Our daughter is, we think, part-fish, so with public pools closing or otherwise a source of concern in the pandemic, we decided to buy an above-ground pool from Wal-mart.
We’ve actually had one of these before, and you should know that out of the box they’re a complete pain. Between weak pumps and crappy filter cartridges, the water goes green quick. Maintenance and cleaning is intense and, in the long-term, pretty expensive between the chemical dances and constant cartridge switching: “Sorry, kids, we can’t swim for a day because the water is literally poison right now.”
So if a pandemic meant I was going to do a pool again, I was determined to upgrade it to something that would work better: saltwater chlorination and a better pump with sand filtration.
And because times are what they are, I was going to do this as cheaply as I could, starting with a $225 pool from Wal-mart.
Adding in the additional filter and salt and sand and taxes, the total cost to floating around was a day of my labor and about $631:
- Summer Waves Elite 14-foot pool … $228
- Intex 26679EG Krystal Clear 2150 GPH Pump & Saltwater Sand Filter Saltwater System … $308
- Intex 1.25″ to 1.5″ Type B Hose Adapters for Pumps & Saltwater System; Set of 2 … $10
- Clorox Pool Salt $15×3 … $45
- H2H Sand $10×4 … $40
- Zip-ties … $.01
(See below for further bells and whistles, including a pool shelf I made.)
Over 90 days of quarantined summer, that figures to about $7/day … though much of that cost was in a fancy pump/filtration system that can be used year after year. (And with the better filtration I suspect the same can be said of the pool itself, too.) In addition, there should be a lot less money spent over time on throw-away filter cartridges, electricity running the pump (new one runs like an hour a day instead of 24 hours a day), and time fighting the pool instead of enjoying it.
Before I get into the details, I want to say that I very much realize that there are far too many folks for whom $631 could pay a month’s rent in a time when that may be difficult. In light of all that’s happening, this post may seem self-involved and frivolous. At the same time, I built a great saltwater pool for a lot less money than you’d expect, and if it helps others manage to make this crappy summer more bearable for some kids, I wanted to share how I did it.
The biggest problem is that the cheapest pool I could find (Summer Waves) does not use the same hose sizing as the ideal pump/filtration system I could find (Intex).
True, Intex makes their own pools, and if you can afford one you’ll be saved the hassle of splicing the two systems. That would be nice. At the time I bought my $228 pool that comes with a skimmer, though, the Intex equivalent was running over $1000 for the pool alone (plus more to add a skimmer and all the other business) … so my notion was that if I could use the cheaper pool I’d come out way ahead.
Which I did.
I’m not going to go through all the stuff that’s in the directions, like how you need to level the yard and how to build the friggin’ pool. Obviously, having good help is essential there:
Anyway, all that is pretty straight-forward. Splicing the systems isn’t, though. So…
The key piece you need is the hose adapter listed above. Intex makes a few different kinds of these, but you need the one with the rubber sleeve.
Here’s the money shot:
To the left are the Intex hoses that came with their pump. To the right is the skimmer filter box that comes with the Summer Breeze pool. And between them is the Intex adapter. As you can see from a second one that I’m holding, I made modifications. 🙂
To modify the adapter, pinch down the smaller end of the rubber sleeve that’s inside of it and then pull it out from the bigger end. Set the sleeve aside. Now cut the adapter down as shown. I used a cheap hacksaw I own.
Once you’ve cut it down, smooth down the cut end so that nothing will poke into the rubber sleeve when you re-install it. I used a utility knife.
Seriously, be sure this is all smooth.
Push the rubber sleeve back into it, and the adapter is ready to bridge the gap between systems. Carefully work the rubber sleeve over the nipple at the bottom of the Summer Breeze filter. When it’s pushed into place, secure it. I used two zipties because I didn’t have a hose clamp handy. Hose clamp would be better, though.
The Summer Breeze skimmer has a crappy little pump in the bottom of it that we won’t be using. I reached in and pulled out its propeller and drive shaft just so they wouldn’t be a drag on our water flow.
That’s it for the intake side of things.
Things are easier on the outflow side of things — easier, but a lot more stressful. You can use adapters here, too, but I chose instead to replace everything with Intex parts so that I could easily use Intex add-ons … like a waterfall and an automated pool cleaner (covered below). To do this, you’ll need to make a slightly bigger hole in the side of your pool.
Yeah, you’ll need to cut the side of the pool.
I cannot stress enough how carefully and slowly you should do this. If you screw this up you are out the cost of the $228 pool.
To do it, set the Intex piece that needs to go through the wall over the smaller diameter Summer Waves hole. Then trace around it with a marker, as tightly as you can: remember throughout this work that you can make the whole in your pool bigger but you cannot make it smaller.
Now, bit by cautious bit, use a utility knife to shave open the hole. As I approached the line I had marked, I alternated between cutting the opening and trying to get the plastic through it. My aim was to cut away the least amount of material possible, which did end up being inside my marked line.
Again, please do this very carefully. Control your pressure on the knife. Don’t sneeze. Don’t get in a hurry. Do not come after me if you mess any of this up.
And that’s it. Assemble the filter and hoses as directed, and everything will hook together like a champ.
Verdict?
Amazing. The new pump is overkill for a pool this size, which means it needs to run very little to cycle all the water. The sand filtration is better than cartridges by orders of magnitude. The saltwater system has eliminated the chemical dance entirely.
The old skimmer works beautifully to clean the top of the pool.
And because I swapped out to the Intex system, I don’t have to worry about the bottom of the pool since an automatic pool cleaner does that for me:
- Intex Auto Pool-cleaner … $56
We call him Biff, Jr. He’s fun to watch. Give him 30 minutes and the pool is spotless. I’ve never had such crystal clear, maintenance-free water.
I also installed a waterfall that lights up at night:
- Intex Multi-Color LED Waterfall Cascade for Intex Above Ground Pools, with Hydroelectric Power … $48
I can’t tell you how relaxing it is to float around to the sound of the waterfall. Plus it comes with a great shut-off valve that would’ve cost me half that by itself.
To get the filtration system up off the ground (which should prolong its life and mean I don’t have to squat as much to change settings), I also put it all up on:
- Milk crates, 4x$7 … $28
To add to my leisure, I also decided I wanted a shelf beside the pool. A place to put the phone, a drink, sunscreen, etc. To do this, I spend about $20 on 30 feet of 3/4” cheap PVC tubing and an assortment of 3/4” fittings to make the skeletal framework of this:
The shelf itself is an exterior-treated sanded plywood board, 24”x24”, which cost under $10. I painted it with exterior spray paint for prettiness and even more durability. I attached the board to the PVC framing with four cheap plastic pipe hangers sized accordingly. Just a few notes here:
Under-mounting the hangers means you’ll get a cleaner look on top, the screw holes won’t rot out as fast, and the shelf top will be a little lower than the PVC framework: in other words, the frame acts as a lip to keep things from rolling off onto the ground or into the pool.
Be sure that the hangers are away from the metal framing of the pool: you don’t want the metal screws of the shelf anywhere where they can scratch the pool’s metal surface and start it rusting (or alternatively start cutting through the pool liner!)
I’d recommend making the outside, “leg” part of the shelf slightly shorter than level, so that the shelf has the tiniest slope away from the pool. That way, if you accidentally spill a drink on the top, it will mostly slow away from the water.
Happy summer, everyone! Stay safe!