INTEX 26363EH Ultra XTR Deluxe Rectangular Above Ground Swimming Pool Set: 24ft x 12ft x 52in – Includes 2100 GPH Sand Filter Pump – Easy Assembly

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!

This thing is fantastic. Why did I wait so long to buy one?! In 2021, these things were expensive. North of $1900 I balked. Then, in 2022, the price came back down to less than $1100. I find it to be a value at $1100, and a no-brainer at less than $1000 as it was in early 2020. Beware, setup is not as easy as you might think for most people & properties. The pool and all of its metal braces must be level. For me, this meant digging, tilling, and packing the most level part of my yard. I removed about 2 inches of grass and clay soil to get my spot “perfect”. After I filled the pool, I discovered it was not perfect. In fact it is off by about two inches over the length of the pool, but perfectly level over the width. If you have a perfectly level concrete pad to setup the pool, awesome. Be aware that the actual pad dimensions are 19’10”x9x10”. The area I prepared was marked as 20x11’ and it was just barely big enough. Step one of setup: make a perfectly level 20x11’ pad. Find a mostly flat part of your yard. Don’t build up low areas- the soil will sink. Instead, dig out high areas. In my case, I transported eight 6 cu. ft. wheelbarrows of dirt to other parts of my yard. Step two of setup: lay out the protective tarp and the pool liner. Construct the metal frame. Get a helper. Step three of setup: I was worried about the legs of the pool sinking into the clay when it rains. The bottom of the pool liner is supporting 37,929 lbs and has a surface area of about 21,888 sq. inches. The pressure across the bottom of the pool is about 1.7 pounds per square inch- which is less PSI than my shoes exert on the ground. However, the legs support the lateral loads of the pool with a much smaller footprint. Whenever the water is out of level, the frame does more work to hold the bladder in place. This pool does an exceptional job with frame resilience and load support, but the weak spot for me is the clay soil. I added pressure treated 2”x12”x10” blocks under each leg. This pool has 12 legs. I bought two 8-foot pieces of 2x12 lumber and cut them to 10” blocks. Importantly: avoid lightweight concrete paver blocks. This pool has enough lateral stress to crack those pavers in half. Importantly #2: dig down and set the support blocks level with the pool base. For each one of the 12 blocks, I used a lawn spade and a shovel to dig a 1.75” deep, square-shaped hole, and recessed the blocks into the ground. Do not skimp on the ground preparation steps. Do it right and to perfection. Even if you are meticulous, you’ll likely find opportunities for improvement. You’ll be thankful that you spent the extra effort getting it “perfect” though. Importantly #3: every rock, pebble, piece of hard plastic, root, twig, etc., must go. Be diligent about removing any material that is not dirt. Step three-A (3A) of setup: make the area useful for the long-run. - Spray the ground with weed and grass killer. - Consider adding anti-fatigue mats under the pool base for a nice foot feel and some additional puncture and vegetation protection. I found a fantastic deal at Harbor Freight. Step four of setup: the power plugs for the Intex pump (and saltwater generator) are HUGE and won’t fit in your special GFCI in-use weatherproof box. You can cut plastic boxes to accommodate the plug, but I used a 2-foot 14-3 extension cord. This extension cord connection must be enclosed in a weatherproof box. Amazon has weatherproof extension cord boxes. The built in cords are more than 20 feet long, so setup the pool within about 20 feet of your GFCI protected outlet. Step five of setup: this kit doesn’t come with all of the fancy features that you may want to consider. - I recommend you buy the Intex saltwater generator (SWG)- it will make the pool experience much more pleasant and easy to maintain. * get pool salt if you get the SWG. 115 lbs for this pool. The saltwater generator makes sodium hypochlorite that sanitizes your water. Once the salt is added, it stays in the system. * get Cyanuric acid. It prevents UV light from breaking down the chlorine generated by the saltwater generator. This pool requires 1.1 lbs of CYA initially, so maybe buy a 4-lb bag. * get a pool skimmer. Either the Intex basket filter, the Hayward above ground pool skimmer, or a net. * get a vacuum. I bought a robot one from Amazon and it works great. * get a good test kit. HTH makes a good, inexpensive one that tests for everything and cyanuric acid. * get a cheap 36” kiddie pool to use as a foot bath at the base of the ladder. It’ll help minimize dirt/grass from being tracked into the pool. * get some apparatus to hold your beverages and devices. There are floaty ones and clamp ones available on Amazon. * I paid a little under $1100 for the pool, but my all-in cost (including ground prep and accessories) was north of $2k. Other things to know: - the included ladder supports up to 300 lbs. I’m 255 lbs and it’s… janky and high. But it works fine. - when you are filling the bladder, the pool rails will begin to bow inward. This is normal. When the water is approaching full, the sides will straighten out from the lateral pressure (this is why you need blocks under the legs). - you’ll need to build a sled/platform to place under the pump, filter, and saltwater generator. My platform is 36x18”. - you’ll need to own/buy a level to make the pad flat and level. I used a spare 4x6”x10’ piece of wood, and zip-tied my 4’ level to it. It was useful, but per my previous comments, I still ended up with a pool that wasn’t quite perfect. - the pool frame depth is 52”, but the water depth when full is 45”. - the cover included is not a “solar cover”. At my latitude, the days can be 100°F but the nights still in the 60’s or 70’s °F. The water is cold! You might want a solar heater if you don’t prefer very cold water. - wait at least 24 hours after shocking the water to add algaecide because the chlorine shock will neutralize the algaecide. I think that’s all of the stuff in my brain about this pool. Hopefully this helps! Update, a few days later: the pool temperature is perfect after a couple of days of 90°F weather with high-60’s °F overnight temps. The cover that comes with the pool allowed the top few inches to warm considerably, and the bottom 40 inches of the water column remained cool. Bonus adds: an inflatable water hammock and IP57 rated earbuds set the stage for a relaxing audiobook experience in the midday heat.

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).

I bought this pool in April 2020. It lasted us through 6 seasons of Florida hot weather. We just took it down last month. I am very impressed with the quality and strength of the liner. I cannot believe that it lasted this long especially given that it was in full sun the entire time. We kept the pool running year long by keeping up with the cleaning and running the pump and the chlorinator, but reducing the time. The main things that required changing over time, were the hoses, the skimmer, and the titanium electrode in the chlorinator (if you get the pool and pump combo like we did). We ended up upgrading our stairs to something bigger, but that was just a preference. Looking back now, I prefer the stairs that came with the pool since they are much easier to maintain and do not collect algae since they can be accesses easily to be cleaned. I highly recommend putting pavers under the U-shaped legs when installing the pool. We got the large 18 inch paver squares and put one under each leg. It helped tremendously prevent any rusting of the legs. In addition is helps the legs from sinking into the ground. The legs have a lot of pressure when pool is filled so the pavers kept them level and stable. I also kept the pump and chlorinator covered the entire time to protect from the elements and mostly the heat. I put a folding table over it and put a cover on the table. This was a make-shift shelter but it helped keep it covered and at the same time it gave me easy access to the pump and chlorinator. I used the top of the table to store some our floats and other pool items. So I do recommend finding some type of cover to put over the pump to protect it. Lastly I do recommend investing in a robotic type pool cleaner. I tried the manual vacuum that came with the pool and it worked fine, but it takes a while to clean the entire pool that way and it was not easy to reach all spots.

This pool has been absolutely worth it! The size is perfect for families—plenty of room for kids to swim and adults to relax. The frame is very sturdy and feels high quality once assembled. Setup took some time, but the instructions were clear, and it went smoothly with two people. The liner is thick and durable, and the water stays clean with proper maintenance. It’s a great alternative to an in-ground pool and has provided endless summer fun. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a solid, long-lasting above-ground pool!

Year 1: At first, I was skeptical of the idea of an above ground pool, especially one with some kind of liner supporting the entire thing. However, having gone through the set up process I can now say I am quite impressed and very excited about my summer this year. The pool is actually quite large compared to what I had in my head. I mean wow 4550 gallons! A lot of people have reviewed this pool and stated that they’ve done well placing their pool out on a firmly compacted and level soil base. The same people tout images of their pools in their reviews, and to me they look crappy and un-level. I would not recommend that at all, as you can see in my photos our pool is well rested on a perfect concrete pad and is quite level. During the set up process as the pool is filling with water the metal support beams bowed inward which was a little bit concerning except for the fact that other people who have reviewed this pool had also experienced the same thing. It’s physics man. As soon as you get the pool, fully filled to its capacity, the metal beams began to straighten out and the elbow pieces actually glide freely. It’s really amazing how stable the entire structure is. Even when splashing around in the pool fairly aggressively the walls do not seem to shake and the pool keeps its form very well. The set up process was actually very fun while the pool comes with one tarp, we added a additional tarp down to ensure that there was ample cushioning between the rough concrete and the pool liner. On the box, it states that you can set the pool up and begin filling it in under an hour with two people. This was mostly the case for us. However, I will caution you that the pool pump and the filter were a little bit more intimidating and took some time. I would also like to tell you that the filter did not come with sand media, and you will have to source this from your local hardware, pool retailer, or I guess you could have Amazon ship it to you too. Thankfully, the instructions provided were adequate and accurate to help us get things set up on the first try. I did experience a small leak from one of the drain hoses where it connected to the drain manifold stage before the pump inlet. Tightening the drain manifold compression band and ensuring the manifold O-rings were properly seated, seemed to help, but I will caution you to not tighten the compression bands way too much as you could cause damage to the hose or the drain manifold. The Amazon delivery driver and his helper did a very good job delivering the pool. In fact, they were just as excited about the pool as we were. He had remarked that him and his buddy were the ones who loaded it on truck earlier that morning and this was especially reassuring to me as as I really wanted things to go perfectly. Thank you so much, Amazon! Awesome product INTEX! I will try to provide some updates to this review as the pool gets used through the next couple seasons. 🙏😁😃 Year 2 (2024): Left the pool liner and frame setup but drained over the winter and packed away the hoses pump and other accessories. We now have the pool set up for year 2. Everything with the frame was already set up and we moved the placement of the pool which was fairly easy with two people. Still very happy with the product. Lost an o-ring for the filter somehow but bought a ew pack of them for about $12. When we checked the sand in the filter it was kinda nasty. They say replace only every 3-5 years but sand is cheap and it’s like a 15 minute task to replace so we replaced the sand and probably will every year.

We ordered 3 different pools before finally going back to this one the XTR 24x12. This included two rounds and the smaller 18x9. Finally we choose to order this one. Delivery was easy and smooth! The box was heavy but the box came in good condition. No damage. You must level your ground before even thinking of installing this pool. We rented a skidder and leveled the best we could. We followed the grading with rock dust and then sand. I know some say not to use rock dust or sand but we would never have gotten the ground level without. Our local pool company even recommended rock dust as it is what they use on their professional pools. The leveling took around 4 days to complete. We finally were able to put up the pool after many hard hours leveling the ground. We laid down the ground cover but we also used a thicker felt material under the ground cover. As the ground cover is a measly thin piece of tarp. Highly recommended something other than the ground cover IF you’ve used rock dust or have a rocky area. The assembly wasn’t hard, we did install all the side poles together before sliding them in the sleeve even though the instructions recommended installing one by one. Which is nearly impossible to get them connected once they are inserted in the sleeve. Assembly took about 1.5 hours with my husband and myself ( I’m pregnant). It’s very easy and doable if I can do it 6 months pregnant. Once we got the pool together we started filling. It is IMPORTANT to watch the legs as you fill and make sure the ground is level to keep the legs from buckling under the pool as it fills. It took about 11 hours to fill the pool using two water hoses. Another thing that is a MUST is the corner L pieces don’t fit in a certain grove, they move around to adjust to the filling pool. We made a huge mistake and didn’t watch the corner L pieces. These move as the pool fills and one end almost came out which would have resulted in the pool collapsing and possibly ripping right as it was almost completely full. Ensure to watch the L corner brackets and make sure they don’t slide all into one side while filling! Because the one corner did that the pool had huge bow in the middle but we were able to fix the L bracket by tapping it with a rubber hammer. The pool bowed in on each side till it was full, and I mean full to the line of the sleeve. We started to worry bc it was taking so long to straighten out. Another important aspect is if you use sand or you install on any soft surface use pavers under each leg. We did not do this and the legs have sank down into the sand. Which we won’t be able to fix this till fall when we go to winterize it for the winter. After how long it took to level the rock dust, sand and assembly the pool we are taking our chances on leaving it up throughout winter. The pump that comes with the pool is really good! I believe it will do it’s job and hold up very well. We bought the sand which only cost $15 for the pump! Overall this is a great pool! A little pricey but well worth it. If you’re thinking of getting a pool this is the one to get! If you’re between the 18x9 and 24x12, go with the 24x12!! It’s a great size and I would imagine the 18x9 would be to small!