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Above ground pools for dummies (part III): Pool assembly

This post is part of the six-part series dedicated to above ground pools:

Above ground pool assembly involves two major tasks: (1) setting up the pool and (2) setting up the pump/filter. It may seem complicated at first (it did for me), but it's rather simple. When (or if) I do it again, I will not even need the instructions, but the first time, I had to read the manual a few times and watch the how-to videos as I was doing it. And yet, certain steps were still confusing.

In this post I will cover the basic concepts of the above-ground pool installation, describe the problems I ran into (from not finding the correct hose to discovering a leak in the liner), and explain how I solved them.

PARTS

As a reminder from the previous post, here are the parts that I used:

I also used 120 pounds of pool sand because this is what my pump required (it could not believe it need that much but that's how much it took).

HOW IT WORKS

If you have never owned a pool, let's go over the fundamentals which will help you understand how to connect the parts.

Basically, most above ground pools have two (or three) holes (or openings) with valves attached to them. Let's use two holes as an example. So, there are two primary holes. One is a skimmer (well, the skimmer is actually a plastic thingy attached to this hole, but you get the point). The skimmer hole is lower than the other hole. It draws unfiltered water from the pool into the pump/filter (via the hose attached to the skimmer valve). Then water gets filtered and pumped back into the pool through the second hole (also via a hose attached to another valve). The second hole is called a return (filtered water is returned to the pool) and it is located higher than the skimmer hole. The return hole houses a return jet through which the water flows into the pool. And so, the pool water circulates from the pool, via the skimmer, to the pump, then to the return jet, and back to the pool.

What about pools with three holes? Not much difference, only instead of one bigger skimmer hole, these pools have two smaller skimmer valves connected to two smaller hoses which are then T-joined with a regular hose connected to the pump. Manufacturers introduced the third hole to prevent the problem of kids' hair being sucked into the skimmer valves (two holes reduce the suction). I may be wrong, but I think smaller pools with less powerful pumps still come with two holes, while bigger pools with more powerful pumps come with three. My pool has three holes.

There are more parts on the water path: a strainer basket that is supposed to trap bigger objects such as leaves, the hose that connects the strainer to the filter, the control unit, the valve that sets the  operational mode, etc., but at this point, they are not important. I'm just trying to explain the basic water flow. Although, I need to mention the salt water system.

SALT WATER SYSTEM

If the pool pump is equipped with a salt water system, the filtered water first goes in to the salt water processor which converts salt into chlorine and then the chlorinated water goes back into the pool (via the return jet).

In this scenario, you have two additional hoses that connect the salt water system to the pump and the pool. The chlorination function can be turned on and off via the pump setting, so the pump can act as a normal filter or as a filter and a chlorinator (the chlorinator generates chlorine from the salt water).

CHEMICALS

Since I mentioned chlorination, if you wonder where the chemicals (and salt) go, the answer is simple: they go directly into the pool. You pour the chemicals into the pool, wait a bit if needed, and let the pump (and the salt water system) do its magic. I will cover chemicals in more detail later.

ELECTRICAL

When setting up the pool, you need to decide where the pump should go. Normally, it should be out of view (the pump is not pretty) and close to an electrical outlet equipped with the ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). Intex does not recommend plugging the pump into an extension cord, although some people claim that they use quality extension cords (10 AWG or 12 AWG recommended) with no problems. Anyway, it's better to plug the pump directly into the outlet. I was concerned about the length of the power cord, but mine was long enough to reach from the middle of one long side of the pool (the three holes are in the middle) to an external outlet. The power cord of my pump is 25 feet long.

One thing to keep in mind is that the pump's electrical plug is big and covers two outlets.

A pump with the integrated salt water system like mine comes with one power cord. If you get a regular pump and later decide to add a salt water system, I think it will need to be plugged in separately. In this case, you may not have enough outlets or space to connect the second device. So, if you are not sure whether you'd use a salt water system, even though it costs a bit more, I'd still recommend buying a pump with one just in case. You can always turn the chlorination feature off, while, if you decide to add one later, you may not be able to plug it in, unless you use an extension cord with a splitter which is not recommended.

ASSEMBLY

I will spare you from the detailed pool assembly instructions because other people already covered the topic pretty well (see this or that). However, I want to mention a few things that you may miss and some that I ran into.

  • You need at least two people to set up the pool mostly because someone would need to help you hold pool legs on one side while you raise them on another side. I suspect you can use some support tools and do it alone, but a helper would make it a lot easier.
  • Before sliding the metal parts into the liner, sprinkle them with a talcum powder. This will make it easier to remove the frame from the liner when you need to disassemble the pool.
  • The instruction that came with my pool did not mention it, but the flaps in the liner pieces that connect legs to the liner are intended of the the ropes that hold the pool cover, so they must face up.
  • While erecting the pool frame (and later filling the pool with water), make sure you align the legs and all other frame parts. You need to do it continuously until you can no longer move them (under the water weight).
  • Assuming your pool leg support blocks are leveled with the pool base, do not mind the the top of the frame appearing slightly bent. It will straighten when the pool is filled with water.
  • If you notice that the pool is not leveled, stop what you are doing, take the pool apart and level the ground. Do not fill it and hope it will be okay.
  • Do not set up the pool pump until you partially fill the pool with water. I'd add the water a few inches below the skimmer holes, make sure the structure looks good (never mind slight bending, as I mentioned above), and only then continue with setting up the pump.
  • If you use a wall-mounted surface skimmer, install it right away. Actually, it does not matter. Without the surface skimmer, you just attach the plastic skimmer thingy that came with the pool to the skimmer hole from the inside, while with the surface skimmer, instead of the pool thingy, you install the connector that comes with the skimmer. I will discuss the surface skimmer in more details when I cover the pump setup.
  • When filling the pool with water, get inside (of the pool) and, while the water level allows it, try straightening all folds and wrinkles in the liner. Keep in mind that once water goes over a couple of inches, it will be to heavy so you will not be able to move the liner. If there are wrinkles that you cannot straighten (when the water is low), do not worry, once the pool is full, it will most likely straighten them on its own (I really struggled trying to straighten the folds in the corners, but not matter what I did they would not budge; when the pool was full, the folds were gone).

LEAKS

The only real problem I ran into while setting up the pool was a small leak that appeared to be coming form a pinhole in the liner close to a seam near the pool bottom. It was not a big leak (just a drop of water every second or so), but a leak nonetheless.

Unfortunately, I detected the leak when the pool was almost full. To repair it using the patch kit that came with the pool I had to drain it. I didn't want to do it. Intex customer support was closed for the weekend, so I stopped by the closest Leslie's and bought Vinyl Liner Wet Patch Repair Kit. The kit can be used under water but after two tries, I gave up. Because the hole was tiny, by the time I located it, the glue and patch were already messed up. So, I applied the patch from the outside and it immediately stopped the leak. In the beginning of the week, I talked to the Intex support and they told me to send them a photo of a cut out piece from my liner, and they would send me a replacement. This meant draining the pool, disassembling it, cutting out the liner, waiting for the new one to be delivered, reassembling the pool, refilling it with water. And who would guarantee that the new liner is perfect? Anyway, I applied a piece of flex tape over my patch and decided to keep it as-is for now. The liner has a two year warranty, so I still have time to exchange it, if anything goes wrong.

PUMP

I was planning to cover the pump/filter setup here, but the post is getting too long, so I will do it next.

NEXT: ABOVE GROUND POOLS FOR DUMMIES (PART IV): PUMP/FILTER/SKIMMER SETUP

PREVIOUS: ABOVE GROUND POOLS FOR DUMMIES (PART II): SITE PREPARATION

FIRST: INTRODUCTION

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Location: Sacramento, CA, USA

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