Customer Reviews

Intex Ultra Frame 24-by-12-Foot-by-52-Inch Rectangular Pool Set

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Purchased for $[...] including shipping. Was a bit unsure at first about the quality/durability at this price. It is now set up and in use and all my concerns were unfounded. This is a relatively new pool design and it is really ingenious. Assembly is straightforward, instructions quite clear, no missing parts and the fit and finish were excellent. Really exceeded my expectation honestly. Best for a family with kids who want to get a fairly large pool up very quickly that should last 5 - 10 years with proper care. Everything needed is included in this package and the pump, filter and chorine generator are adequate for the pool size. The whole pool is assembled with not bolts or screws. You will need blocks to level with the ground for each leg and this can take a couple of hours to do. I would suggest 2 2x6x16" boards side by side rather than patio blocks. Cheaper, more durable, easier to set and easier on the vinyl retainers. At this price I would really be surprised if anyone would be disappointed unless they just didn't understand the different types of pools. I am updating this review after owning the pool for two seasons. I noticed that people are complaining about difficulty taking the pool down for the winter. The simple solution is don't!!! There is no reason to take it down. Just make sure you reomoved the valves and fittings from the side of liner, remove the interior plugs (leave the exerior caps on), and cover it. This will drain the pool a few inches but you just fill it up in the Spring. Whatever wear and tear you think you are saving by trearing it down for the Winter is misguided. The pool can easily withstand the cold weather is closed as indicated above. It is much harder on the liner and frame to take it down with all the prying it off the frame (which would get scratched and eventually rust then) and dragging it around. I hope this helps someone avoid a lot of hard, discouraging work for nothing. I would also strongly suggest getting a sand filter for the pool too. It will save you a lot of time and trouble keeping it clean. Another trick it to make a "bottom drain" by using a 3x3x2" or 3x3x1 1/2" PVC tee with PVC drain grates glued into each 3" end and a hoe barb fitting in the small hole. You can then connect this to the inlet and pull water from the bottom which works better for opening the pool. Once it is clear you can probably just stick with the skimmer for the season.

I purchased this pool through Amazon in April. The pool went up in mid July and the kids absolutely loved it. I added a small deck on one end, a solar heating system, a reel to aid in the removal of the solar cover and pool cover, and eventually added a propane heater to extend our pool season. Previously we owned an inflatable ring pool which we used for five years until my daughters out grew it. I was expecting to get at least the same number of years out of this pool. Well now the pool season is over in my neck of the woods and its time to take down Intex Ultra Frame pool. Everything goes smoothly until I try to take the top frame rails out of the pool liner. The vinyl has welded itself to the frame tubes and won't budge. My wife and I spend a full day attacking the liner with our hands (mainly) and any other tool I could think of to try and get the top frame rails out. After and all day struggle that left our hands bloodied and blistered we were able to get the longer two side rails out. At least we will be able to store the liner in doors this winter. I called Intex to make them aware of this problem. I was told that they were sorry, but the product only carries a 90 day warranty. My guess is that anyone that needs to break this pool down for the winter will run into the same problem that we experienced. I'm sure I'll be buying a new liner sooner that I want too, but considering the investment that I've made in the deck, heater and real the pool was about 25% of the cost of the project. I just wanted to make everyone aware that these Intex Ultra Frame pools don't break down for winter storage and Intex could really care less about the problem. I bumped up my rating from 2 to 3 stars as I feel that the pool has performed well and lasted so far. My original expectation was 5 years and we're almost there. I was checking the Intex site for a liner replacement and they are available. After living with this pool for 3 summers I can tell you the chlorine generator makes maintaining this pool so much easier than adding chlorine like I did with the old inflatable ring pool.

Update 06/26/11:
The liner welding problem should be over with on the tear down this fall. The second year (fall 2009) we were able to get the two long rails out and one of the shorter end sides. Last fall we were able to get all four rails out. It seems that once you spend the time to get the rails out the residue left from the vinyl on the rails keeps it from sticking. So I put the pool up last week for the fourth season. I have at least one small leak in the liner this year-hoping to patch it once we get the pool warmed up. Last year I replaced the included pump/chlorine generator with a higher capacity pump and separate chlorine generator. Upon setting up the pool this year the pump had gone out. Unlike the pool the pumps have a 2 year warranty and I should be receiving a replacement from Intex about a week after filing a claim. I really like the 4000 gph pump and separate chlorine generator setup. It allows you to run the pump longer and not have generate the extra chlorine.

We ordered the Intex 24x12x52 Ultra Frame pool in April of this year. It was delivered on the exact date promised. The area in the yard where we wanted to install it needed to be leveled out, so using a couple of blocks, a string level, and plenty of sweat, we managed to get it all level within about a half an inch. My stepson was home from college, so he helped us install the pool. After doing the inventory of everything, we laid out the ground cover, and spread out the liner. The instructions said to let the liner sit in the sun for a while to soften up the vinyl; however, it was HOT here that day. Thirty minutes of letting it soak up the sun was enough. (NOTE: Do not let the steel tubes soak up the sun - they get too hot to handle!!)

Since all three of us (husband, step-son, and I) wanted to be in charge of this project, it probably took us a bit longer to get the pool up than it should have. After two hours of power struggle, the pool was up and filling with water. Hours later, when the pool was almost full; we noticed a puddle of water on one side. It was growing larger as we watched. Yep, the liner was leaking. After all of the sighing and moaning, I contacted Amazon.com. Their 30-day warranty is to have the pool package returned (at no cost to us) and replace it. All of it... everything! Uh... no!

I then contacted Intex. They were awesome! We had to drain the pool completely, which took two full days. (Only after the water was totally drained did I find the drain connector, which certainly would have come in handy!) I then had to cut specific pieces of the liner out, box them up and send back to Intex in California. Once they received the box of `liner pieces', they promised to send us a new liner. And that's exactly how it happened. It took a week to get the liner pieces to them and then another week for the new liner to arrive via UPS. The new (replacement) liner is a 2007 model, but...other than a few differences in appearance, it worked out the same. The second installation was a piece of cake! Stepson wasn't here and I got to be in charge! We used pressure treated lumber to place under the wall supports. Our ground is clay, and we worked our butts off getting it all level. In less than an hour we were filling the pool! (Had hubby been "in charge," it likely would have taken twice as long!)

When it was time to add the 210 pounds of salt, I took charge of the broom. Hubby poured the salt in and I kept it moving to help facilitate the dissolving process. That didn't take long at all. Two days later we were enjoying the pool. It's not exactly long enough to swim laps, but it is big enough to cool off, have fun and relax. My only regret is not getting the largest one Intex makes.

We were impressed with the innovative design and quality. Simple design, well-constructed, clear instructions, and well-thought-out technical parts (pump/filter/strainer/chlorinator/accessories). The only gripe is that the ladder could be wider and more sturdy (OK size for kids, but it's a bit insubstantial for adults - even those less than 140lbs). Yes, the first liner had a leak, but Intex responded wonderfully and as quickly as possible. Their warranty process worked great! So far so good on the second liner. I would recommend this pool to others. However, if another leak appears, I'll be back to update this review!

UPDATE OCTOBER 15, 2008: When we took the pool down for the winter, the vinyl had welded to the posts. After struggling with it for about 20 minutes, we thought of rubbing alcohol. We poured some in a spray bottle and sprayed it under the vinyl and let it sit for a few. Then we used one of the black, plastic rods to work the vinyl free from the posts. (slip rod under vinyl and work toward welded part) It worked like a charm and the liner was not damaged at all. So yes, we still love this pool!

What a perfect family pool and a great price (although shipping is bit high). It arrives in two large boxes with parts in each box labeled and easily identifiable. It takes the immediate fear out of assembly. It will take 2 people to move each box. Assembly was as advertised for us - we had 4 or 5 people over to "watch", but they ended up helping. It will take at least 3 folks to do this efficiently. We had it up in less than an hour. All parts fit nicely except the corners. You have to add the 4 corner tubes at the end of assembly and ours seem to slide a lot and do not "lock" in to anything. The pool is holding up fine, but it still seems odd. BE SURE TO PLACE TREATED WOOD BLOCKS under the struts on the sides. Please don't think your yard is hard enough to hold it up. I put the wood in the first time and can now see how much weight is on these struts as it presses the wood into the ground.

While filling it, you may become concerned because the sides of the pool appear to be collapsing into the pool and as the water gets higher, they do not seem to stand up on their own...rest assured, the last 9 inches of water will do it. As it filled up, the pump took less than 10 minutes to put in. The instructions are perfect and anyone can pop this together. Everything is hand-tight with no tools needed. Even better is the pump comes with a cord that is about 20 feet long. Perfect to use with no extension cords. The entire pump assembly is pre-built. All you do is connect the hoses and the valves to the pool.

The operation of the pump and salt water system is straight-forward. After it fills up, add about 200 pounds of salt to get started and let it run. The manual says our temperature and location should run the chlorinator for 7 hours per day, but that is way too much for us. We run it 5 hours a day every other day due to lack of daily use.

Pros:
1) Quick assembly
2) Pre-assembled parts and pump
3) Swim within 24 hours of setup
4) Deluxe kit has vacuum and all parts needed and it works great
5) Salt water system basically maintains itself.

Cons:
1) The paper filter should be changed weekly, not bi-weekly. We have hosed it out a few times, but changing it is better.
2) The filter basket in the pool allows a lot of small bugs to pass through and the paper filter catches it instead.
3) Will not tolerate a lot of heavy splashing and large waves. Water literally shoots out the corners of the pool if it gets too wavy.
4) MUST be on a perfectly level piece of ground - we are off by 3 inches on one end and it is noticeable and annoying.
5) Buy a better water test kit than the one supplied.
6) Supplied skimmer is rather useless as it is a net that small things float through
7) Pump must run to chlorinate. Once chlorination cycle is complete, entire system goes into standby and pump shuts off until next cycle 24 hours later. If you want the pump to run 24 hours for constant filtering and cleaning, you have to turn the unit off at the power switch, then back on which resets the chlorination timer to 0, but the pump will run. When you need chlorination, you reset the timer and the cycle runs and then goes back into standby and you repeat the steps. Annoying, but manageable.

Although the list of cons looks bad and large - they are just items to be aware of. I wouldn't trade this pool for anything at all. It is the perfect size for our family and we absolutely love it. Intex truly made a wonderful product here.

Fantastic Pool Set. Complete with everything I needed to set-up, operate and maintain an above ground pool. Both the pool itself and all accesories included were of high quality. The only things I added that were not included were the salt and a bubble cover to warm-up the water. The most important and hardest part of assembly is the ground site preparation. As with any above ground pool, it is important to start with a level and firm surface to ensure pool water fills evenly around the pool. For this pool, it is also important to use wood or concrete pads as the directions recommend under the frame legs. I skipped this step for expediency, but won't next year, since I am noticing settling to different degrees around the pool frames due to ground getting wet from rain or pool water splashing out.

This pool is a great deal for the price. It's better than I expected. The setup is really easy, but make sure you have at least 3 people when setting up. Impossible for one person, difficult with 2 people, easy with 3 or 4 people. We set it up in about 2 hours, and it took a little more than a day to fill it with one hose, and then another day to get the salt dissolved in and chlorine generator going. The time consuming part was getting the ground READY for setup. It has to be absolutely level. They say this over and over in the instructions. BELIEVE IT! I spent an entire day shoveling and raking the area level. It was time well spent. Also, make sure you put blocks or wood under the side supports as they recommend. Don't let them rest on bare ground. They'll sink in when the ground softens after a good rain.
We got the salt water / chlorine generator system, and I highly recomend it. Crystal clear water with no chemicals, no chlorine smell or irritation. Excellent technology. Worth the extra price.
My whole family loves this pool and we use it every day. With the skimmer atachment that came with the pool, there is almost no maintenance. It just took a little trial and error for a couple of weeks to get the right number of hours to run the chlorine generator every day.
If a pool like this existed ten years ago, we would have had a pool ten years ago.

Overall it is a good above ground pool. It is large and easy to keep clean. Kids have a great time in it. However, you need a few people to assemble it. Parts can be cumbersome and heavy to handle alone. You should make sure the legs don't push into the ground. Better to put something hard and level under the legs. You will also have to level the bottom before put water in which can take some time. Since it is large, you should make sure you get a ladder that you do not have to take in and out. Maybe one that you can lock up for safety.

We wanted the largest above ground pool available. There was only one larger than this model, but it didn't have good reviews. We bought this pool and are happy we did. We shopped around prices and got the best deal here on Amazon. The delivery company was SUPERB. Called to arrange delivery ahead of time, very courteous, made sure boxes were right where we needed them.
We want to leave this pool up ALL the time, so we spent several hours prepping before putting it up. We tilled the area and removed any weeds, rocks, twigs etc, then raked it all flat and level. With just two of us to put it together, it did take several hours. We followed the recommendation in many reviews and bought 12" wide boards to put under the supports so they would not sink in. We're on a well, so not wanting to burn out our well pump, we only filled the pool about 2 hours at a time. So it took us about a week to get it all the way filled. We really took the time to get in while we filled and make sure the liner stayed smooth.
The whole process went without problems. Now the pool is up and looks GREAT!! It is really large, and our kids LOVE it. The salt seemed to keep it clear even before we ran the boost cycle. The only down side to owning a pool like this is the cost of filters. A filter is supposed to last about two weeks. Ours last about 1 day! We've had to resort to washing and re-using them several times before replacing. Hopefully this will get better as pollen season ends! We're not using the cover though, so we do get a lot of dust. The cover is just a pain to get on and off, and we really do not have anywhere to put it when we take it off. Also, when the water flow gets slow because the filter is dirty, a little beeping alarm goes off. And keeps going off. It has awakened us in the middle of the night several times. We wish it would just shut off automatically, and then we could deal with it later.
They could improve the design at the corners, where water easily escapes, but that is a minor annoyance. The rectangular design is GREAT. We much prefer it to a round pool. It makes the pool feel larger and you can even swim laps.
Overall, this is an excellent pool. We would definitely buy one again.

This pool was a great purchase! We have used it everyday since we set it up. Make sure the gound is level. We used top soil as recommended by Intex. It does take 3 people to set up. Make sure you read all the information that comes with this pool. It took about 1 week for the water to become crystal clear after adding salt and using the salt water system & filter. This pool is really low maintenance, we vacuum once a week, change the filter, and skim the top. The salt water system works great. I do agree with some of the other reviews that the ladder is not very stable. We will probably purchase a more sturdier one in the future. I would definately recommend this pool.

Putting up the pool was the EASY part. The yard prep where the pool was being placed was the HARDEST part. We had to bring in dirt, level it out and pack it so that it wouldn't sink once we started filling the pool. We used concrete stepping stones (18 x 18) instead of the wood under the frames. We buried the stones in the ground and placed the blue liner protector sheet over the stones so as not to scrape the metal braces across the concrete and tear the straps.

It only took the two of us 1hr. and 45 mins to set the pool up. Waiting for it to fill up took a day and a half. One thing we did learn was that when you start filling the pool the sides will start bowing in. At the time we didn't know that is was suppose to do that, so we emptied the pool. My husband called intex and was told that it was suppose to do that during the filling process. MY husband told the person on the phone "Don't you think that kind of information should be included in the video".

We highly recommend this pool with the Saltwater filter, it's definitely worth the money. We've had our pool up since May and it's still as clear as the first day we set it up. The grandkids are enjoying it ALMOST as much as we are.