Saw this walking into Bunnings.
Maybe not the best price ever but currently the best price I could find, at a walk-in store; so you can avoid online store shipping costs.
Looks to be the Bestway model 56458.
Decent size and great way to escape the summer heat.
Make sure you check fencing requirements with your Local Government.
If you are not able to load the page, this is the snapshot:
https://i.imgur.com/wZroLLp.png
The link works fine for me.
We fenced ours using Bunnings aluminium fencing sections which I think cost $99 per 2.4m length. Add in gate, lock, hinge, posts and you're looking at around $800 all up, I would imagine.
Did you fix the posts permanently? Seems like a lot of work and cost for something that will only be used for 4-5 months a year.
Seems like a lot of work and cost
Also the cost of registering and inspections for the new laws that came into play last month…
Yes, fixed permanently using Dynabolts. It was a day's work at most.
Can someone explain the reason for installing a fence around a pool on private property?
This is a serious question.
I understand it is to prevent drowning, but not everyone has children, nor do they ever have children in their home.
Also, a lot of homes are alcohol and drug free, if it is for protection of intoxicated individuals.
Is it just a catch all measure?
@Tiggrrrrr: You are showing as in WA; the regulations are here:
https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/publications/rules-pools-and-…
and state in part that "The laws are intended to protect the safety of young children by restricting their access to the area containing the swimming or spa pool".
I think you are correct; much easier to make it mandatory for all rather than open to interpretation.
Some states (e.g. Victoria) have council inspectors, and pools have to be registered.
But I suppose even if it saves only one life…
@GG57: What are the chances a council inspector actually rocks up to your property unannounced to inspect your pool fencing (or lack thereof)?
According to my local council's web page on the matter, you'll be notified via mail of the requirement for an inspection to be carried out and then have the option of calling them to book a mutually convenient time.
Leaving that aside, how many pool inspections does the local council actually conduct? Given how little councils do (unless there's revenue to be made), even when it comes to more pressing safety matters like trees intersecting power lines, non-compliant buildings and commercial food safety, I just struggle to picture overzealous council inspectors on patrol, peeking over people's backyard fences looking for unsafe swimming pools.
More to the point, how would the council become aware you've suddenly bought an inflatable kiddie pool? A proper outdoor swimming pool is a different story obviously, but this is just something you can pickup from any Bunnings, drive to your place and put up yourself.
I don't think it's taken so seriously to the degree that firearm storage inspections are, where police can legally come by unannounced and usually do so at least once every couple of years, and if you are not abiding by storage requirements you can lose your license on the spot.
I'm not advocating law-breaking, but this is Australia and our nanny state shenanigans more often than not only end up inconveniencing and impeding decent, law-abiding people from doing something patently trivial and normal, rather than serving any noble purpose.
I mean, if you don't have kids, don't invite kids to your house and aren't a complete moron; why the hell would pool fencing be necessary for a temporary pool? I know plenty of people who fall into that category, where there are literally never any children on or near there premises at any time; so who exactly are those laws protecting in their case?
@Gnostikos: Did a bit more research (I don't have a pool so hadn't bothered to look at the details previously) for my state - Victoria.
Those regs are here: https://www.vba.vic.gov.au/consumers/swimming-pools
They only came into effect from last month, so still in implementation phase.
- All owners need to register their pool / spa with the owner's local council
- Owners need to arrange for an inspection / certification by a building surveyor or inspector, and supply the certificate to the council
- Councils will enforce compliance with registrations and certifications
It is state government legislation, councils are probably funded to do the compliance, so can't see why it won't be enforced. I know my local council has access to satellite images of the area, and use those regularly where relevant.
I'm sure it will get to a point (after registrations close) where council officers will be visiting sites that haven't registered but appear to have a pool/spa.
It probably seems to be more nanny-state stuff to some people, until someone drowns.
know my local council has access to satellite images of the area, and use those regularly where relevant.
Publicly-available satellite imagery is updated in intervals anywhere from months to years; I doubt they're going to find your temporary kiddie pool in the backyard via satellite imagery when it's only up for a few months of the year and councils don't have access to on-demand satellite surveillance.
From what we can gather online, the onus seems to be on the pool-owner to get in touch with their local council and notify them of a new pool installation and the council's monitoring of pool ownership seems to be rather limited.
This is just another strike against the enforceability and practicality of this law.
It probably seems to be more nanny-state stuff to some people, until someone drowns.
I think it absolutely makes sense in the case of permanent, outdoor swimming pools but otherwise, attempting to legislate against stupidity has a horrible track record, not just in Australia but around the world, and requiring people erect permanent fencing for temporary pools is like requiring people have halon fire suppression systems installed throughout their dwellings on the off-chance a severe electrical fire ignites in their home and the fire bridge don't respond in time. It's just complete overkill and the risk-to-benefit ratio is so minuscule (I'm referring to people without children with pools) that it really doesn't justify it for all scenarios.
If the law said, any residents with children or those subject to frequent visitation of children, must have fencing around their pools, I'd be inclined to say that's reasonable.
But the law in its present form is just another Nanny State precedent that councils and state governments can build upon to force you to do all manner of unwanted changes to your own life and property to conform to arbitrary requirements disguised under the guise of "public safety".
@Gnostikos: Ok.
You seem to have strong opinions. Ever thought of running for a publically-elected role?
You seem to have strong opinions. Ever thought of running for a publically-elected role?
That's like asking me if I've ever thought I could win big at the casino. I'm sure we all have, but statistically, the odds are against you and the likelihood is that you'll lose.
The only way the people achieve fair representation and governance is to overhaul the entire political system known as liberal, representative democracy (which is merely a forlorn name at this point; as democracy has mutated into something else altogether) and remove money, greed, special interest advocacy and centralisation of power from the equation.
That is a Herculean task to say the least and requires much more than publicly-elected officials introducing trickle-down changes one at a time during their short tenure in politics. Without such a dramatic change, the house will always win.
@Gnostikos: probably depends on if you get dobbed in by your neighbours…
our neighbour has a inflated pool about waist height, has kids and no fence… but good on them
@Gnostikos: Have you not heard of nearmap? Council. Can see when pool appear in back yards and see if there is fencing etc
@asa79: Have you not heard of reading all of the comments?
As I already said below, Nearmap is updated at most 6 times a year in urban areas. That means there's plenty of windows in which temporary pools can be erected and dismantled without them showing up on Nearmap imagery.
That's assuming of course, your local council actually utilises Nearmap, which is debatable, and that your temporary pool is set up in an uncovered outdoor area, as opposed to under a pergola, sail shade, roofed patio or any number of other overhead obstructions.
I find it hilarious that people seem to think Nearmap is some magical, omnipotent real-time surveillance tool and that everyone and their grandmother is using it.
What do people think councils are? Quasi-NSA spying headquarters with cubicles upon cubicles of trained photoanalysts pouring over satellite and aerial imagery 24/7, just to spot some unfenced pools? Sheesh.
@Gnostikos: It's more then 6 times it's whenever a council requests or water department or energy company requests a new update. You not really understanding it
It's more then 6 times it's whenever a council requests or water department or energy company requests a new update. You not really understanding it
Where on Nearmap's website does it state customers can request immediate imagery updates of user-designated areas? Do you think Nearmap has to give preferential treatment to any branches of the government or something?
I'm going to take Nearmap's official word on their own services over your unsourced assertions.
@Gnostikos: Just shows you have no idea what your talking about then
I have worked in many industries where we have requested new aerial map updates to occur.
Just shows you have no idea what your talking about then
And you do?
I've corrected you countless times in the past.
I have worked in many industries
That sounds like you're having trouble staying employed long-term and/or can't decide on a career path, more than a bragging right.
So you expect me to take your word on it that Nearmap just does updates on request for any and all customers when I've seen you spout off incorrect nonsense in the past?
If any customer has that kind of subscription with Nearmap, I'd bet they're exclusive to the largest of enterprises and that it costs a small fortune in annual subscription expenditure and therefore is not within the purview of local councils, who can barely afford to keep regular garbage collection running.
That's ignoring the most obvious point that councils do operate like an intelligence agency surveillance hub and the speculation that they're just constantly monitoring aerial/satellite imagery and anyone with an unfenced pool is going to be flagged within days is like saying every single speeding driver or texting motorist on our roads is caught.
Just do the math please. It's just not feasible or realistic.
@Suckerzpayretail: @Suckerzpayretail
Because most humans are idiots and their children die.
There were 249 drowning deaths in aquatic locations across Australia between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018. The majority (61 deaths) drowned in rivers, creeks and streams. Swimming pools contributed the smallest segment of the death toll with 33 deaths.
I'd say we're doing fairly well given we are a nation of swimmers who spend inordinate amounts of time every summer around pools, beaches and bodies of water and our entire lifestyle revolves heavily around outdoor recreation and swimming.
Attempting to paint this as some of sort of epidemic that needs heavy-handed legislation to solve is a typically-Australian mentality that only results in increasing burdens, costs and micromanagement forced upon on the ordinary citzen for little practical benefit. This kind of reaction has been shown time and again to be deeply flawed and not rooted in any sound logic.
Most mandatory pool fencing laws were introduced into state legislature in early 1990s.
The statistics say drowning deaths were heavily trending downwards since the 1950s in Australia and were not noticeably affected by the introduction of these laws in the 1990s and remained fairly consistent (if not slightly increasing some years), post-introduction.
Our leading causes of death in this country; such as heart disease, Cerebrovascular diseases, Diabetes and hypertensive diseases claim tens of thousands of lives annually (34,297 in 2018 for those causes of death alone) and have easily-attributable, scientifically-proven causes such as our horrible diets and sedentary lifestyles but there is no public outcry demanding the introduction of laws to attempt to regulate people's behaviour in order to mitigate the risks of death from obesity and diseases of civilization, which are in fact, easily preventable and far more urgently require action.
When have less of a myopic perspective on national problems, and more of a high-level perspective, we can really understand how much effort is wasted on issues that are relatively and objectively trivial in the grand scheme of things and how much inaction plagues problems that are utterly disastrous.
@Gnostikos: Actually, drone imagery from Nearmap (what they use) can be updated as frequently as monthly. They are highly likely to catch an unapproved pool structure (even more so during droughts etc with water restrictions).
@[Deactivated]: Okay, nice to know that you are comfortable with 33 families mourning.
Personally, I have made sure that my kid's are great swimmers and yes I wouldn't need the fence…but it's the idiots that ruin it all for everyone. Just like access to the bush, river's etc…
Okay, nice to know that you are comfortable with 33 families mourning.
You replied to the wrong user.
Calm down Helen Lovejoy, I never suggested I'm comfortable with innocent children drowning but for goodness sake, place the onus of responsibility and accountability onto the adults, and not the legal system, and certainly not other law-abiding citizens who have to foot the bill for more laws, enforcement and arbitrary safety measures. Safety measures which, have not been shown by any empirical evidence, to actually be linked to a decline in drowning deaths.
I can think of very few other purchases that legally-obligate the owner into spending upwards of thousands of dollars on legally-mandated safety measures, for a low-investment $500 dollar product that is by definition, infrequently used since the weather won't be conducive to it for 7 months of the year. It's such a patently silly idea when you look at it objectively.
If we're going to try to mitigate 33 deaths a year (a number that is declining as time goes by) by making anyone and everyone with a pool, even if it's essentially an inflatable, knee-high, pig's trough, pay upwards of several thousand dollars for adequate fencing, then why aren't we levelling such demands where it counts, onto the owners of other potentially risky and life-threatening products, such as completely unnecessary high-performance vehicles on our roads driven by inept, barely-adult hoons that help contribute to the 1,000 plus deaths on our roads each year? The mandatory pool fencing strategy has got to be one of the most short-sighted and oblivious public safety measures ever devised, solely for the benefit of public relations-conscious politicians who want to pat themselves on the back and feel relevant to the public by claiming to be concerned with child safety, so they can swing more votes their way.
Actually, drone imagery from Nearmap (what they use) can be updated as frequently as monthly.
The bulk of Nearmap's imagery is predominantly sourced from aerial photography (via aircraft), as they're much faster than drones at digitally mapping large swaths of land in a single overflight, have much longer ranges and can mount better optics for higher resolution images. Nearmap themselves state they update imagery of urban areas up to 6 times a year; definitely not on a monthly basis (the costs and logistics, along with practical considerations like the size of the aircraft fleet required, make running that many flights impossible).
Nearmap use drones for surveying and single site photography, especially for AEC or Oil & Gas-type clients, where they need constant updates on the progress of large construction/exploration projects.
I sincerely doubt all councils or even a significant minority of them around Australia licence Nearmap for use, as the costs for commercial/professional usage quickly become exorbitant with heavy usage (from memory, when I enquired for work purposes, a small commercial licence is around $600 annually with a 50MB weekly quota of traffic; which is fairly useless when their imagery data is very high-resolution), and the need for high-resolution aerial imagery to the council is fairly niche.
I guarantee you local councils are not flying private drone fleets or scouring expensive, 3rd-party contracted aerial imagery at high cost to their coffers to potentially catch out a handful of local residents each month without adequate pool fencing, so they can fine them an on-the-spot fine of $500 per offence.
The fiscal sense of doing that is even for a council, just silly; besides the fact that councils and well-managed Information Technology infrastructure and policy is about as rare as tits on a bull.
I guarantee you local councils are not flying private drone fleets or scouring expensive, 3rd-party contracted aerial imagery at high cost to their coffers to potentially catch out a handful of local residents each month without adequate pool fencing, so they can fine them an on-the-spot fine of $500 per offence.
You'd be… Surprised. Not the private drone fleets, no, but they are scouring Nearmap more then you think. Not just for pool fences, but also for unapproved structures, that sort of thing. The fact that they don't need an army of inspectors means they can instead have an army of people in offices looking at aerial imagery for changes and checking them against permits pretty cheaply. Depending on whether your council is a less well funded like Southern Downs Region or a much more well funded one like Brisbane City is more the difference between likelihood of getting caught.
Also, local authorities and government agencies pay WAY less than your quote.
Appears to be VIC Only.
Update: Appears to be available in all states, beside NSW.
And TAS if @mingofmongo can see it.
And QLD
It appears to be every state besides NSW.
Spotted @ a Bunnings in WA.
Many councils are using drones to check backyards now as well, so hiding it out the back isn't a guarantee you won't be picked up anyway.
We had ours under our back patio last year (which is quite large), and I heard from neighbours that they got picked up from drone photos. I never heard a thing.
Unfortunately we've since moved house and don't have anywhere to hide one now (unless I put it in the garage)
Damned water restrictions!
Just fill it with beer…
They have it here for $449 plus $45 shipping cost for me.
https://www.bestpoolsupplies.com.au/product/1058/Bestway-4-0…
Shallower model @ 1m instead of 1.22.
Yeah need at least 1.2m for most effective bombs.
Ah OK.
If it has 1.22 high sides and you take the ladder out , do you still need a fence ?
What are the regulations in your state?
I think the answer is no, at least here in TAS.
You would have to remove the bracing also AFAIK
Yep, the bracing supports would be deemed climbable IMHO
https://www.spasa.com.au/consumer-info/fencing-laws/tas-barr…
But, you would be able to construct the pool yourself without a building permit or oversight by a building surveyor so long as a compliant pool safety barrier is in place.
I know it seems mad but the answer in NSW is yes.
They claim a small child would climb up the side and throw themselves in.
What is even more annoyinging is that it is a massive revenue raising scam, I tried to get the council to give me the forms to register and ask them to come to inspect and it was a nightmare. 6 hours on the phone and they finally directed me to an external company that says the council has no inspectors they just hire private companies like them and I was wasting my time trying to do the paperwork myself the council probably will not accept a private application unless it come from one of their preferred "inspectors"
So it's a few hundred $ to the private company, another few hundred to the council and about a thousand or more in fencing (be wary of being near anything that is climbable by a monkey)
The final joke was when I found out that often no-one visits and actually inspects - as long as you have dropped enough cash in all their pockets they just send you a certificate in the post.
In Victoria, anything capable of holding 30cm of water (even if it's not filled to 30cm) requires a pool fence. This rules out even the smallest inflatables.
https://www.kidsafevic.com.au/water-safety/pool-fence-safety…
I have this exact pool, love it.
Deep enough to get under water and push yourself to the other side, but shallow enough for a 5yo to stand up with head above water.
BUT THE FILTER IS USELESS!
I ended up buying an aftermarket cartridge filter and pump (Zodiac, worth more than the pool! :)) that I had to retrofit to the existing connections. More accurately, I carefully cut out the existing connections and made new ones. Served me very well for a couple years now. The new pump/filter is overkill for this pool, but I've purchased them knowing I'll use them on an eventual in-ground pool upgrade in the future.
Good quality pool, relatively easy to set up (no tools required), and the ladder will hold units like me (I'm 125kg).
In a nutshell- pool's great, pump isn't… and WILL NOT keep your water clean. Don't waste your money buying additional replacement cartridges on Ebay, seriously it's horrible. I've had pools my whole life, I know everything there is to know about maintenance, chemicals, cycles etc. The standard pump/filter is truly shocking.
Go on Ebay… $500 delivered from OzPlaza Living. It's a BIG heavy box, avoid buying from Bunnings imo (sorry OP).
They occasionally have 5-10% discount codes, so if not urgent wait and you'll save more money.
Just looking online now, there's another model (56661) which has a slightly better filter combo. I can't vouch for it, but it's got to be better than the crap this one normally comes with. If I haven't made it clear yet… it's horrible. Very very horrible :).
Good review; have a vote.
My sons friend drowned in one of these due to no ladder being on the side. Death Traps…
How long does it take to fill up one of these with water?
Took me ± 6hrs. 5 minutes if you connect to the street hydrant ;)
Thanks for the info, very helpful :)
How important is this to be accurate?
About 6 hours is right if you want approx. If you want better than that, it depends on the water pressure where you live.
The pool capacity is 8124 Litres.
Fill up a bucket that you know the capacity of (and time how long it takes).
Then divide 8124 by the capacity of the bucket (to give number of buckets to fill pool).
Then multiply that number of buckets by the time it took to fill one bucket.
That'll give you time in seconds on how long it would take to fill the pool.
Divide that by 3600 to get hours.
Would love one of these but am in NSW :(
The link doesn't work for me, maybe it's only in your state?
Is there any cheap way to get around the fencing requirements? It's not worth buying one of these pools when you consider the cost to put a fence in. We don't have enough space out the back for an inflatable pool but have space out front where it could be easily spotted by a council worker or nosey neighbour.