add a bit of solid ground around the edge to accommodate a 10ft pool, which is where most steel framed pools seem to start. At 8ft they'll mostly be 8ft inflatable ones that look like enlarged paddling pools. Most of the high street stores like Tesco, Argos and B&Q have those sub £50 as well as eBay/Amazon that you mentioned.We have a round patio just less than 3m diameter where we want to put one for the summer. Would foam tiles do to sit the pool on, maybe a double layer of them?
Something like these perhaps, the first one is at least a proper framed pool?
https://www.diy.com/departments/intex-8ft-round-fa...
https://www.diy.com/departments/bestway-fast-set-p...
Neither come with pump/filter though so not sure how viable they are for leaving up all summer.
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