I found several surface chips on the waterline ceramic tile after I removed the winter cover. This is the 2nd winter, the first winter was OK. I did eveyrthing the same closing the pool. The only difference was this time I placed a cover pump on top of the winter cover, so I did not get much ice formation on top of the cover, but I did get very thick ice, 8 to 10 inches under the cover. The water level at closing was about 2 inches below the tiles. The chips are of difference sizes, from about 2-3 mm to 1 cm in diameter, irregularly shaped, all very thin, I manage to find most of them at the pool bottom and I glued them back using marine epoxy. Other missing areas I just used some touchup paint. The repair turned out good, you can't notice it unless you look very closely. The tiles were supplied by the pool manufacturer, San Juan Fiberglass Pools, and the PB did a good job using special epoxy as specified by San Juan. I am kind of puzzled why this happened, is it possible that the moisture inside the tiles causing freeze damage? Or is it due to the pressure from the pool water freezing and expansion? Maybe I should not have used the cover pump, because it didn't happen after the 1st winter. Any other suggestions?
Need help with waterline tile freeze damage
- Thread starter Ke
- Start date
Using a cover pump is good. Without it the water on the cover can push the water below the cover up the walls, which could possibly get ice on the tile, which would be bad.
Tiles usually chip or flake like that when they are slightly porous and get water inside them that then freezes. Tile used on pools isn't supposed to be porous, but sometimes mistakes are made.
There could also have been problems if there was ice pressing directly against the tile. One of the main points of lowering the water level in the pool is to prevent there from ever being ice pressing directly against the tile, so presumably this did not happen.
Tiles usually chip or flake like that when they are slightly porous and get water inside them that then freezes. Tile used on pools isn't supposed to be porous, but sometimes mistakes are made.
There could also have been problems if there was ice pressing directly against the tile. One of the main points of lowering the water level in the pool is to prevent there from ever being ice pressing directly against the tile, so presumably this did not happen.
I just checked San Juan's website, the waterline tiles that I have are their standard tiles which are very popular. From their pool owners' photo gallery, I can see that many of their pools located in northern climate areas also use the same tiles. Strangely most of the chips/flakes are located on the upper row which had never been submersed in water. Perhaps the water did rise up around the perimeter of the pool which caused the ice damage. I am going to take extra precautions next winter. I will need to eliminate water contact on the tile . I am thinking of taping plastic sheet from just below the tiles and laying the plastic sheet over the coping. I may even put in pipe heating filament along the tiles, my pool isn't that big so I think it can be done. And along the perimeter of the pool I will also put in some 2 by 4 lumber tied along with foam pool noodles(pool noodles alone are too buoy and they will just sit on top of the water), so in case the water does rise and freeze the pool noodles will allow the ice to expand, taking pressure off the tiles. Does anyone think this is overkill?
I was able to trace the source of the tiles to the supplier, the PB left a box of extra tiles, on the box it says Alpha Tiles in Florida, I guess San Juan Fiberglass Pools use them to supply their tiles. On Alpha Tiles website, it does say my waterline tiles are frost proof. So I am thinking the damage is probably due to ice expansion pressing on the tiles.