AG POOL SIZES, SHAPES & TYPES
Aboveground pools come in two basic shapes, round or oval.
They also come in a variety of sizes to fit any yard and budget.
ROUND AG POOLS
Round pools account for around 90% of above ground sales because they represent the best value for your dollar.
A 21' round pool holds 11,000 gallons and so does a 15x30 oval. So technically they are the same size. But the oval pool costs 2.5x more than the round for the same amount of water.
Another way to look at it would be for the same money as the oval, you could buy a 30' round pool, have twice as much water and keep around $2,000 in your pocket.
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OVAL AG POOLS
Ovals are the classic upgrade for the above ground market. They have that "high end" look, fit the yard better and the long straight side make it easier to build a deck next to it.
Be prepared to pay much more for the oval than the round pool however.
They can cost up to 4x more than the same size (in gallons) round pool.
AG POOL WALLS
Above ground pool walls are made of either steel or aluminum with the vast majority being steel due to price.
As the image above shows, manufacturers spend a lot of time, energy and marketing trying to tell you how "rust proof" they have made their steel wall.
Unfortunately, all of these efforts are wasted as soon as they punch the hole for the skimmer and return through all of that protection.
Better pools have at a minimum a rust proof panel where the skimmer is.
A smart shopper would ask, "didn't they just create another issue by adding a second seam in the wall with a bunch more holes drilled in the steel for all the nuts and bolts".
Well yes they did smart shopper so over here is an even better pool that has no steel at all and is 100% rustproof aluminum. You're so smart...
AG STRUCTURE
The rest of the pool (that's not the wall) can be made of many different materials. Steel, aluminum, "galvalume" and plastic (resin or polymer if you like) and all are used in most pools.
Since the main component is the wall, the majority of the rest is basically cosmetic.
You could take all of the top seats off for example and the pool would still stand up and hold water.
The main point here is "how rust proof" do you want the pool to be.
Trading out the steel tops for plastic might reduce the possibility for rust.
If you still have a steel wall however, you haven't done much. The main part of the pool is still not rustproof.
If you want a completely rustproof pool, you need an aluminum wall with no steel anywhere else.
And if some salesperson says that his is an "all resin pool" and forgets to tell you the wall is steel, he probably needs a car payment. Shame, shame...
AG POOL SIZES
There are dozens of pool sizes.Â
Round pools are "fairly standard" although there are multiple exceptions.
Generally round pools come in 3ft increments starting at 12ft so 12,15,18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33 are the "standards".
There are manufacturers though that make say a 28ft or 34ft just to be different.
Oval pools have no such standards. They come in all sorts of odd sizes. Where a 12x24 would be perfectly normal, they will make a 12x23 or instead of 15x30 they make a 15x26.
Each manufacturer and individual pool model will probably have it's own variety.