I'm very confused by the comments saying aluminum costs the same as steel.
Not to mention you'll need a lot more aluminum to perform the same job. There are aluminum above ground pools out there, for a large cost and they do hold up much better. But then again, the pool my parents did in 1986 was galvanized heavily and even after 10 years of rocks etc it had no rust anywhere. Best I can tell the pool I put up isn't galvanized at all. Just painted with so called "great coatings, best thing in the world etc". Really it's all just paint and any little scratch will make it fail and from what I saw there were plenty of scratches before I even unboxed it.
That said, when it comes to protecting steel from rust IMO the only option is galvanizing because paint and other coatings will never remain perfect even if they start that way. I just used Crown 7007VG on an outdoor gas pipe to protect it from rusting and I'm planning on doing some touchup on my pool with it as well where it's hidden by the stairs etc.
You pretty much nailed it. All this talk of putting nylon washers on bolt holes, and spraying the attachments with conformal coating (or whatever was mentioned) is for the most part useless. Once that coating is breached, there is moisture on the bare metal, and the oxidation process has started. You would basically have to remove (or convert) all iron oxide, then bake the area to remove any moisture, and then recoat to prevent future rusting. Not to mention that if you are using dissimilar metals, there is going to be a galvanic reaction between the two of them, causing corrosion and a subsequent stress riser. A sacrificial anode MAY be of use, but you would have to replace it on a regular basis, and I am not sure without thinking about it some more where it would actually have to sit.
You really have one solution to prevent rusting long term - build your pool out of something that does not rust. Not something that does rust that you try to keep from rusting by coating it with something.
Good galvanized steel is a start. but galvanized is still a base metal that rusts with a coating on it. Granted it is a really good coating, but it is still a coating.
Stainless is good, but stainless is expensive. Material cost is more, and it is also harder to work with. Aluminum works too, but it is pricey. People love taking down aluminum pools - they take them to the scrap yard and get paid very well. Resin is really the answer. It is still expensive, but I suspect pricing will come down as competition rises and manufacturing becomes cheaper.
Sheet aluminum is getting 25 cents a pound right now by me. Compared to 33 cents for 304 stainless. Steel scrap is like 4 to 5 cents a pound, and most places only take it in quarter to half ton minimums). Steel is by far a cheaper material.
I just bought all stainless steel hardware for my solar cover reel. The reel itself is aluminum with resin parts, but all of the hardware was plain steel - which is now rusted steel.
purestainlesspools.com
You would think they would use stainless instead of steel..
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