Pools from Wal-mart
 

Does anyone have one of these? I'm considering getting one but want to hear others experiences first. They come with a little pump and filter system, is it any good. Does it take chemicals? How satisfied are you with it on a scale of 1-10?

which pool are you talking about? We had an above ground one for several years that we got at walmart it was 12 feet across and 4 feet deep. We enjoyed it very very much, it was very easy to take care of the filter system worked great and yes we put chlorine in it. For what we paid, which if I remember was around 200 dollars for it (dont quote me on that though) it was fantastic and I would buy another one.

We ended up having to take it down when they tore the woods down behind our house because county law said we had to have a fence around it because it was deeper than 3 feet and I wasnt going to that expense for an above ground thing...and with the woods gone it was very visible to a very busy road.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...32873%3A110274

this is kind what it looked like, but without the portholes and it was about 6 years ago

I'm talking about one like this

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/07/82/57...77_215X215.jpg

oh ok, cant help you with that one....I required metal walls!! Sorry

We have one. This is our second year and thus far we love it. We plan to move in a few years when the kids are all out of school so didn't want to spend money on a regular above ground or a below ground.

Upkeep has been minimal. I use a pack of Shock and Swim once a week, have a floating thingy that I put two chlorine tabs in once a week and run the filter 24/7. Running the filter an hour a day or whatever they recommend just doesn't cut it in my opinion.

We mainly got it because my wife wanted it to lounge in but my three sons (two teens and a Marine) and myself have gave it a hell of a work out and have not beat it to death yet.

just remember, that pool probably came from china if you got it at walmart. -_-

My neighbors have one of those. You still need chemicals otherwise it'll fill with bugs just about anywhere you liv.

Ditto. They set it up and the ground wasn't perfectly level and it had rocks underneath. They had to take it down and do lots of backbreaking prep work to the ground. Make sure you prep the area before setting it up.

I was really interested in one of those too, because they are fairly cheap ($499 at Canadian Tire) but I was worried that the racoons would shred it apart. Has anybody had any problems with these and local urban wildlife?

I've got one with the metal frame made by the same company (Intex) and I think its great. Mine is 18ft. across by four feet deep. Intex makes a good product. The pump works well and I don't find upkeep to be too much of a hassle. A friend of mine had the kind like pictured and he liked it fine. You just need to make sure the area you put it in is very level or it will bulge out at one side. Don't know about wildlife difficultys but the walls are very tough.

It looks like it would be great but, as others have pointed out, it would have to be very level. Plus....keep in mind that wherever you put it you are going to destroy your grass and will end up with a huge dead patch eventually.

Mine's not perfectly level- It also comes with a tarp to place under it. I haven't had any issues with it. Although I usually just get a new one every year. No matter what my good intentions are- I usually don't put it up correctly, or cleanly and it ends up being disgusting. So- I just grab another one the following year. Albeit, a larger one.

So-IMO it's a good purchase.

Just got one this year. Been in it once. Put it up two months ago.


We put it in a place that ended up being to shady so no one wants to go in and I'm too lazy to drain it ang move it.

I was surprised when my grass came back quite well this spring from where I too it down last Labor Day. Of course I don't have a "golf course" type lawn but I think had I not setup again in the same place this year that I would have recovered quite well in that spot. And then of course it depends on what type of grass you have and where you live as well. Sometimes I don't think I could kill my grass with Roundup.

Got a friend's family with one of those. They seem to enjoy it pretty well, and they're on their second year with it. So far it's held up rather nicely. :thumbsup:

haha, you said grass. That's not gonna be a problem, I live in the middle of the desert and the only green in my backyard is my pepper garden and a lot of weeds.

They're pretty easy to maintain. Filter will take care of most stuff (spray it down with a hose in most models after a few days to clean it out). Will need a strainer to get out the leaves, and maybe a little sweeper thing that should hook up to your filter to clean the bottom if there's dirt there (should look into that a little more, some may not be compatible with your set-up). Technically for those rubber ones you're not really supposed to keep them up for a long period of time, and should empty them out every once in a while, or when not in major use. Atleast thats what they say on the side. The ones with metal sides are probably your best bet, they're more secure tot he ground and are safer from animals trying to destroy it, and it is also better if you have a dog or cat that may want to jump in so they dont fuck it up. For something that small you wont need much chlorine, maybe a half a scoop if you get the granulated at night, or one-1 1/2 little round things on a little floaty doo-jammer that you can keep floating around whenever (tho i would take it out if you go "swimming")

They're ok, i guess. Many people think they'll do more swimming than they'll actually do when they have a pool. But you live in a desert so you'll probably be in there quite often, so go for it.

I don't know about that "swimming" business, but I will be "relaxing" quite often when it's 115-125 degrees out.

We have one of those pools, maybe just a bit smaller, my kids are very young. We loved it last year, havent set it up this year, not really sure why. I might try to set it up myself one day. We had a cover on ours and something got on it and ripped the cover. The pool was still ok. The floating thing with the chlorine was a big help to keep it clean. So was my tenant (boy do I miss them!).

you think it was racoons? I want so badly to put one in my backyard, but there are major racoons happening. I had a crocodile mile set up, with a spashpool at the end. Over night, some racoons shredded the pool end ( i could see claw marks in the rubber).

I would hate to drop $400 on a pool like this only to have it sliced open by racoons. any body with experience in this?

I am not entirely sure what got to it. We have a lot of stray cats in the neighborhood and there used to be racoons. I never saw what did it. The cover was very thin, the pool is thicker and was undamaged.

edited to say: sorry I am not much help.

I'm not sure, but perhaps the chlorine odor would keep racoons from wanting to mess with it. And as stated, the walls on these things are quite heavy and durable.

We just got one of these for our house, be sure to do the shock/chlorine thing, becuase we had ours for a week, my roomates did not bother doing anything like that (they bought it so i guess that keeps me from having to maintain it) and it algy formed quite quickly. Though i really want to get a floating duck for it, if not for the chlorine, but for the novelty of it.