Well, Eli's existing kiddie pool was getting a little small and he really enjoys being out in the water so we decided to spring for a larger one this summer. We ended up buying a 12' diameter Easy Set pool that is 30" tall. It was pretty cheap (under $100) and included a filter and looked like it would be pretty easy to setup and leave up all summer instead of having to fill and empty it every time we wanted to use it.
Part of the problem with his old kiddie pool was that the dogs seemed to like it even more than he did so it got dirty pretty quick if you left it up, so we wanted to make sure we got one tall enough that the dogs couldn't get in it but short enough so that Eli could enjoy it and that's where we came up with the 30" height. The water level inside the pool is only 24" which is just over waist deep for Eli which seems about perfect. The only issue is that he can't get in and out of the pool by himself, but that may be a good thing.
Anyway, we picked out what we thought was a pretty level spot next to the house and put a tarp down and started filling the pool. Here it is when we first got the top ring inflated and started filling it. It doesn't look that big, but when it is full to the bottom of the top ring it is just over 1,300 gallons so it takes a while to fill up. Eli helped work out the wrinkles in the bottom while it was filling up.
Here it is after it was full the first time. If you look in the bottom left corner of the pool, you can see I'm already starting to drain it. I gave up on the garden hose draining method pretty quick though as it would have taken all day, and pulled out a 3,000gph submersible pump I had sitting around and had it drained in less than 30 minutes. Eli got to enjoy it for about an hour before we drained it. You can't really tell it in this picture, but the pool was off level by about 4 inches.
Why mess around with a shovel when you have a tractor? I actually ended up putting 4 scoops of dirt on the low side when it was all said and done. I packed it down driving back and forth over it with the tractor and we smoothed it back out and spent a few minutes picking rocks up and moved the pool back over and started filling it back up again.
Here it is now. We could probably put another couple inches of water in there, but it is level now. We bought a cover for it, but it has already blown off twice so not sure if that is going to work out or not. Eli LOVES it. If he had his preference he would spend the entire day in it. He is going to be taking swimming lessons toward the end of the month and we are going to spend some time with my brother on his houseboat in Kentucky in July so it is probably a pretty good thing for him to get used to being in the water.
Not too bad of a view from the pool. There are definitely some disadvantages to living out in the country, but being able to sit on the back porch looking out over the canyon more than makes up for them!
That's it for now. Kind of crazy to have a blog post on setting up a kiddie pool, but it ended up being a lot bigger project than we thought it would be. I think it will be worth it though.
Part of the problem with his old kiddie pool was that the dogs seemed to like it even more than he did so it got dirty pretty quick if you left it up, so we wanted to make sure we got one tall enough that the dogs couldn't get in it but short enough so that Eli could enjoy it and that's where we came up with the 30" height. The water level inside the pool is only 24" which is just over waist deep for Eli which seems about perfect. The only issue is that he can't get in and out of the pool by himself, but that may be a good thing.
Anyway, we picked out what we thought was a pretty level spot next to the house and put a tarp down and started filling the pool. Here it is when we first got the top ring inflated and started filling it. It doesn't look that big, but when it is full to the bottom of the top ring it is just over 1,300 gallons so it takes a while to fill up. Eli helped work out the wrinkles in the bottom while it was filling up.
Here it is after it was full the first time. If you look in the bottom left corner of the pool, you can see I'm already starting to drain it. I gave up on the garden hose draining method pretty quick though as it would have taken all day, and pulled out a 3,000gph submersible pump I had sitting around and had it drained in less than 30 minutes. Eli got to enjoy it for about an hour before we drained it. You can't really tell it in this picture, but the pool was off level by about 4 inches. Why mess around with a shovel when you have a tractor? I actually ended up putting 4 scoops of dirt on the low side when it was all said and done. I packed it down driving back and forth over it with the tractor and we smoothed it back out and spent a few minutes picking rocks up and moved the pool back over and started filling it back up again. Here it is now. We could probably put another couple inches of water in there, but it is level now. We bought a cover for it, but it has already blown off twice so not sure if that is going to work out or not. Eli LOVES it. If he had his preference he would spend the entire day in it. He is going to be taking swimming lessons toward the end of the month and we are going to spend some time with my brother on his houseboat in Kentucky in July so it is probably a pretty good thing for him to get used to being in the water. Not too bad of a view from the pool. There are definitely some disadvantages to living out in the country, but being able to sit on the back porch looking out over the canyon more than makes up for them! That's it for now. Kind of crazy to have a blog post on setting up a kiddie pool, but it ended up being a lot bigger project than we thought it would be. I think it will be worth it though.That's it for now. Nathan
1 comment:
The best way to keep your kiddie pool clean and sanitary is to change the water after use. This is the most expensive way to go if you pay for your own water, but it is also the most effective as the water is clean and it eliminates exposing the children to harsh chemicals.
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