Affordable Above Ground Pools

Check The Options Before You Buy

There are a few good ways to find affordable above ground pools.  Searching the local want adds for a good used one is a good way.  Sometimes eBay has the perfect pool just waiting to be picked up in your local area.

End of the season closeouts at your local pool store might be a good way to find a new pool at a good price.  Searching online is another way that can save you money anytime of year.

Do your homework before making the purchase and make sure the online store will stand behind it's product and promptly ship any missing parts should anything not be included.

AmeriMerc is one of those companies that will stand behind it's product one hundred percent.  Let's compare a couple of their pools.  This is the Sea Breeze model.  It is made by a domestic name brand manufacturer and renamed to be sold by AmeriMerc.

This is an inexpensive pool that still has some good qualities.  It has a hot dipped galvanized steel wall that is 52" tall.  The pool comes with a 15 year warranty.  The warranty is not that great by todays standards but fifteen years really is a long time.  The pool has 6" top rails, again not that great today but for over twenty five years that was top of the line.  The only thing I do not like about this pool are the 5/8" bottom rails.  Leveling becomes more critical with smaller bottom rails.  Getting the wall into the bottom rail becomes harder and almost impossible if you have leveling issues.  Overall, for the price this is not a bad pool.

I have always felt the equipment package is far more important than the pool.  The fanciest pool made is not very inviting if you cannot keep it clean and the water feels just as refreshing no matter how expensive the pool.

For just a few hundred dollars more the Platinum pool is offered.  The highlights here are the 10" ledge and the 30 year warranty.  This pool is made by Swim N Play and in their line it is called the Paragon.  This is the same pool, just renamed.

This pool has 1" bottom rails so installation is much easier.  The rails are resin coated so rust should not be a problem.  I have written before about the modern day above ground pools being way over designed and not so user friendly.  This is a good example.  The resin top connector covers and bottom plate covers can be a real pain to assemble.  It's more of a time consuming thing most of the time, but when you install for a living you hate spending an hour on what should take fifteen minutes.

I love the way this store lets you build your own package.  You may want to spend some time reading my comments about liners and filters because this place will let you spend your money where you think it is most important.

You could do as I suggested above and go with the cheapest pool matched with the best equipment.  Another way of thinking is to go with the best pool you can afford and plan to upgrade the liner and filter in the years to come as you can afford it.  You could decide to do without the cleaner and steps just to get the better filter.