Hi, new forum user here looking for a bit of advice, we used to have an 18ft x 9ft x 48 inch oval steel Frame bestway pool. We kept it going for around 4 years and finally took it down last year as we wanted to do up the garden and upgrade the pool to a rectangular frame. We kept the pool up over the winter months and followed winterising instructions, (London UK) and although we did have some colder winters the pool was pretty perfect for the four years we had it, albeit not ever perfectly level, long end side to side was nearly a 3 inch difference, which I now know was probably way too much, so we were very lucky to not have any problems with the pool.
We decided to upgrade to an Intex XTR 18ft x 9ft x 52 inch rectangular pool. We had the garden levelled professionally and they laid new artificial lawn, as we thought this would be better than how we had the Bestway straight on the grass over the ground sheet. Type-1 MOT and Granite dust was poured and seriously compacted to ensure the ground was level and stable for the pool before the artificial lawn was laid.
We put up the pool about 10 days ago, on filling I noticed it was ever so slightly off level on the short side (9ft) from left to right. It was under 2 inch difference and from what I understood this was within the OK range for these pools, and a vast improvement on how it was with our old pool before, so we continued to fill the pool. Long length it looked really level, and again much improved on our previous set up.
So the pool is up in full use, and am after a bit of advice on the levelness, it hasn’t become anymore un-level, than when we were filling it up, it's just more noticeable to the eye if the pool is very full I guess.
Checked the water measurements in the corners again today:
I’ve measured the short end (9ft length)
L-R Corner water level is 1.8 inches different
Other 9ft end:
L-R 1.5 inch different
And long ways (18ft length)
L-R 1 inch different
Other 18ft length:
L-R 0.8 inch different
So the level difference is under 2 inches everywhere. This is a huge improvement on our old pool which I never measured but I’m sure it looked like it was approaching 3 inches, I’m not sure how much work it would take to re level this even more next year? But if it needs to be done, I guess we’ll have to.
Our old Bestway legs never sunk on the old grass in the 4 years we had it up, so we haven’t used concrete slabs this time either, as really wanted to keep it looking nice on the artificial grass, and hoping having the ground properly compacted with machinery will mean it doesn’t sink, and should be even more secure than what we did last time. But am keeping an eye on the legs daily in case. We had a serious thunderstorm yesterday with crazy amounts of rain, so the set up had its first proper test, and the water just ran through the artificial grass with no flooding, the pool water level rose all the way to the grey line so we drained it a bit after the storm to bring the water level below the grey line. But the legs all look secure.
Photo when filling the pool up:
Here is a photo of the 1.8 inch difference from one side to the other:
This is the 1.5 inch difference on the other side.
Here is the long length water level:
So I just wanted some on advice on whether <2 inches is a safe level? I plan to keep measuring to ensure it doesn’t get more unlevel, and will keep an eye on the legs in case of sinking, but there’s been no sign of sinking so far, even after the crazy storm we had yesterday.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading about how level a pool should be and there’s a lot of conflicting info. From what I understand if it goes over the 2 inch mark we would need to worry. We will probably take it down and store it at the end of this summer, as keeping the last one up was a lot of work over the winter.
The only other thing I’m a little concerned about are the corner pieces on this pool, its nothing like our oval one, and they move around quite freely which from what I understand is exactly what they’re supposed to do, I just worry that they’re going to come out too much. Any advice from others who have a rectangular Intex XTR or a pool like this, would be greatly appreciated.
We decided to upgrade to an Intex XTR 18ft x 9ft x 52 inch rectangular pool. We had the garden levelled professionally and they laid new artificial lawn, as we thought this would be better than how we had the Bestway straight on the grass over the ground sheet. Type-1 MOT and Granite dust was poured and seriously compacted to ensure the ground was level and stable for the pool before the artificial lawn was laid.
We put up the pool about 10 days ago, on filling I noticed it was ever so slightly off level on the short side (9ft) from left to right. It was under 2 inch difference and from what I understood this was within the OK range for these pools, and a vast improvement on how it was with our old pool before, so we continued to fill the pool. Long length it looked really level, and again much improved on our previous set up.
So the pool is up in full use, and am after a bit of advice on the levelness, it hasn’t become anymore un-level, than when we were filling it up, it's just more noticeable to the eye if the pool is very full I guess.
Checked the water measurements in the corners again today:
I’ve measured the short end (9ft length)
L-R Corner water level is 1.8 inches different
Other 9ft end:
L-R 1.5 inch different
And long ways (18ft length)
L-R 1 inch different
Other 18ft length:
L-R 0.8 inch different
So the level difference is under 2 inches everywhere. This is a huge improvement on our old pool which I never measured but I’m sure it looked like it was approaching 3 inches, I’m not sure how much work it would take to re level this even more next year? But if it needs to be done, I guess we’ll have to.
Our old Bestway legs never sunk on the old grass in the 4 years we had it up, so we haven’t used concrete slabs this time either, as really wanted to keep it looking nice on the artificial grass, and hoping having the ground properly compacted with machinery will mean it doesn’t sink, and should be even more secure than what we did last time. But am keeping an eye on the legs daily in case. We had a serious thunderstorm yesterday with crazy amounts of rain, so the set up had its first proper test, and the water just ran through the artificial grass with no flooding, the pool water level rose all the way to the grey line so we drained it a bit after the storm to bring the water level below the grey line. But the legs all look secure.
Photo when filling the pool up:
Here is a photo of the 1.8 inch difference from one side to the other:
This is the 1.5 inch difference on the other side.
Here is the long length water level:
So I just wanted some on advice on whether <2 inches is a safe level? I plan to keep measuring to ensure it doesn’t get more unlevel, and will keep an eye on the legs in case of sinking, but there’s been no sign of sinking so far, even after the crazy storm we had yesterday.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading about how level a pool should be and there’s a lot of conflicting info. From what I understand if it goes over the 2 inch mark we would need to worry. We will probably take it down and store it at the end of this summer, as keeping the last one up was a lot of work over the winter.
The only other thing I’m a little concerned about are the corner pieces on this pool, its nothing like our oval one, and they move around quite freely which from what I understand is exactly what they’re supposed to do, I just worry that they’re going to come out too much. Any advice from others who have a rectangular Intex XTR or a pool like this, would be greatly appreciated.
This is one of those things you'll have to watch closely, especially as you mentioned those slip-joint corners. Here at TFP we ideally like to see a pool level within one inch, but for some that allowance is exceeded once the pool is full and has settled. Even with the best leveling prep and intentions, things change. I'd keep an eye on it and re-measure every once in a while to see if the pool remains stable or goes more out of level.