Had a few months won't stay blown up now pump works well but did need chlorine tablets to keep clean

My family bought an 18 times 48 sized pool. Unfortunately, the ground you place the pool on has to be one hundred percent flat, or else you'll have a slightly deeper end. What will also happen is that the higher end doesn't get as much water as the deeper end. So when the deeper end is filled bellow the ring, and you add more water, it will always go to the deeper end and the pool will overflow. Even if you have a one hundred percent flat place for your pool, you cannot fill it any higher than right below the ring, or else it literally dumps out all the water that isn't below the ring. The slightly elevated area that has less water will have a side that caves in just a bit. It is really a problem. The water can't go inside the pipes to the filter and the pump. There's also a bit of false advertising here too. The POOL is 48 inches tall, but the water in the pool can only go below the ring. The water isn't four feet deep. It takes a bit long to fill up. Another thing to avoid is rocks. Large rocks under the pool. It is hard to flatten the bottom of the pool with slightly elevated places. When you put up the pool, after you've blown up the ring ( By the way, the only thing to blow up is the ring!) someone has to fill the pool with about an inch of water and hop in and smooth the inside of the pool. It is hard. What I did is I hopped in and smoothed it out while the water was running. It gets harder when the pool has more water. I started when the deepest end had about maybe an inch of water. It took me an hour to get all the major creases, air bubbles and wrinkles out and there are still a lot of wrinkles. Trust me, the air bubbles are hard to get out. Our pool's floor was super wrinkled, that's why it took me that long. I made a lot of headway but it was harder to get some wrinkles out. Only one method worked for me but I had to be super patient. Also, this method isn't in the manual. Start from the middle and spread out in a circular motion. Spin around and flatten. Once you've got your small, middle circle done, expand and cover a bit more ground. Repeat until done. Spots of creases and wrinkles( mostly air bubbles) may reappear but that's why patience is important.... Next... the pump. The pump works just fine, however, it weighs down the pool, because the pool is made of plastic, so the side with the pump sags and also caves in. It is also hard to fill up that corner with water because of that. Also, the pump could be more powerful. Next, the ladder. Yes indeed, you have to build the ladder. The ladder is a bit unsteady. A bit wobbly, but it works. Our biggest concern regarding the ladder was that its hard rubber material at the bottom of the ladder, may wear a hole in the pool. We have concluded to either lay a mat under it, or keep moving the ladder around. We haven't tried the debris cover yet, but it looks like it'll work better than the recommended Intex solar cover that we bought seperately. It blew right off with one huge gust of wind. But overall, this pool was an amazing purchase. I highly recommend it. I also hope this review is helpful to someone.

The very first thing to note is 2 things. First, the pool is great. You can't go wrong here. Second, keep in mind, it's not just the pool you'll need. The this version of the pool comes with a pump, necessary hoses, and 2 filters. Intex sells additional filters as singles or in a pack of 6. The filters you need are: Intex 29000E/59900E.

We bought the 12 foot version in May of 2016. It's worked great so far. It took about an hour to setup. I used a tarp underneath which Intex does not recommend, but we did it anyway to protect the bottom. It took about 3-4 hours to fill up the pool. This one comes with the pump and filter setup which is a must to keep the water clean. We also bought some basic pool chemicals, and both available covers by Intex. The cover we use the most is the solar cover. Where we live its around 90-100 degrees F daily. You should also have a strainer for this pool to get the leaves and larger organic matter out of the pool. The included pump/filter setup is really just the get the stuff the strainer can't get.

As far as having flat ground, Intex makes a big deal about having this pool level. See the picture of our setup. It's basically like a big bag, so think of what happens when you fill a bag with water on an uneven surface. It's going to roll to one side a bit. In my case the ground is about 4 inches lower on one side than the other. The pool still works fine in my opinion, just the water is not as deep as it could be, but I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. The 2 year old can touch the bottom with ease yet the pool is still deep enough to for my 4 year old to swim laps and for my 6.5 foot frame to swim under water.

I've never maintained my own pool before so I got some water test strips, PH booster, and Chorine Sanitizer. I have to put about 1/3 cup chlorine in per week. Go easy on the PH booster because using that will increase the Total Alkalinity, I recommend the Clorox pool products. Intex recommends you change the filter every 2 weeks. The first time I changed the filter at two weeks I saw surprised at how much gunk was in it. It seems like you could clean it yourself to extend the life of the filter but will try that next time. For a season Intex sells a six pack of filters so I bought that as well. For the cost the pump is clearly cheap, but seems to be well made considering the limit budget for materials. The pump on the 12 foot pool will filter 500 gallons per hour so you should plan to leave it on for at least 3 hours on most days. Also bought Intex's foot bath to wash the feet before getting in the pool (shown in picture). That helps to keep the junk out.

Final price including a few pool Toys was about $350, including the $79 for the pool. So expect to pay more than just the cost of the pool, but after searching all over for an above ground temporary pool (one with no frame and expensive pump/filter setups) I can't be happier so far with this one. Just the thing we needed to keep cool in the summer and provide some fun for the kids.

Aug 2016 update:
Everything is going great. At one point, I had a problem with Green Algae, but apparently so did the pools in Rio for the Olympics. I n my case the problem ended up being too much Stabilizer, which prevented the Chlorine from doing it's job. I ended up replacing my chemicals and tester strips. Make sure your test kit includes a test for Stabilizer. I purchased the AquaChek 551236 7-Way 100 Count Pool Water Test Strips and I'm very happy with those.

I got this pool for my 9 and 13 year old. Ever year we have something that they can splash around in when we couldn't get to the pool. Since they are older I came across the 12 foot pool. I am a do-it-yourself kind of person....so who needs instructions (though I did use it to put together the filter).

Here is what I learned. If you want an maintenance-free pool that will not cost you anything but the pool....this is not for you. First you have to find the right spot. Since there are no level spots in our yard we put it on our back patio. Only to find out that when we filled the pool that the patio is not level but it works anyway.

Since it is on concrete you HAVE to put something under it such as a tarp or foam pads to prevent small holes in the bottom of the pool. Once you have this set up inflate the top ring. Start to fill with water (it will take hours). As you are doing this attach the filter. Yes, it comes with extra parts.

Once the pool is filled you will think "wow! This is great!" and the kids will hop in once it is warm enough. Your excitement will be short lived. Literally one day, you will look out and your "perfect" pool is suddenly "perfectly" green. So off you go to get chlorine for your amazing new pool. Since this pool is small you pick up the small chlorine dispenser for $6 and a container of 1" chlorine tabs for $18. (This will take you through the season just so you know). Little do you know that 1" chlorine tabs can be hard to find.......Home you go with your "solution" in hand. It doesn't work. Off you go to buy $15 test strips to figure out what is wrong. Turns out because you used well water you need to increase the PH. Without the proper PH your chlorine tabs are just eroding away and doing absolutely nothing to help with your green slop. So off you go to the $#@%&# store to pick up PH Up. Follow the instructions and now wait. It works!

Next is the filter. Yup. It is there for a reason. I turn it on and it begins to filter all the algae that is floating around. Please keep in mind the pool is only 5 days old at this point. Suddenly you realize that you have to go back to the $#@%&# store to pick up another filter because the one you have is green. Feeling a bit strapped for cash you only pick up one. It isn't until you get home to find out that you actually have to replace the filter every 2 weeks. When you return to the store you realize that all the filters have been sold and that you look high and low around all the other stores and they don't have your size either.....grrrrr. It is not a powerful filter & leaks which is why I gave this a 4 star rating..

Once the filter does it's magic you realize that there is a bunch of junk at the bottom of the pool. Back to the $#@%&# store you go. This time to pick up a "spa" vacuum. You read the instructions and don't believe it will actually work. Stick a hose in one end and a mesh bag on the other and it will vacuum everything up. Since vacuuming is not a favorite activity you also pick up a pool cover. So another $30 and you come home with your next solution. It works like a charm. Once it is all clear you put the cover on. Please note that the cover was the best investment!!!!

Now summer is under way. The kids use the pool daily. Suddenly the ring deflates. I would love to blame the kids for it but that is not the issue. Turns out that our cat has decided that this 12 foot pool is his personal water dish. Walking on the ring is quite a talent and he needs his claws out to keep his balance so he does not fall in. He also enjoys using it as a spring board and makes a game of bouncing off of it. Because our patio is not 100% level one side is a bit lower than the rest. Once the ring deflated enough that side of the pool collapsed causing a tsunami of water rushing down the back yard muddying our small pond and drowning all small rodents who had any holes in the yard. I spent days trying to find the hole. I searched for "easy" ways to find a hole and none of them actually worked. What I finally did was I inflated the ring and put my ear to it and walked around the ring listening for a slight whistle. This worked. I used a permanent marker and circled the hole (so in the future if my patch comes off I can find it again). Out to the $#@%&# store again. I find self-stick patches (yes these work and are less annoying than dealing with patches and glue!). Once applied we are back in business. Until it happens again. Since listening the first time worked I went around and found the hole within 2 minutes...dried it and patched it.

Please note that the cover not only keeps leaves and debris out it also keeps animals from drowning in your pool. Turns out that our cat issue is a normal issue for folks with cats or with neighbor cats.

Overall, once we got through our learning process we love this pool! The sides and bottom are sturdy for my girls. You can go to the pool store for advice but they do not carry any parts for this pool. I can't blame the product for the holes in the ring since it clearly is not a product issue but an animal one. Easy to set up (once you have the spot). Filter is so-so. I will probably upgrade that for next year. It is deep enough for my girls to use inflatable floats to float around on. We got this early in the season so we got it for a discount! Fast shipping. All of the issues with this pool has been user caused not product caused. Highly recommend this pool!

These Intex pools get variable reviews... but for us, they work great. As long as you have reasonable expectations, they work as intended. We set it up in late spring, and keep it up until early fall. It is durable enough to last all those months, and only once did we experience a hole. At the end of the season, even if it is in fairly good condition, it goes into the garbage bin (we keep whatever hardware can be reused). It is simply too big and bulky and wet and moldy to store until next year. Not to mention it may have some small holes by then. We figure for less than the price of one month's maintenance on an in-ground pool, we enjoy this for almost 5 months. So it's worth it and the kids love it.