Sand N Sun Pool
By Kakoa on
All summer we have been going back and forth about getting one of these pools. Finally I just said one night "That's it...we're going to get a pool!" The next evening we were off to Wal-Mart and picked one up.
This is the 18'x48" model of this pool. I thought that meant that the water came up to 48", but that's not the case. The top of the inflatable ring stands 48" tall. The water only comes up to about 3'7". It's deep enough that when I'm on my knees the water comes up to my neck.
Set up is not as simple as the box description makes it seem. It says there is no ground prep to do and you can have it ready for water in 30 minutes. Sure, that might be the case if you are putting it on a completely flat surface! We had to till the ground and smooth it out as best as we could for the spot where we wanted to put our pool. Even after we thought it was flat, it ended up being slightly lower on one side (about 3"), and now the pool will not fill up all the way in one section. It just happens to be the section where the filter output is. That means the water being pumped back into the pool spurts, and there's no way to fix it now that it is full of water.
When you unfold the pool for the first time and spread it out, it's easier to have 2 people helping. You have to get all the wrinkles you can out of the bottom. The pool is so heavy that it's almost impossible to do that alone. You need two people pulling in opposite directions to get just the big ones out.
The pool does not come with a pump to inflate the rim. We started to inflate ours using our air compressor, but that was going to take FOREVER! We used our shopvac instead and it filled it up in about one minute! Once the pool is full of water, you will need to add more air to the rim.
Unless you want to pay a few hundred more dollars to have water hauled to fill up the pool all at once, you have to fill the whole thing up with your hose. That's what we did and it took about 24 total hours to fill.
So far, the filter is working just fine. I have heard that some people have problems after a few months, but ours is keeping everything circulating and clean. I love that the pool comes with a cleaning kit. It includes a net and a vacuum skimmer. We are having a problem with beetles getting stuck under the inflatable rim though.
We love this pool so far and I would suggest anyone thinking about getting one, go out and get one. You do have to take it down at the end of the year to store it though.
We're thinking about getting a pool like this if the price goes down!!
Just becareful. If you have cats. We had one like this and our cat was forever jumping on the top ring. We had so many patches that we had to through out our once bueatiful pool.
I use to have one, it lasted for a few years. It was getting old. Everything was messing up on it, but I totally got my moneys worth. And I truly loved that pool. The chemicals were kinda high to maintain at the time. But I have a friend who just bought one and told me there is a salt water kit you can buy now, and once you do that, you don't need all the other stuff. That sounds wonderful. Oh, I always put a winter kit in mine and put a floatie ring in the middle and covered it up. I never took it down in the winter.
We have had these pools before and they have always been great. We never have had any problems. I keep buying new ones as the kids get older and want the bigger pools.
I agree about the difficulty getting the pool level. After three years and trying everything in the book we finally figured it out. If you rototill the earth and rake it out (we also rolled it with a lawn roller) it is possible to get it level, or close to it. I also found that storing it in a big plastic container prevented any damage to the pool during off season. I think that the pumps should be upgraded though, that is where we have had the most problems. Overall though a great alternative to other pools for the cost.
It is really nice looking pool!I would love to have one in our farm house!Thnaks for all the details.Really a good buy!
Raccoons were attracted to ours, and popped the top ring over and over again. I really don't like the inflatable ring model, I've decided!
We had one of these for a few years. My boys really enjoyed it.
A friend of mine had one of these and she and her family enjoyed it for a couple of years before they got an inground pool. They passed this pool on to another friend who used it for another year or two before the liner went bad.
This is the one we have, thankfully my husband has a tractor and he leveled the ground with it..we learned our lesson the hard way lastyear trying to set it up quickly :S lol