My inflatable pool adventures

NS Gearhead · Jul 21, 2014

So, between the wife and I we decided that one of those cheap inflatable pools would be fun to have for us and our 4 year old girl. Ended up with a 12' walmart pool. Made a 12' circle of crusher dust and leveled it the best I could... just not enough. It ended up oval instead of round, and the end I had filled in the most the pool ended up spilling over that 6" slope, pulling the ring down. Also, the crusher dust isn't comfortable on the feet. I would have thought it would be fine enough... but you could really feel every grain. I could have lived with just 2/3 full pool, but the ring started leaking... so off it came.

Started by making an octagon. I was going to keep the 2x4s at 8', but that would have given me a 19' diam... way too big. I think I cut them at 6'7" that gave me a 16' diam.

From upstairs

This took about 4 yards of gravel... in addition to the yard of crusher dust I had originally put down.

Topped with sand from an unused sandbox, and bought another 80kgs

and finished with a "ground cloth" I wanted to do astro turf around the outter 2', but couldn't find any.

started filling the old pool

I couldn't for the life of me find the leak. I had to pump it up every two hours. Sprayed the you know what out of it with soapy water. No luck. So.. buy another... only $90 or so. Nope! None in stores or on line. Oh man! Lucky for me a co-worker mentioned he wasn't using his 16'er, and may sell. After a couple txts, he ended up bringing it out!

This is great!... but this means no more room on the outside of the pad... and the sand's not covering all of it...

I had to stop filling, empty, move the pool, and re-start. It's bulging over my pad 2" on a couple sides, but I hope once the pool rises the edge will too.

With the first pool I learned that if it wasn't at least somewhat warm... I didn't want anything to do with it. LOL So, a heater was in order.

about 175' of 1/2"

just vapor barier until I can see what else I can find

Should make a difference. If not I'll make a matching 2nd one.

Filling the pool as we speak. It's gonna take a couple days I think. LOL

TnAndy · Jul 21, 2014

LOVE that solar heat man ! Necessity being the mother of invention !

roadhunter · Jul 21, 2014

Wow. That has turned into quite the project. It's all worth it if your daughter likes it.

boggen · Jul 21, 2014

lots of work... and no "bottom drain" *shakes head in shame* shame on ya!

2" shower drain at local hardware stores (menards, lowes, homedepot) guessing any were from 3 to 7 bucks. a 90 degree fitting, some pipe... a couple misc fittings to connect it to the pump.

www.koiphen.com a lot of folks buy the cheap blow ups, for hospital tanks, moving tanks, quarantine tanks. and since fish poo a lot, the bottom drains, allows all the muck to get out of the pond through the bottom were the muck is.

why you may not have fish, sand, dust, leaves, etc.. will get into the pool along with algae and like. and it normally all sinks to the bottom. make your life easier! vs spending a 2 to 4 hours plus a week cleaning out the bottom.

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tip for the heater or rather the plastic you have on it, put some duck tap around edges, and then get some 1/2" x 1/2" (basically trim board) and go around the edge. the tape helps the plastic from ripping, and then the trim board acts like a big clamp to hold the plastic down and keep the wind from messing it all up.

one extra note if you don't already have a skimmer. surface scum right on top of the water, can make the water look extremely dirty, but in reality it is just the very top of the water. skimmers take care of that surface scum.

MossRoad · Jul 21, 2014

Good luck. The first thing most above ground instructions tell you is to never install a pool on fill. Always on undisturbed level ground. I.E., if you want to put a pool on a hillside, you should dig into the hill and level it from the lowest point. Never take the high side out and use it to fill the low side of the pad.

Also, every little sharp speck of rock or small piece of stick will be felt through the bottom. Hopefully you were able to compact the rocks enough and the sand will cushion it. But heck, for a minimal investment, you should have some cool fun on a hot day. Again, good luck, and enjoy.

MossRoad · Jul 21, 2014

As for your solar heater, you may be better off putting in several loops on a manifold inside the case VS one loop. That hose diameter appears to be nowhere near the diameter of your filter hoses. You want to maintain a good pressure. If your main hose is 1.5" diameter, that's about 1.77 square inches. A 3/4" hose is only .44 square inches. You'd need four 3/4" hoses to keep the same square area. If you try to force water through one 3/4" hose, it will increase the back pressure on the pump and could cause the pump to burn up prematurely, OR, cause the large hose to burst. At the least, it will cause the filter to be inefficient. If the hose bursts, you may come home to an empty pool as the filter will pump it all out onto the ground at that point. Just don't keep anything of value downhill from the pool. I say this as constructive critisism only, although it sure doesn't sound that way. Sorry about that. The reason I know about this is once I put my hand over my outlet inside my pool to see how much pressure it was putting out.... it burst the hose! I was able to shut it off and only lost a little water. However, on another occassion, moles undermined my pool, the sidewall burst at the bottom and 12,500 gallons of water went into my back yard. No big deal... until the water then turned the corner, went through the back yard, around the garage, through the back garage service door and under the walls, and down the driveway to the street all in about 3-4 minutes!!! Just some things to consider.

NS Gearhead · Jul 22, 2014

Ryan; you're telling me I should have a drain at the bottom of my inflatable pool!?! LMAO!!!! I have a skimmer and a vacuum.

MossRoad; I hand tampered everything in layers... if should be fine. I walked around barefoot in the 12' pool looking for the leak and it was perfectly smooth where the sand is, and pretty good where the gravel is. I'll be sure to completely cover it in sand next season. I'm using a dedicated sump pump for the heater.

MossRoad · Jul 22, 2014

Sounds good. Have fun! :thumbsup:

MossRoad · Jul 22, 2014

However.... I just remembered.... you don't want an electric sump pump in the pool when anyone is in it. Huge risk of death by electrocution. Huge.

NS Gearhead · Jul 23, 2014

Hmm, well the outlet I'm using is a GFI... and the cord end won't be near the water... but I'll still remove it before use anyway.

Still filling the darn thing. Ran the garden hose for 4 hours last night, and I'm probably in the 1/3 to 1/2 range. I'll do 4 hours/ day until she's full.