INTEX Ultra XTR 24ft x 12ft 52 in Above Ground Swimming Pool Set w/Pump

This will probably be a lengthier review than I would normally commit to, but I hope it helps somebody. Read on to find out what you need to know before getting this or any above ground pool. I ordered the 24ft by 12ft Intex Ultra for the family. It was a decent price, but a little scary for the budget minded do it yourselfer. I researched, and priced some hard sided above ground pools, and man are they expensive! A company here in Arkansas wanted $10,000.00 dollars for a 24ft round above ground pool. I had to provide a dump truck full of sand and have electric hooked up to the area for filters, but for that price it came with the sand filter, and tools plus chemicals. Still, THATS ALOT OF MONEY FOR AN ABOVE GROUND POOL! I had a 12ft easy set big blue thing a few years ago and learned some things about setting up a pool that helped me with this one. This is what you really need to know!!! What you pay for this pool will not be the price in the end meaning that there will be costs associated with ground leveling, etc... The Intex Ultra is an excellent pool, and I believe, a good value for what you get. I bought the package with the pool and sand filter. (You must have a sand filter or your pool will suck.) Paper filters are junk and all you do is change them. Dont do it. This one comes with a nice sand filter! Next you need to know that when setting up a pool this size that a level surface is key! It is an absolute! DO NOT set these pools up with one side higher than the other. The pool will sag on the sides and will eventually implode. I have a gravel area in my back yard where I put this pool. I built a 1x4 treated lumber frame 28ft by 18ft and leved the frame with a string and a line level (clips to the string). Then I raked out the gravel until it was as close to level as I could get it (it was within a quarter of an inch everywhere inside the frame. Then I bought 1 inch thick foam board insulation at the home improvement store. They sell it in 4ft by 8ft sheets like plywood. I put that down on the gravel inside the frame and taped all of the seams with gorilla tape. (Note... if a rock gets under your pool liner it will eventually create a hole.) So the foam board gives your pool floor a nice cushy feel and protection from whatever lurks underneath. The setup of the pool was pretth simple, but it was hard work in the hot sun. My Wife and I put it up with no issues. The instructions are good and they explain everything well. We put a 12x12 inch paver under each leg as recommended by the manufacturer. The legs would sink into the ground, foam, sand or whatever if you do not do this. It is important! After that we began to fill the pool. We set up the filter, and eight hours later we were swimming! This pool is a nice pool. It is sturdy, affordable, and big enough to allow for swimming and fun. Small rinky dink pools always seem to be a dissapointment, but it depends on the room you have. These are the notes to remember with this or any above ground pool. Your area must be level! Your foundation must protect the liner. (Any rocks, sticks, roots, etc... will eventually pierce the liner no matter how good it is.) This pool comes with a "ground cloth" we put this over our foam floor, but it is simply a tarp. It has very little protection value. You must place blocks under the legs of the pool to keep it from sinking. The 24'x12' pool that I bought hold 8,500 gallons of water. That is over 4 tons of weight! The legs will sink if they do not have a proper foundation. I hope this helps someone looking to invest in some family fun. I plan on encasing this pool with treated wood to make it a more permanent feature at our home. Good luck!

It's been one year since we bought our Intex 24x12 pool. My wife sent me link to a intex pool on Prime day for a really good price. Honestly a above ground pool never crossed my mind, we talked about a in ground but of course the price always scared us away. I pulled the trigger on the pool quickly after reading the reviews. Then it kind of set in what I did when I read that I had to clear grass out and level the ground. In august heat! I didn't know what to do with the foundation, do I get sand, do I use foam boards? It seems every time I had a plan, I would read about someone else saying NOT to do it that way. I made the decision to rent a sod cutter (def do this) remove the grass and attempt to level the dirt by hand. We set a date for install, rented the sod cutter and we sweated the day away playing in the dirt. We used long 2x4's with a level on it to attempt on getting the ground level. I decided to get one of the ground covers made to go under the pool, as well as the tarp that comes with the pool. No sand or pavers, since they have a tendency to break. Fed up with research I just decided to stick to our plan of no sand or pavers and get it as level as we could. After the ground was ready pool install was very easy. Starting filling and let it fill overnight. One thing I wish I did was pay more attention to the legs. A few of them didn't get pulled out all the way and they are a little crooked. Once water is in the pool to force them out there is no way you are moving them, so that's how they still sit. Our pool did not turn out to be level. There I said it! If yours isn't perfect don't worry about it. Ours is off maybe two inch's in both directions and to the normal person they will never notice. Ours has survived all winter, kids playing, few pool parties and numerous torrential down pours. Maintenace is also fairly easy and once you get a routine and see what works it gets even easier. I run my pump for 8 hours a day. 4 hours in the morning before I leave for work and then I run it for another 4 when I get home. I put a chlorine tablet in a floater until its gone and also a clarifier/alkalinity tablet maybe twice a week. So far this summer my levels are always perfect and in the middle range. I do have a skimmer and I also hand skim it probably once a night just for piece of mind. It's kind of relaxing for me. I also vacuum maybe every two weeks, but I do skim the bottom when I'm in the pool and remove debris that way too. I had one algae issue end of last summer but that was my fault for not keeping up with the chemicals and pump routine. Took numerous shocks and cleaning to fix it but it did clear up. I also backwash once a week mainly due to my pump pressures getting too high and the flow rate goes down unless I backwash. Not a big deal. We use the pool almost every day. Kids swim during the day and I enjoy getting in at night to wind down before I shower and go to bed. Water temp stays warm (we are in southern VA) and I mainly cover it only if we aren't going to use it for a few days or if I'm trying to bring the temps up. We do have a solar bubble wrap looking cover and it does work. Mainly need it for early summer or when the nighttime temps start dropping. Peak summer it's not needed. It really is a nice pool. I'm not sure what it is but the water seems to stay clearer than most in ground set up's. Liner feels good on your feet, and it's an attractive pool. 100% recommend the pool for the price. Yes, the ladder isn't great, and you need to get a skimmer, but other than that I can't find any other issues. For winter I bought a winterizer kit, inflatable pillows, huge tarp and removed the pump. It stayed clear all winter and after I uncovered it, we were swimming the next day. Very impressed with that. So, if you are reading this you are thinking about this pool i would say go for it. Your kids and friends will love it!

I bought this pool this May amd we have used it everyday! My kids and I and family and friends have all had a great time this summer enjoying it. It is big enough for what we need and recommend the rectangle style for sure over circle. Love it! Very strong material and haven't had a issue yet! I know we will get plenty of use out of it for many yrs to come. Will buy another when it's time to replace

We ordered the 12x24 for reference. We absolutely love this pool! We shopped for weeks trying to find a pool that came with a good enough filter that we wouldn't have to immediately upgrade. (Because who wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a product, then spend hundreds more making that product usable?) Anyways, this pump works REALLY well. It was easy to set up, and the instructions are very clear. It also includes tips on how to maintain, when to backflush, etc. It keeps the pool very clean and we have not had any issues or complaints about the pump. The pool itself was moderately easy to assemble. We had 2 adults and a teenager and it took a few hours. (Not counting fill time) To prep the ground, we actually used a tiller to loosen the grass up, then shoveled all of that out of there, then flattened and leveled. This was a 3 day process and I pray to God I never have to do it again. WHAT. A. CHORE. So, we cleared out and leveled 14x26 to accommodate the size of the pool with the legs, and it fit perfectly. It comes with a ground cover, but some folks choose to add extra layers and cushion under their pool. We did not do this, and it sits perfectly fine on the tarp cover it came with. We will be adding wood supports to the legs this winter, also. So far, one month in, they haven't sagged or drooped into the ground any. So, I think its fine like this for one season. Anyways, we are loving having this pool up, and we have no regrets with purchasing this specific pool. Would 100% recommend to friends and family. 2nd season update: We still absolutely love this pool. Filter is top tier and does an excellent job. We didnt add the wood supports under it over the winter like we planned, and its still perfectly fine the way it is. No sagging. 10 out of 5 stars from our family!

To start with, the pool arrived on time, they dropped the boxes off right by the garage. Best to open the boxes and break the pieces and additional boxes down to smaller pieces before bringing into the yard. We needed our dolly to get the pool liner moved into the yard. We did some prep work before the pool arrived. We put a heavy duty tarp down, then covered it with nine 4’x8’ hard foam insulation pieces. Our yard seemed pretty level, and after taping the foam insulation pieces together we checked the level and it seemed fine. The insulation pieces also make a nice soft footing at the pool bottom. Shop around for the insulation. You don’t need the most expensive. We got 2” thick and this worked well later. There are written instructions and video instructions for the pool and, unfortunately, they are not the same, and both forms leave some things out. The basic setup of the frame and liner should have been better. It amazingly requires no tools to set up, but a third person would have helped and, unfortunately we read about adding some water when putting the framing into the sleeves after we struggled with it. Ok, the pool is set up. Then we connected the legs and straps. This wasn’t too bad. Then we added the eighteen 2” x 8” x 12” pressure treated wood under the legs to keep them from sinking into the soil. Here’s where we got lucky with the 2” foam insulation boards. We thought we were going to have to dig a 2” hole for each of 18 wood platforms for the legs, but, because the insulation boards were 2” above ground already, we just placed the wood boards butting up against the foam boards and set the pool legs on top of the pressure-treated boards. No digging required. We had decided to add a solar heater for the pool which complicated the connections. The pool tubing is 1 1/4” and the solar heater tubing is 1 1/2. We found some 1 1/2 to 1 1/4 adaptors on Amazon that saved the day. Started filling the pool and got all the pool and solar tubing worked out. Fortunately, the solar heating instructions and illustrations were very good. Installed the plunger valves on the pool so we could fill the pool up and test the filter. Everything’s connected and we open the plunger valves and there are leaks all over the place, plus the video keeps telling us to set the 6-way to backwash then press the on button but nothing happens. I just happened to notice on the 3rd viewing of the video that the person presses on but ALSO presses another button not mentioned on the video (I think it’s the timer button). As soon as we pressed this, whoosh, the water comes flying out of the drain, so have at least 3 big buckets ready for this or you will have chlorine water all over your lawn. At least now we know the filter works. But tubing is still leaking all over. Some of it was the solar heater because the instructions say to use the Teflon tape on 2 fittings but not mentioning the others. Disconnecting and reconnecting these fittings using the Teflon tape eliminates about 6 leaks. The extra tubing sets we got at Home Depot to connect the solar heater included two 1 1/2” to 1 1/4” male fittings with barbs. We replaced 2 of the pool-supplied fittings with these barbed fittings and eliminated 2 more leaks. They worked so much better than the pool-supplied fitting. Amazon sells a pkg. of 5 of these fittings for about $18, so we ordered 2 pkgs. to replace the other pool-supplied fittings that leaked like a sieve no matter how tight the hose clamps were. Why they cheaped out and used hose clamp fittings instead of screw on fittings everywhere is beyond me. I would gladly have paid extra for something that doesn’t leak. In the meantime, after backwashing and rinsing I turned the filter on with the solar heater off — still leaking but filter seems nice and strong, steady. Turned the solar switch on and felt the stream going into the pool. Wow, really warm! This is great! But then after about 10 seconds, as the water works its way through the hoses, the warmth stops. But that’s probably because it’s not a really sunny day. Will try again when the sun is as hot on the solar panels as it was on my butt when I was applying some tar to the roof yesterday. Now that would have been some good solar power. One important afterthought that others have mentioned before me or I would have been panicking is — before the pool is completely full, the sides bow inward. Then, magically, as the pull fills up to just below the top of the checkered lining, presto, the sides straighten out. We still have some fittings to replace and the solar to work out but the pool does seem pretty sturdy and it is big! The sellers just need better instructions and better fittings and I would give 5 stars. Also, do yourself a favor and get a solar cover for the pool and cut it to size. The water in the pool has gotten to 78 degrees without the solar heater just by absorbing heat through the bubbles of the cover. It also cuts down on evaporation. Speaking of the pool temperature…another cool gadget is the remote temperature gauge we got for about $35. The sensor has a battery and floats in the pool and the other piece with the readout of the temperature (with another battery) stays in the house so you can see at any time right next to you what the pool temperature is. Happy swimming, and have a great summer! Ok, we’ve had the pool for the summer and some issues we’ve encountered include 1) we put the pool under part of a tree, 2) we developed green algae and we learned the importance of testing the water and maintaining good chlorine, cyanuric acid, ph and alkalinity levels, 3) we learned that hose-attached pool vacuums work great and are not expensive (get one with a smaller opening for just small debris and leaves or get the big sucker one if you have twigs and lots of leaves - the big sucker has an opening of about 6 inches versus the basic at about 1 1/2 inches) however, you should use a skimmer on pool bottom debris as much as you can if pool temperature is an issue for you. Using the pool vacuums adds cold water to the pool and if you vacuum frequently it will cool the pool temp. Additionally the more water you add (or if you have heavy rainfalls) you may have to pump water out of the pool to keep it from overflowing. A submersible pump on Amazon goes for about $45 and we pumped the water, using our hose, directly into our wastewater clean out access. If you keep enough chlorine in your pool (tablets in a floater are insufficient - keep bottles of highly concentrated pool chlorine on hand) and brush the bottom and sides of the pool interior at least once a week, you can keep green algae at bay. When you brush the inside, or if you are filtering cloudy water, make sure to backwash. Backwashing starts out pumping clear water but then turns really cloudy and greenish. Sometimes you have to pump out 10-12 heavy-duty buckets full of gunky water before it turns clear. Keep the pool skimmed, clean, in chemical balance and backwash as needed and your pool will sparkle. Now that I know how to take care of it, I just love doing laps in this pool! I just upgraded my review to 4 stars because most of the fitting issues were caused because we added a solar panel heater. Without the solar, the hookup and fittings would have been much simpler (but the solar does add warmth to the pool).

We absolutely love our 24’ x 12’ pool! It’s been incredibly durable and was surprisingly easy to set up. We upgraded to the 2,800 GPH Intex above-ground sand filter pump, added the Intex skimmer, and installed the Intex solar cover roller, which have all made maintenance so much easier. We also put foam padding underneath the pool before installation, and it makes the bottom much more comfortable and cushioned to walk on. We’ve had it for almost a year now. We kept it covered through the Southern California winter, and when we uncovered it this season, the water was still beautiful and remarkably clean. We couldn’t be happier with it!

We just purchased this pool. Spent a few wee kends to level everything off. The pool seemed great. It went up pretty quickly with a few helpers and the couple of times we got to use it we had a blast. We had the cover on it and my wife came out. About a ay and a half after we used it to see that the water level had dropped about 8 Inches and that the ground around the pool was wet. I contacted Intex and they told me that in order to get a warrantied liner I need to cut the defective liner area and the liner model number Into a 6x6 square and upload a picture before they will send out a replacement?? I asked why can't I just patch the one I have until the liner comes and send in the one that is defective? That way we can still use what we paid for. They said NO that is not our process if I want a new liner I have to cut it., they said they will send the liner in 7- 10 days after they approve the pictures. Their customer sercice has no care or empathy at all. I started to get upset and Ll i heard fro. The agent was a big sigh . Like "here we go again, listen to someone complain" i could alomst feel her eyes rolling into the back of her head.Never.mind the fact that it was over a week late passed the promised delivery date , and that it will be the end of July before we can get a new one this is crap and I wish I had read more of the 1 star reviews for the same issue. I know this stuff can happen but if the customer service rep has that attitude fro. Getting yelled at so much... maybe they need to look at their product a little closer

Had mine for three years now. Setup was relatively easy. Had one corner with a broken plastic slide that was replaced by the company free of charge. I sent an email and had the part before a response. Sturdy for my older kids. Sand filter works great once I finally learned how to set it up. Now that I understand pools pretty good I am extremely pleased with this pool. I will likely be buying another once this one finally starts failing. Maybe go to the next size. Tamping the sand filter slightly has made it work so much better. I found this out when I moved my filter and it was full of sand. Apparently a few light taps onto the ground makes it filter better? Trying it again when I have to replace the sand.

Love, love love my pool!! Set it up first week of August 2024. They say it could be set up in about an hour or two, that’s ambitious. Took a little longer for two handy people, plus a few friends. Don’t think you’re buying a $2000 pool and it’s done. We had to rent a tractor to level the land, and the under padding material cost a pretty penny. We used sand and rigid foam, which probably ran us about $1000. Also, you’re definitely going to want to upgrade the ladder. The one that ships with the pool basically became an A-frame stand to hold our pool noodles and floats. It’s a death trap. I overwintered the pool with great success. I live in eastern central Ontario. Opened it this year by myself in a matter of hours. My only complaint is that it’s not very attractive. Many conversations about trying to hide the pool have been had. Still discussing building a deck around it to make it a little more pleasing on the eye. After everything was said and done, upgraded ladder, solar, blanket, roller, vacuum, robot, vacuum, DIY custom solar heater, and all of the necessary things to operate a pool, I think we were in for about $6000. But not a bad investment for a truly wonderful pool that we enjoy daily. During our install one of the brackets broke, and Intex was fantastic to deal with. They had the new part shipped out immediately, and it was here within two days. Solid, well built, and I would highly recommend. This was going to be a temporary pool to see if we actually enjoyed it as much as we had hoped to, and I now believe this pool will last for years.

The pool is great quality but during setup we discovered holes in the liner. The only option is to return the entire pool but it’s already been unboxed and partially setup and we’d miss most of the summer if we have to return it. Would be nice if they offered someone to talk too and maybe a replacement liner.

This swimming pool package from Intex comes complete with everything you need and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys an active lifestyle while also relaxing by themselves or with friends and family on a hot summer day swimming in their own personal oasis! The sand filtration system works efficiently to provide crystal clear and clean water season long and the pump system provided is more than sufficient for circulating the water keeping it fresh and clean circulating the chlorine and allowing dirt and debris to effectively reach the sand filter. The ladder system provided will support an average adult although alternatives exist which some find more stable in regular use. Amazon has many products from Intex as well as other products that can make your swimming experience and pool absolutely awesome! The INTEX 26363EH Ultra XTR Deluxe Rectangular Above Ground Swimming Pool Set: 24ft x 12ft x 52in is large enough in both depth and square footage to easily invite more than 6 people to enjoy a pool party, water volleyball or swim laps for those who wish to utilize the pool length for exercise. The rectangle shape also allows for very easy cleaning and pool maintenance much like a standard in ground swimming pool. The best part with this pool is for families. Adults can be involved in supervising their children while also enjoying the pool comfortably as the depth is more than sufficient but also not so deep children aren't able to have fun learning how to swim with their parents. It provides a safe and enjoyable environment with a touch of luxury and relaxation during the summer season heat. The pricing at the moment is very competitive and would be wise to purchase before summer takes off! This product is highly recommended! Thank you for reading my review!

Absolutely love this pool. We upgraded from a 12’ round Bestway pool and now we have everything Intex including the salt water system. Make sure the ground is VERY level … 31000 litres can’t be moved easily 😳 We used the included ground sheet and put landscape fabric underneath. Protects the pool and makes the pool bottom feel smoother and softer under foot. The pool itself is very easy to set up, but MUCH easier with 2+ people. When filling, the sides of the pool bend inwards a lot … unnerving but totally normal. The ‘floating’ corners work brilliantly and are a great design idea, reducing the strain when things get a bit choppy Filling the pool takes a long time 🕰️🙄 The pool is extremely strong, rigid and very high quality. The sand filter ( included ) works strongly & quietly. I added the salt water system. We used this in the last pool and would recommend going to salt water as it is much easier to maintain and uses less chemicals for sparkling clear water. The steps are fine for now but we will be changing them to something much sturdier and steadier later. For those of you who are very observant, yes there is a second filter running the solar heaters, none of which is included with this pool. An extra investment but worth it. Just the landscaping to do now ( pea shingle or gravel I think ) but perfectly usable as is. A great pool, great value and a great addition to our garden. Highly recommended 😁

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