Above ground pool with aluminum rails

[Tim23]

Hello all again,

Another question since everyone was so nice on my last one...

Not like we have a choice now, but what do you think about aluminum bottom and top rails? Our new AG pool came in yesterday (oh boy was that an experience went for bad to worse thats another story lol). If we need to do anything to protect them from corrosion etc please let me know. From my experience with aluminum it oxidizes very easy in a wet environment. But they state its coated. If you look at the ends of each rail I see bare metal. I'm thinking about painting the ends or coating them with something just in case. Any thought would be greatly appreciated.

Pool is a 27' round Delair steel walls.

Thanks again
Tim

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Our alluminum top rails are beginning to develop problems - likely from being in contact with the water for extended periods when the levels rose too high on various occasions.

The little caps that cover where the sections meet, they curve under and are rounded, right by the water surface, so they get splashed easily in the curved-under sections. In those areas the paint has bubbled and flaked off in a few spots. On two flat sections we have stickers that say "No Diving" "Shallow Water" and again, when the water levels are too high, the constant splashing, etc., under these stickers (which have faded) I can see some problem spots developing, almost looks like rust spots. Even so our 9 year old pool looks pretty good - though I think our liner is beginning to go, probably from the 6 years of abuse (pre-TFP days).

I haven't bothered to look under the caps or underneath the rails to see whats what.

 

[257WbyMag]

Maybe chem geek can shed more light on this, but I would think that the aluminum has probably been passivated in some form to protect from exposure to water and the rest of the environment and would expect that it could last for many, many years despite what you could throw at it. One of the benefits of aluminum is it's inherent resistance to corrosion. If the outward appearance of the metal appears to have changed over time, this may not indicate that it is under attack by the water or air. It may simply be oxidation which can actually serves a protective purpose.

 

[mcoonan]

If you are very concerned about the bottom rails, try coating them with truck bed liner. Seen this done on the entire inside and outside of a buried AG pool to help prevent rust/corrosion. Also on another forum (about travel trailers) folks are coating the tounge and frames of their trailers with it.