How To Store Your Above Ground Metal Frame Intex Swimming Pool
After you have drained the pool, you will want to thoroughly dry the pool.   The easiest way to dry the pool is to wipe it down and let the sun do the work. Once it is completely dry, take out the metal supports so you have only the liner left as shown on the right. Then, fold one side over as shown on the far right. The bottom of the liner will be a bit damp. Towel dry the bottom of the liner and allow it to dry in the sun an hour or so. You should also towel dry the tarp underneath. Then unfold this side and fold the other side over so you can dry the bottom of the other side in a similar manner.
Once you have the liner completely dry on all sides, fold the two sides toward each other and then roll the pool up as shown. You will want a roll that is no more than 4 feet in length.  Note that the manufacturer recommends you sprinkle talcum powder (body powder) on the pool surface to prevent surfaces sticking to each other. If the pool is completely dry I don't know if this is needed, but it wouldn't hurt. Carefully place the rolled up swimming pool liner onto a smaller tarp that you can use to safely tote the liner around (see below). You will notice some corrosion on the metal framing due to salt water or chlorinated water hose. To keep this corrosion in check, steel wool any rust off and then spray paint with a white Rustoleum-type paint as shown below. You will especially see corrosion where the metal frame vertical legs sit in the black base-supports since this is where water can seep in and not dry out.
  The manufacturer recommends that the swimming pool liner be kept at temperatures above freezing. Also, you need to protect your pool from mice! Our neighbors had mice completely destroy their Easy Set pool in the first winter they stored it in their basement! The largest storage bin made is only 50 gallons and this liner simply won't fit. So what we did was built a storage box as shown below. I bought a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" OSB board and cut it into 4 pieces measuring 24" by 48". From another 2x4 mini sheet of 1/2 OSB I cut two 2 ft by 2ft pieces. Then I cut four 2x2's of length 48" and eight 2x2's of length 20 3/4". I fastened the OSB together at the corners into the 2x2 pieces using drywall screws. Just make sure no sharp screw tips stick out and have the smooth side of the OSB facing in. I lowered the pool into the box using the tarp and sealed the top on with 4 screws. I placed the box up off the floor a little on a few 2x2 spacers so as to keep it off the cold damp concrete basement floor (minimize the chance for mold). This storage box holds about 120 gallons and the pool takes up over 2/3 of the space (80 gallons). There was also enough space to store the 4 ft long vertical supports. See pics of this storage bin below.
  
In addition to storing the liner and vertical supports in my home made mouse-proof crate, I stored the remaining pool parts in a 50 gallon bin out in our shed. I also stored our salt generator in our basement inside a well taped up box. |
