Tip #7 Get The Ground Level To Within 2 Inches
After the sod has been removed, your next stage is to level the earth. Before doing anything else, make your install site level to within at least two inches.
You want the pool site to be somewhat level before proceeding. This may seem obvious, but some will start setting the track before the ground is level. And that will make everything harder.
Intex 29080e B00gsphtly Foot Bath
BEST FOR KEEPING WATER CLEAN
When people are in and out of the pool all the time, its easy for their feet to transer grass cuttings, dirt and other debris into the pool water. By installing this Intex 29080E B00GSPHTLY Foot Bath between your pool and the outside world, youll have a protective barrier keeping unwanted dirt at bay. The footprint-shaped bath is made from durable plastic and features anti-slip bumps in the base to help everyone stay on their feet. The three-gallon capacity bath can also connect to all Intex pool ladders for a more secure hold.
Tip #3 Absolutely Remove All Sod
I cant express how common it is for do-it-yourselfers to want to skip this step. And most who dont remove the sod and install the pool over the grass will wind up taking it back down.
Installing an above-ground pool is a fairly big job. Treat it as one and do the hard work of removing all grass/sod first. This will prevent you from having an off-level pool, a lumpy bottom, and/or having to install it again.
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Scrub And Store The Pool Cover
If your pool cover still has some life left in it, then give it a good rinse and scrub with some pool cover cleaner and a soft brush. Using any harsh chemicals or sharp implements is just asking for your pool cover to meet its untimely end.
Once youve cleaned a seasons worth of much off of the pool cover, grab your garden hose and rinse the whole thing down. You can either let it dry in the sun, then flip and repeat, or use a leaf blower to shave some time off of your task.
Once the cover is good and dry, fold it up nicely, and store it in a sealed storage bag or container. Leaving a winter or safety pool cover exposed in a garage or shed is basically like putting a For Sale sign on it that only rodents and bugs can read. It will be in tatters come the autumn and all your work will have been for nothing.
Remove The Excess Water
As I mentioned in the last step, a garden hose drain will cease to work once the water reduces to a few inches in depth. In many cases, you probably wont need to drain further than this anyway.
Otherwise, its recommended that you use an electric pump to drain the rest of the water. If youre on a tight budget and have no way to get your hands on a pump, scooping the water out manually is another option, albeit slow and painful.
Of course, if youre using a submersible electric pump from the start, this step is irrelevant as a pump will be able to drain all the water.
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Why Even Uneven Above Ground Pool
A pool that is resting on uneven surfaces can create a safety concern. It might have a deep and shallow end, which can be risky to kids.
The unleveled water can also cause problems to your skimmer as well as other cleaning apparatus if they get trapped in the shallow end.
Other problems include:
- Weak structure Another issue of the uneven pool is the weak structure due to excessive pressure on one side. That can make the walls to collapse, break, or even twist, destroying the liner.
- Wrong appearance You might also notice that your pool will look wrong if it is uneven. Other people can also notice that one side is higher than the other.
Can I Bond And Ground My Own Pool
If you’ve recently performed work on your pool like adding a handrail or installing a new pump, you might think you can save some time and money by grounding and bonding the new equipment yourself. But this is a bad idea for a few reasons.
First, electrical work can be dangerous, especially around swimming pools. If you don’t have experience working with electricity, installing your own ground wires or bonding grid could put you at risk. Furthermore, if you don’t do the work correctly, you could also put other people using your pool at risk.
Second, most jurisdictions require bonding and grounding to be done by a licensed electrician or to have an electrician check the work once you’ve installed it. If an inspector finds out you did your own work you could be hit with code violations and be forced to re-do everything according to local and national electrical code. In most cases, it’s cheaper and easier to have an experienced electrician do the work correctly the first time.
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Why We Need To Ground Our Pool Pumps
Grounding your pool pump is essential. Without it, you might be exposed to fatal risks. If you do not ground your pool pump, it may function as a conductor.
Thus, the electrical current may travel towards people or pets in the pool without insulation.
Grounding provides a fast circuit-breaking action. This is the main function that makes the pool secure for safe use. The NEC requires us to ground our pool pumps.
Do not use the pumps until ground wire installation is finished.
Once you have grounded your pump, you can also install a pool pump timer. This is a cool feature that runs the pump for a specific period automatically. This can highly save your electricity consumption.
Understanding its urgency, you must be curious about the process of grounding. So lets take a look!
Remove Your Winter Pool Cover
Once youve tidied things up, with your friends help, carefully remove the cover. Dont drag it, and take care to keep any lingering debris from falling into the pool.
A little dirt and debris falling into the water isnt the end of the world. But thinking ahead can save you headaches later when you break out your chemicals and tools in pursuit of a truly clean pool.
If youve installed a pool air pillow with your cover, be sure to remove it along with your cover. You can deflate the air pillow once its safely out of your pool.
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Some Helpful Tips For Filling Your Pool
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Filter your water. If you use any method to fill your pool that involves a garden hose, its a good idea to use a garden hose filter. These are inexpensive little attachments that simply screw on to the end of your hose and filter out all kinds of contaminants. Trust me, it will save you tons of trouble when youre trying to balance the water.
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Keep an eye on the pool liner while youre filling it. Its not uncommon for the liner to slip or wrinkle in places while it sits there waiting to be filled. And if it does, youll have a heck of a time straightening it out once a few thousand gallons of water are on top of it.
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. Remember, just using the water available to you isnt always the best choice. You might find that water delivery in your area is a few hundred bucks cheaper than using city water.
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Shock your pool soon after its filled. You may find the water doesnt need too much adjusting if you use city water, a filter, or a delivery service that treats it themselves. But in most cases, youll need to add some chemicals. Shocking your pool is the best way to sort of start it from ground zero and then add what it needs to get it balanced.
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Install all the railing and fittings before you start filling. The railing around the top will help keep the liner in place. Its also much easier to do before theres heavy water pulling down the liner and getting in the way.
Remove Winter Pool Plugs And Ice Compensators
With the cover safely stashed or drying in a sunny place, you can start removing winterizing pool plugs. Carefully check all around your pool, and remove the plugs from all openings, including the return jets and skimmer bucket.
If you use an ice compensator in your skimmer bucket, be sure to remove that, too.
Reinstall all your skimmer baskets and return jets into the return line. If you used a skimmer plate over the winter, make sure you remove it.
A skimmer plate is designed to keep water out of your skimmer during the winter while allowing you to keep your pool filled. Once its gone, water can flow easily when you reactivate your pools filter system.
Skimmers and filters and plugs, oh my! You can get more details about all these things and much more in The Pool Care Handbook and Video Course.
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How Do I Know If My Pool Is Grounded
To check if your pool is properly grounded, there should be an equipment-grounding conductor installed with the feeder conductors. It should be located between the grounding terminal of the pool equipment panel board and the grounding terminal of the applicable service equipment. Furthermore, all electrical equipment that is associated with the circulation system, all electrical equipment located within five feet of the inside wall of the pool water, and panelboards that supply electricity to the equipment that is associated with the pools should be properly grounded. When doing a visual inspection, make sure not to touch or open anything that does not need to be opened.
Adding A Deck Landscape It
Above ground pool decks vary quite a bit in size and look. Some are small and very basic and only have steps and a simple handrail. Others are huge. They wrap all the way around the pool with a fancy rail and built-in seating and planters.
Regardless of the size and style, all decks look better with some landscaping around it. Place some potted plants on the deck if theres room and plant some taller bushes near its outside corners. If the deck is visible from the house, add some colorful annuals along its perimeter. Some will have a lattice covering the outside of their deck and they will plant vines along them.
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Lay Down The Base Protector
Once you have a solid foundation of levelled out sand, you can start to lay down the base layer.
We recommend a specialised pool pad this usually entails a large layer of foam or tarp that will sit under the swimming pool, adding another layer of protection.
The addition of a base layer will lower the risks of puncturing the liner, help to insulate the pool and prevent heat loss. At an absolute minimum, its recommended to lay down a sheet of tarp.
Finishing Off The Leveled Ground
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Bonding An Above Ground Pool
linadu said:I know this is going to sound stupid but until I get my pool bonded if I unplug the sand filter after it is finished filtering will that prevent the little shocks that I have been getting?
linadu said:I felt it one day last week and also today. I don’t have the filter plugged in when we are in the pool. Also, how much am I looking at price wise to have someone bond it? I would attempt to do it myself but am afraid that I wouldn’t do it correctly. This is my first year having a pool.
Common Mistakes In Pool Grounding And Bonding
Proper around a swimming pool are critical because water conducts electricity. There are five common grounding and bonding mistakes professionals commonly make when constructing a pool. Heres how to avoid them.
The first error is a basic principle but bears repeating: not knowing the difference between grounding and bonding wires. As a refresher: grounding means to attach the electrical wire to the ground . It is meant to protect pool users from a fault in the electrical system that could lead to shock. This is important because the ground is at the lowest volt potential and a fault will trip the breaker and turn the equipment off.
Bonding is when all of the metallic pieces are tied together in order to minimize the voltage differences. It is important to know the difference when constructing a pool to ensure the safety and longevity of the equipment.
Another common mistake is when pool professionals neglect to ground and bond completely. Since there is often confusion between grounding and bonding, some builders might bond but not ground or the other way around. Anything containing metal within five feet of the pool water must be bonded. For example, some professionals ground the pool equipment but not the metal fencing around it. All metallic equipment related to the pool must be grounded.
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Tip #10 Try To Get The Bottom Track Measurement Right
The bottom track of a metal-walled above-ground pool is super adjustable. At each bottom connector plate, an adjustment is made by how much of a gap there is between each piece of bottom track.
If you dont get the measurement of the bottom track at least close to what the length of the wall of the pool is, then it will be a major pain to get the wall to come together later on.
Note:Every pool model is a slightly different size.
As an example of what I mean here is that every 24 above-ground pool is not exactly 24 around. Some will be 23, 11 while others will be 24, 1. The actual dimensions of the pool are determined by the length of the wall. And you wont know what that is until the roll the wall out into the bottom track and then see how long it is.
What I do when Im not familiar with the model is just get the bottom track as close to the pool size as I can.
Using the same 24 round example, I will make the bottom track close to perfectly round and close to 24 in diameter. This should put me at least close to the length of the wall and easier to bolt together when the time comes.
Tip #5 Rent A Sod Cutter Or Skid/steer Machine
Removing grass and sod is always harder than people think.
For the first couple of years of me installing pools , we would use only shovels to remove the sod from the pool site. Yeah, no more. For five years or so, I then owned a sod cutter and it worked well. Later, I graduated to a skid/steer machine and now wouldnt do a level job without one.
As a one-time DIYer installing an above-ground pool, I think renting a sod cutter could be the best money youll spend that year. You dont have to take my word for it though. Just go out into your yard remove a couple of square feet of your grass and see for yourself.
If your yard has a lot of grade to it or the earth is very hard , then rent a skid/steer machine. These are also known as Bobcats.
Even if you have never operated an earth machine before, itll be much easier to get your pool site level and prepared with a skid/steer. A bonus will be that operating the machine will be fun. Well, after you get the hang of it at least.
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Aqua Star Above Ground Pools
As you can see, Aqua Stars pools are truly a cut above the rest. Because they are strong, durable, permanent pools their benefits and savings can be realized for many years to come. Your family deserves the best they deserve a pool that is fun, practical, strong, durable, and beautiful. The Deck-Pool and Olympic-Eagle swimming pools are the answer.
