Hello, after two days of work, we finally were able to start to fill our new 24' round pool from pool factory. Everything was looking good, it has about 12" of water in it and I went outside to check on it and there's significant bowing on about half the sides of the pool. Everything was level and we have supports under the sides. Is this normal? We stopped filling it. I can't see any reason that it would be doing this. I read online that if you don't fill it up directly in the sun this can be a problem. It went in the shade about an hour ago. It's 85 out today so not cold by any means but the water is cold. Any suggestions? Do I have to start over?
New AGP sides bowing
- Thread starter somedaypool
- Start date
Which part of the pool is bowing? Is this an oval or round pool? Can you post a picture?
It's a round pool. I heard the noise from the metal as it moved and I immediately stopped filling it. This has been a lot harder of a process than I anticipated. The stairs in there do have 70lbs of sand in it. I hope that's not what's causing it since I'm not sure how I'd get them back out. We had to build them inside it since getting them over that wall with 70lbs of sand in it wasn't going to happen.
hwy17
Well-known member
Is the bottom track between the footings resting on higher ground than the footings?
www.shadebuilder.com
Wall Buckle While Pool Filling
There are a few reasons your sidewall would buckle while the pool is filling.
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Not that I can see. Everything was level when we put it in. I'm going to go back outside and double check.
hwy17
Well-known member
If there's no high spots then it must just be liner pulling down on the wall. Options would be wait till the sun hits it there tomorrow and continue once it's warm, or power through and let the water pressure push it back out.
Mine looked a bit like that when it was filling. Not quite as pronounced. Once it was more than half full, it resolved.
Thanks for the reply. I'm a little nervous to keep filling it now that it's shaded so I'm going to wait until it is sunny tomorrow and watch it like a hawk as we fill it. If it doesn't get better as the water level fills, I'm not sure what to do. There's only one pro installer in my area and they only work on the pools they sell. My poor husband can't take it all back down and do it again. Maybe craigslist? Haha. I hope it doesn't come to that.
Thank you! I certainly hope so. The thought of redoing all of this is daunting. We'll try it again tomorrow morning. We have full sun until about 3:30 and it's supposed to be 82 so here's hoping it goes well.
The liner was not warm enough when you started filling with water. You need to wait for it to be nice & sunny and in the 70's and the liner to warm up in the sun. You don't want to start filling too early since the liner won't have a chance to warm up and be stretchy.
When you fill a pool, you start as early as possible and hope you have at least a foot of water by the time the sun goes down on the first day. Shut the water off. In the the morning, turn the water back on.
These pools look frightening to new pool owners because they buckle and creak and have people second guessing if it's ok or not?! It is ok and perfectly normal. Turn the water back on in the morning at daylight. Watch it and relax. You're still going to hear the buckles and pool creak. It's the walls being pushed back into place. You can now fill the pool overnight because the liner has stretched nearly into its final resting areas. That first night is a doozey and I'm so glad you shut your water off because if you did not... you'd be installing the pool again.
Now... those steps. Dont ever fill them with sand. That's the worst thing a manufacturer can ever tell a new above ground pool owner. Its probably going to spill into the pool at some point, grow algae and they will be hard to move out of the way to clean behind during regular maintenance. I always strapped jugs of sand and water to them as the weights.
These pools look frightening to new pool owners because they buckle and creak and have people second guessing if it's ok or not?! It is ok and perfectly normal. Turn the water back on in the morning at daylight. Watch it and relax. You're still going to hear the buckles and pool creak. It's the walls being pushed back into place. You can now fill the pool overnight because the liner has stretched nearly into its final resting areas. That first night is a doozey and I'm so glad you shut your water off because if you did not... you'd be installing the pool again.
Now... those steps. Dont ever fill them with sand. That's the worst thing a manufacturer can ever tell a new above ground pool owner. Its probably going to spill into the pool at some point, grow algae and they will be hard to move out of the way to clean behind during regular maintenance. I always strapped jugs of sand and water to them as the weights.
Couldn't agree more on the sand for ladders, manufacturers need to stop recommending! Also, if you need to remove the ladder for winterization the added weight of wet sand makes it nearly impossible to get the ladder out of the pool.
@Casey nailed it. That first fill is scary for this very reason!
Thanks so much for your replies. How will I know if it's too much and I need to stop? At what point does it straighten itself back out?
I’m guessing when you get a little more than halfway, you are going to see improvement and you’ll fill much better. And I third or fourth the motion on the sand. It gets truly disgusting and hard as heck to get it out again.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. All the dents went away except for one. Is this one to be concerned about? It's at the bottom of the wall under the ladder.
Do you think you could stand to get in the water? It might be too burrrrrrrrr...........wait hold that thought................does the ladder touch the top of the wall? Do you think it might be pushing down on the wall there?
Yes, it's cold but we could get in. The ladder is screwed down to the top of the railings per the instructions. I can go back out there and look and see if it's pressing down on the wall at all. I don't believe it's touching it but it's worth checking. It's almost full at this point and a huge flood and broken pool makes me super nervous.