So you’ve bought an above-ground pool, installed it, and filled it with water. Now what?
New pool owners ask me a lot of super basic questions. I am constantly reminded that a lot of general pool knowledge does not fall under the category of “common sense”. A lot of things just have to be known.
“What level do I fill my pool to” is one of the first questions that I get.
Metal-walled above-ground pools have skimmers installed on their walls. The pool should be filled to approximately the middle of the skimmer opening. If a soft-sided above-ground pool without a skimmer, fill to about six inches below the top of the pool.
WHAT IS A POOL SKIMMER?
All inground swimming pools have skimmers and all metal-walled above grounds have them. The much less expensive soft-sided above grounds (made by Intex, Coleman, Bestway) do not.
A skimmer is a plastic box that attaches to the pool’s wall at the top and is connected to the pump. The pump draws water from the pool through this attached box.
HOW DOES A SKIMMER WORK?
While the water flows through the box on the way to the pump and filter, it skims the top of the water and catches debris in a basket before entering the pump.
This box is called a skimmer because it skims debris from the top of the pool by water being drawn in from the pool’s surface. This action helps keep the surface of the pool clean from floating debris.
WHY SHOULD THE WATER LEVEL BE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SKIMMER OPENING?
In order for this box to skim the surface of the pool, the water has to draw in the skimmer from the surface. This allows all things floating by to go in and get trapped which leaves the pool’s surface with less unwanted floating things.
If the water level is at the bottom of the skimmer, it may not be able to get the maximum amount of water drawing into it which means it won’t skim as well.
And if the water level is high at the top of the skimmer opening, then the surface water may not be able to clearly enter the skimmer box and therefore not skim the water surface as well.
CAN I FILL MY POOL TO THE VERY TOP?
Some want as much depth to their pool as possible. With this, they will want to fill it to as high as possible.
You can fill an above ground pool to the very top and it won’t hurt anything, but there is a drawback or two to doing this.
1 The skimmer won’t skim – If your pool is completely full, then the skimmer opening will be completely underwater. It will still draw water in and go to the pump, but it won’t be able to catch any debris floating on the surface.
2 A lot of water will splash out – When a pool is filled to the brim, any waves or splashing will cause water loss over the wall and onto the ground/deck.
3 Excessive splashing over the pool’s wall may cause some erosion – Some water splashing over an above-ground pool wall is ok. But if the pool is full and a lot of water goes over the wall, then that can cause some earth displacement around the outside of the pool.
HOW LOW OF A LEVEL CAN I FILL MY POOL?
Some want their pool to be as shallow as possible. They may have short people or small kids and want them to be able to touch the bottom when swimming.
Above-ground pools have either skimmers attached to the pump OR an inlet fitting that is connected to the pump. These two devices are where the pump draws the water in from the pool to be filtered.
The water level must be above either the skimmer opening (metal-walled pools) or the inlet fitting (soft-sided pools).
If below where the water draws into the pump, then the pump cannot get water from the pool and therefore cannot send water to the filter. And you need to be able to filter the water.
So, the water level must be high enough to allow the water to get to the pump by entering either the skimmer box or intake fitting.
TYPICALLY, THE POOL WATER LEVEL IS ABOUT SIX INCHES BELOW THE TOP OF THE POOL
Wondering what the actual water depth will be in the above-ground pool you are buying? Then take the height of the pool minus six inches.
Currently, there are four heights for above-ground pools. Few are 42” and most are either 48”, 52” or 54”. Fill your pool to six inches less than these numbers for the ideal water level.
POOL HEIGHT | ACTUAL WATER LEVEL |
42" Tall | 3 feet deep (36") |
48" tall | 3 feet, 6 inches deep (42") |
52" tall (most common) | 3 feet, 10 inches deep (46") |
54" tall | 4 feet deep (48") |
HOW TO MAKE YOUR POOL DEEPER
A common complaint about above-ground pools is that they aren’t deep enough. The highest above ground that you can get is 54” tall which means under normal conditions you only have about four feet of swim depth.
Metal-walled above-ground pools have separate vinyl liners that go inside the wall and hold the water. These vinyl liners can stretch quite a bit.
Some will ask me to “dish out” their pool bottom some to give it more depth. This can be done with no issues.
You can in fact dish a pool out up to one full foot deeper with a standard liner. This means that your pool can be five feet deep in the center instead of just four.
Some will make their above grounds two feet deeper by dishing out the center and using an expandable liner. Now we’re talking about a six-foot depth, which is considerable.
I have an 16×32’ intex above ground pool
I want to put an extra return at the end of the pool. Is it better to put it on the end or on the side towards the end of the pool?
Thank you
Because it’s an Intex, it really won’t matter where you put it as the pump is very weak. If you have upgraded to a better pump though, then put it where it will aid in the pool having a “swirling” effect on the circulation. More than likely, that would be at the end.
Is there any way I can buy a 48 inch pool and fill it to only 36 inches without any damage to the skimmer/filter?
You can do that, but how is the water going to filter if it doesn’t reach the opening of the skimmer?
If you install a main drain, then you would be able to filter the water at 36″ depth.