pool wall rusting trough??

[smittyb42]

My 3.5 year old pool has had no problems until now. :O Yesterday my wife was out walking around our back yard when she discovered the far side of our pool, one of the panels is rusting!!!! Majorly. There was no sign of this upon closing our pool or doing our final yard work around Thanksgiving. But yesterday my wife say there were 2 or 3 pin holes spraying water. :O

Currently everything is a frozen tundra and there is a ton of ice on the pool cover. And a supposed foot of snow coming on Monday.

Need some wise advice!

Thank You

smitty

 

[JamesW]

It kind of looks like something hit the wall from the outside. I'm thinking possibly kids shooting bbs at the wall.

 

[JasonLion]

If water is spraying out through the wall, there must also be a leak in the liner. If the liner has been leaking in that area for a while, it could well cause rust like that. The first step is to get the liner fixed. On the other hand, you can get a very similar look from external damage and condensation, but water would not be spraying out in that case.

 

[JamesW]

Do you have a picture of the water spraying out?

 

[zea3]

My pool has been doing something very similar for the last two years. In one section of the pool small areas have bubbled up, rusted, and weep water, but my pool does not leak faster than the rate of evaporation. My liner is very wrinkled (horizontal wrinkles on the walls only) and I thought there was a pin hole leak in the folds that prevented the leak from getting worse. I had not considered condensation as being the source of water.

This could be a case where condensation is causing rust to form in a section of the pool wall where whatever they used to rust-proof the pools was inadequate. Have you tried contacting the manufacturer to see if this is covered under warranty?

I have attached a picture of the worst spot on my pool. The only reason I haven't tried to fix it myself is fear of it being a bigger job than I can handle and other household repairs taking priority.

 

[JamesW]

That looks like a bb stuck in the wall. The hole is very round, as is the paint disturbance around the hole. Is there anything in the hole, or is it just a hole?

 

[pwrstrk]

That looks like a BB to me also.

 

[JamesW]

Regarding the original post, the damage does appear to be localized, which kind of points to something specific to that area, such as a leak.

If it is from a bb or pellet gun, it could be due to a limited vantage point, possibly from the neighbors on the left. I would at least check the ground for bbs or pellets.

 

[woodyp]

If that's not a BB it's certainly the most perfectly rounded rust formation I've ever seen! Heck, you can even see where it "dimpled" when it hit.

 

[pwrstrk]

In zea's pic, I'd bet the farm that's a BB stuck in the wall. I enlarged the pic and it looks to be a BB.

 

[JamesW]

One of the holes in the first picture does not have any rust around it. If the holes were from rust, I would think that the hole would be rusty. I suspect that if the holes are from a bb gun, they might have been done over time and not all at once. I would suspect that the non-rusty hole was newer. Also, I would suspect that the hole spraying water is fairly new as the water level appears to be good.

 

[zea3]

I don't want to distract from the original discussion, I just included my picture to show there is something similar happening with my pool. There is no bb in my pool wall. The picture is 2 years old and shows the first of many rust spots confined to one section of my pool. I'll take another picture when it is light out that shows the rust forming from the back side of the pool wall. At first it looks like a blister on the paint, but it is firm to the touch with no visible rust. As it progresses you see the discoloration from the rust, the size of the involved area increases, and it begins to weep water leaving a rust colored stain running to the bottom of the wall. The area where this is happening is about 20 feet from my back fence. I think at that close a range a bb would have no problem going through the wall. The home behind me is a single lady with about 5 unfriendly dogs. I don't think anyone there is shooting at my pool.

I have added a photo I took today. You can see how the rust has progressed and you can see where new spots are popping up. The big one near left center is the same spot in the 2 year old photo.

 

[JamesW]

Possibly some sort of manufacturing defect. Maybe dirt or oil on the steel prevented the paint from making good contact.

For some reason, in zea3's pictures, some of the holes appear to have a bb stuck in them. The hole to the right of the big hole looks like there is a bb stuck in it. Maybe it's just a trick of the light.