Bestway 12 ft Steel Frame Pool 56690 Review

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Year after year, my kids were getting nowhere with YMCA swim lessons. And at $120 a pop multiplied by three kids, it was getting expensive to watch them get nowhere. And the poop-in-the-pool situations certainly weren’t convincing me otherwise. So when we found a Bestway 12 ft steel frame pool for $120 on sale at Fred Meyer, we jumped on it. And the kids jumped in it.

Husband too.

Bestway 12 ft Steel Frame Pool Review

Our pricey YMCA swim lessons weren’t teaching the kids the number one thing I wanted them to take away: you don’t need to be afraid of the water. They would try their best to follow the teacher and go through the appropriate motions and techniques. But inevitably, our next trip to the beach or a friend’s pool would leave each of them timidly walking around in the shallow end, not joining the others on the slides even with a life jacket on. I wanted my kids to respect and love the water, not to be afraid of it.

Dimensions

This pool was the ticket. It sounds small, but it’s bigger than I imagined it would be. At 30 inches high (the water reaches around 27 inches), it’s tall enough that my 12-year-old and even my husband can swim around in it or have fun on a floatie, but short enough that my then-5-year-old didn’t feel intimidated by the depth. My four-year-old niece who visits also feels safe enough to splash around without fear of tall waters overtaking her.

The short pool height has given each of my kids the confidence to be a ~~little~~ lot more carefree about holding their breath and going under. They no longer hold their nose or have to psych themselves up to go under. The 12 ft length is also ideal for small swimmers who are just learning how to hold their breath long enough to beat their brother in a race across the pool. And it’s just big enough for my three boys and their two cousins to swim for hours, upon hours, upon hours.

Setting up the Bestway 12 ft steel frame pool

Set up for the pool was easy and took the boys and their dad about an hour. Hey, somebody had to supervise and take pictures. It wasn’t tough to find help setting it up–the boys beg to break it out by the end of May. We usually wait until June when school is out. We set it up on the concrete patio pad next to the house, although I know that’s a big no-no. We just don’t have the flat land and don’t want to buy the sand to put it elsewhere. And we don’t use our patio lights above the pad when the pool is out and under them.

Many folks in the reviews whine about small or inefficient filters for pools of this size, but I’ve found the pump to be perfectly fine for two years now. I need to wash the filter out almost daily, but I think that’d be the case with any filter. New filters only run about $4 at Fred Meyer, so I grab a 2-pack each summer and switch them out daily when I wash the dirty one. Washing is as simple as spraying it with a hose, though if it’s extra dirty I spread each fold as I spray, and this can take around five minutes.

The steel frame is referring to the posts, so this Bestway 12 ft steel frame pool is not as durable as a steel wall pool. Nor is it near as expensive. It’s like an affordable hybrid between an inflatable pool and a steel-wall above ground pool. With that said, we’ve managed to put a hole in the liner each of the two years we’ve had it. I feel like we’re extremely careful, but, it is what it is. Fortunately, the company replaced it for us for free the first summer. Our pool came with a 3-month warranty, so we’re thankful the hole came within the 3 months. When the next hole came the following summer after installation, we patched it up with the included repair kit. That one appears to have been caused by careless placement over a sharp rock. Do not lose that repair patch! It worked great all summer for three months. When we packed it up, we noticed it was starting to peel around the edges, so I don’t know if it would have held up much longer.

It’s important to make sure the area under your pool is flat as possible and debris-free. I learned that lesson the hard way. Triple-check to make sure there’s no debris where the liner is going down. Spread the liner across it, then put in your poles across and vertically as you go. Once they’re all in, pull each vertical as much as you can outward while the pool is filling to stretch out any wrinkles in the liner.

How to clean your Bestway pool

Maintenance isn’t as scary as I’d always imagined, nor as expensive if you use this coupon. The Bestway 12 ft steel frame pool is a smaller pool that holds about 1700 gallons. We get by with a 1.5 lb canister of Clorox chlorine granules each year, using a few tablespoons a week. The price is around $15 at Fred Meyer, though they never got them in stock in 2021 (luckily, we had enough left from previous years). I think they may have phased out the granules and only sell the tablet version any more anyway. We may try the 3-inch tablets this year and see how that goes. Popping one in once a week sounds ideal.

Other than chlorine, we only use Clorox PH Down and pool test strips, also from Fred Meyer. Freddie’s has the pool deals! The test strips will keep you on track, and I use them almost daily to keep the water clean.

The second year with our pool, we bought a net and a pool vacuum off Amazon due to all the leaves and dead bugs collecting along the bottom. I vacuum the pool weekly by attaching the hose and walking the vacuum slowly along the bottom of the pool. I don’t have to skim with the net often, because my kids fight about who gets to use the net daily. It’s a fun chore, I guess.

We never bought a cover because they were so hard to find under $100 for the past couple years! They cost more than the pool. Fingers crossed, 2022 is the year we find a pool cover for cheap. Update: while pool covers are cheap now, they also all seem to get terrible reviews. Maybe we’ll keep forgoing and just stick with our ghetto Harbor Freight tarp tied down with string. Those solar warming covers look mighty tempting though, especially since my little one is always so cold in the water.

I never had to scrub the pool while it’s up and chlorinated. It stays pretty blue if you test and maintain it nearly daily by washing the filter and keeping the chlorine at levels indicated on your test strips.

Putting away the pool

When summer winds down and this mama sighs a big sigh of relief that all the summer craziness is winding down, putting the pool away is a little tougher than getting it out. First of all, expect no eager helping. I get reluctant help come fall. First, I let the water sit without maintenance for about a week or more. So, no chlorine. It gets a little dingey, but this allows the chlorine to evaporate so it doesn’t get down in the ground. Unfortunately, it means we have to jump in and scrub that bad boy down really well as dad holds up one side to dump the water. I like to think of it as a good workout before stuffing myself silly during the holidays.

Be careful about small rocks or sticks in the grass during this cleaning phase. Let that liner dry out in the late summer heat for a few days, then pack it up for next year. We couldn’t get our liner back in the box after the first year, so just use a large trash bag. Again, be careful when storing it so as not to tear that liner.

Bestway could be the “best way” to swim for cheap

Even smaller above-ground pools require some money upfront and almost-daily maintenance to keep clean. But for daily summer fun and entertainment in the backyard, it’s been well worth it for us. And it saves us over $360 per summer in swim lessons. Maybe we’ll take up lessons again soon now that my younger boys are braver in the water and especially as my oldest gets bigger. For now, we’re having a lot of fun in our backyard pool. I was on the fence for so long about buying a smaller above-ground pool, and I’m glad I finally jumped in Don’t forget the upside-down goggles.