Above ground pool - advice if you have one or know about them please!

[Safin]

Does anyone have one?

I’m currently toying with the idea of getting one for the garden for the DC. Prob about 12ft round.

Are they any good? Are they a complete pain to look after?
Does it matter if the ground is not 100% flat? (it’s not bad) as it would have to go on the grass
Are they too cold?
And I’ve no external power to run a filter.

DH is against the big spend, wrecking the lawn etc. I’m thinking of the DC who face yet more weeks at home, and are utterly bored of the garden 😂 - due to family vulnerabilities they’ve not been anywhere since covid hit other than school and outdoor trips.

It needs filtering but there are always power solutions if you had to. probably a day's (crap and hard) work to clean out at the start of each summer, they do warm up to a point and certainly in sustained hot weather, they do need regular chemical treatment and from standard water can take a long time to fill up to a decent level.

Great fun but always glad it was at the in-laws house and not ours, the water drainage each year would cause a lot of damage to a small garden as well

We had one and they were great. Care isn't too bad. You need chlorine and algacide and a net. Doesn't cost as much as you'd think to top it up. Having an insulated pool cover (basically a bubble wrap layer) made a big difference to the temperature. Children don't mind about it being cool and the top several inches get very warm and perfect for floating around in a rubber ring.

We've just got one - 12ft.

No it's not too cold, for kids anyway.

The ground needs to pretty near level and it does wreck the grass, but not as much as the trampoline.

I am going to get a filter and also chorine, it is too big to be draining and refilling all the time, and it takes takes ages to fill.

The kids absolutely love it.

You can’t have one without a filter, you’d be changing the water every week. The only looking after they need is regular chlorine

Yes they’re cold 🥶 but I’m a temperature wimp

Ground does need to be flat, not 100% but definitely no slope

They’re absolutely fantastic 👍

Love ours...its brilliant. YY to everything other pubs have said, but justa suggestion...if you have old carpets or rugs, put them down before you put the pool out. Not brilliant, but works

Thank you! I’m going to research power options to see how i can get a filter. I think the loss of grass for a while would be more than made up for by the kids excitement. It’s not completely flat but I think flat enough. The trampoline currently lives there.

Now pondering the best ways to persuade DH 😝

Any other tips welcome.

Oh and is 12ft round big enough? I could fit in 14ft but the price difference is huge

We only ever filled ours up once a year, normally we put it up at the end of May, make sure any blossom is off the trees before you put it up or you'll be cleaning petals out of it for ages.

Our one was a 12ft bestway one, Dd could swim around in it until she got to about 5ft then it became more for floating in.

Go for the bigger one if you can afford it

We only ever filled ours up once a year too, look after your water and it’ll be fine

Don’t be worrying about grass, it’ll soon come back

Honestly get one, they’re absolutely fantastic. Not just for kids either, we’re child free 😊

We have an 18' round one. It's amazing. Very easy to maintain. Put the filter on every day, check chlorine level every few days and adjust accordingly. You'll need a net, hoover and cover. It's so cool to have a pool at home. Every day is a holiday! My son taught himself to swim in it last Summer. We don't have a heater.
Yes the ground must be level. We levelled ours ourselves which was by far the hardest thing about it. Took ages but so worth it.

Ok thank you. The ground is nearly level but May need levelling properly :/ but I think it would be worth it!

There are some really good videos on pool setup on YouTube.

Ground definitely definitely definitely has to be level. Ours wasn't and the pool took off down the gentle slope with a fuck ton of water. DH was trying to save it but his heroics were in vain. The pool side just gets a blistery bulge, which becomes more pronounced and then there's only one way it's going.