Two summers ago we purchased an Intex frame pool for the family. Now this 14 foot by 42 inch intex swimming pool has given us a lot of fun and we’ve been fairly satisfied with the purchase. Here in the desert southwest its very relaxing and enjoyable to cool off in this above ground pool. One of the main issues we’ve ran into with the pool however is the constant necessity for filter replacements. Now the filters at Walmart and other retailers usually run around $7.00 dollars a piece. Add to this the price of chemicals to maintain the water quality and clarity and this becomes a considerable expense. One great tip that also teaches young ones some great responsibility is regular maintenance of the filters themselves. You can actually spray the filters out with your garden hose every day or so and really prolong the life of the filter. Its a somewhat tedious process, but again it will prolong the life of your filters and with the price of them it just makes sense to do so. Also regularly using a pool vacuum and skimmer net greatly reduces the accumulation of debris in the intex filter pump. However after the second season of using the pool we found that the pump just stopped working one day. Now the Intex frame pool came with a small I think it was either a 500 or 1000 gpm pump. After taking apart the intex pump it was clearly evident what the problem was. The shaft that the impeller of the pump rotates on is made of out plastic! The repair simply required replacing the shaft with a piece of metal wire that was the right circumference to eliminate excessive wobble. I used a piece of bare welding rod cut to the appropriate length. Once this was replaced the decibels increased slightly but the pump functioned as intended. The final item that required attention was the rubber orings found in the pump. These did require some petroleum jelly in order for them to seal properly and minimize water loss from the intex pump.
I’d say for the average person the amount of work required to keep this pool up and running might seem a bit excessive but all in all the smile from the kids make it worth it!

Intex A 59900E Filter Cartridge for Easy Set Pools, 6-Pack