What size above-ground pool?

[lalasmama]

With our planned upcoming move to Phoenix, I'm looking at pools to get on EOS clearance in August/Sept.... I've been looking at the Intex Easy Set Pools, since it looks like those are pretty darn easy to find....

So, how big of a pool should I go for? It's DD and I at the moment, likely another FD (foster daughter) who will be an infant. DD will be 8yo when the pool is put up in our back yard. It looks like she'll be over 48in when at that point (she's 47.75in now). DD is definitely water-comfortable, but is also a "safety monitor"--she won't even put her head under water in the bathtub unless I am there too, because she thinks she will drown. This keeps me feeling okay about things from a safety standpoint. Of course we will remove the ladder unless we are in the pool, and keep it otherwise unaccessable.

I'm fond of the pool because it helps soothe my MS symptoms significantly, so we need a pool that I can really stretch out in. The good news is that I'm short, so I don't take a whole lotta room when I stretch :)

It looks like Intex has depths of 30, 36, 42, and 48in, and diameters of 8, 10, 12, 15, and 18ft. Originally, I wanted to go for the mammoth one-- 18'x48"... But I think that may be overkill, since that would leave DD to float the whole time. Do you think the 42" would be too deep? The 36" seems too low for me, but she's completely happy in the 3' depth at the pool. She also happily pool-noodled her way into the 5' depth at the community pool today.

So confused on what should be a really easy, fun decision!

[liz]

Well, we bought our pool over five years ago, so we were limited in size choices at the time. We currently have a 15' x 36" pool and in hindsight it was a good choice with little ones. My boys felt more comfortable with the lower height. But I would totally recommend getting a larger diameter for the pool. It gives plenty of elbow room, esp when you are all in the pool at the same time.

If I had to buy one now, I would look at pools with a minimum of at least 36" deep and 15' feet wide. hth

[kristac]

I don't know anything about above ground pools but can you buy a deeper one and not fill it all the way until your DC is more comfortable with a deeper pool? DS1 is almost 48 inches and does fine at our pool which is 42" deep. He can touch the bottom easily this year. He is a confident swimmer though.

[liz]

I don't know anything about above ground pools but can you buy a deeper one and not fill it all the way until your DC is more comfortable with a deeper pool? DS1 is almost 48 inches and does fine at our pool which is 42" deep. He can touch the bottom easily this year. He is a confident swimmer though.

Just keep in mind the location of the intake/outake valves for the water (where the water gets pulled in to go through the filter). Obviously the intake valve has to be under water. It could be an option, though.

[chozen]

we have an intex pool (the one with the steel bars not the ring type) it is 15' x 42" this is the second summer with it and it has been worth the money we spent. our winters here are cold and snowy so we have to take it down and put it back up in the spring, if we lived some place that did'nt get below freezing i think i would get the larger 18 x 52" grey intex, it does cost more but is larger and i think it is made alittle better, that said the sz we have has been ok for us i still wish that we would have gotten the larger one.

i think we could get four summers out of this one but we will probably get a larger intex. i think that if you plan on getting in the pool often with her you might like a larger pool, but if you just want to sit and watch her swim maybe get the 30" x 15, that way you can sit in a chair right next to the pool and watch her. one more thing to think about ,intex makes a salt water gen. for there pools we bought one and it has been great our water stays clear without adding a bunch of chemicals.

[lalasmama]

one more thing to think about ,intex makes a salt water gen. for there pools we bought one and it has been great our water stays clear without adding a bunch of chemicals.

We will definitely be doing the saltwater! I was so excited to learn about this possibillity last night when I was reading more about them! Our gym has a saltwater pool, and it was sooooo much nicer when I would end up getting water up my nose :)

[ha98ed14]

We have a 12 ft round x 36 inch intex pool. We just got it a month ago, but so far it has been really fun. Fits our space and DD perfectly. If we had a bigger, more level back yard, I would have gotten a bigger pool, but this works great for what it is. One thing I would point out is the need for the ground to be level. This is written all over in the reviews on Amazon and the directions that comes with the pool itself. I just want to say, it's really true. If our whole backyard was level, we could have gotten a bigger pool, but only about half of it is level. We didn't want to level it with sand to expand the leveled area. We also got some tarps to put under it and a cover to keep the carp out. Cover was cheapest on Amazon. We actually got the pool at TRU. Works great for us.