Fun in the Sun! - Setting up the Intex Pool

My kids, like many others, love to swim.  My daughter should have been born with fins.  Last year, we purchased a pool pass for our local public pool.  We would go to the pool at least 5 days a week from 1 to 5 pm and swim, and a couple of times, we went to the 7 to 9 pm evening swim.  The kids really enjoyed their time there.  We would take our snacks and just make a day of it.

This year, we realized that because of our schedules, it was just not possible to go to the pool as much as we knew the kids would like.  So, we decided to purchase a small pool.  We went to the store with the intentions of getting the 8 foot by 30 inch Intex pool that was on sale for $25. However, after thinking it over and figuring in the discount that Jason receives where he works, we opted to go with the next size up, and we only paid $66 for it.  It is a 12 foot by 36 inch Easy Set Intex pool. While this is still not a huge pool, we thought it would be great for this year and would allow us to decide if we really wanted to invest in a bigger pool for next year.

This post will take you through our step by step set-up of our pool...Here goes!

We (or rather Jason) leveled us a spot.

Easy Set Intex Pool  12 ft. X 36 in.

All the instruction booklets and an instruction DVD

Out of the box

Lay down the ground cover

Unfold the liner and air up the ring
(We used our vacuum cleaner in the "reverse mode" to air up our ring.) 

Attach the filter
(Make sure the hoses are connected the right way...we had ours backwards at first.)

Fill the pool with 1 inch of water to make sure you are good and level. We were a little slanted (about a half inch to an inch difference), but it did not really mattern in the end.  Also make sure the liner is free of wrinkles on the bottom.

Make sure the openings are all covered (the drain opening as well as the filter openings) and continue filling the pool (Allow your two children who are dying to get in to quietly play in the pool!  The deeper the pool got...the less quiet the kids got!).

Getting closer...

DONE!

I have to say that overall this was a very easy process (at least for me it was...I did not have to do much).  It is a very inexpensive way to have a pool at home for the kids to get wet in.  They have enough room to "swim" around and "dive" for things.  My kiddos have literally spent all day in the pool at this point.

One thing to remember is that your pump has to be "primed" in order to get the air out and allow it to work properly.  There is an air release valve that you just unscrew.  Wait until the water begins coming out of the air valve and then screw it back down to close it again.  This will get all the air out of the pump and the lines and allow the water to flow through.  Also, the 1/2" to 1" off in leveling did not seem to effect the pool.  So, I would just suggest that you have a fairly level area that will not allow the pool to tilt, and an area that is free of any puncturing debris including some really stiff grass areas or roots.

I would definitely recommend this pool (at this point) based on the ease of set up and the inexpensive purchase price.  I will post again further down the road as to how well it holds up and how well the filter works.