Does anyone have any firsthand AG collapse incidents? What were the circumstances? What did you learn?
thanks, just curious.
thanks, just curious.
AG Collapsing examples
- Thread starter parkca01
- Start date
Sadly yes..............went to put in a new liner and found the inside of the walls had some rust on them. I sanded and painted the areas. It did not last long and the rust gave way and the we lost the whole pool..............lesson learned is do not bother trying to save a wall that has rust on in 
I am sure @kimkats won't mind me posting a link to the thread that shows the aftermath of what happened to her pool.
www.troublefreepool.com
When an above ground pool lets go, it doesn't collapse slowly, it is almost like an explosion, and can do significant damage.
A sad day at our house-bye bye pool :(
Woke up to a mess this morning. It took me a second or two to figure out what had happened as it was still dark out when I went out back. Note the post is no longer sitting on it's support. This is where it let go and all of the water went that a way. This is the seam in the wall that gave...
www.troublefreepool.com
When an above ground pool lets go, it doesn't collapse slowly, it is almost like an explosion, and can do significant damage.
And here is one from @zea3 2 years ago...
www.troublefreepool.com
RIP Rusty Vogue Pool
I'm writing this post to document the demise of my AGP in August 2017. I noticed the rust when the pool was 6 years old, and it failed 5 years later. My Vogue pool was installed in 2006. This photo is a couple of years later, but notice how straight the fence on the side is at this time. The...
www.troublefreepool.com
Mine also failed due to rust. When you first see rust start to form you have to jump on it to make repairs. My pool had a softball size hole about 8" from the bottom. My sister had the identical model pool to mine that was installed 1 year after mine. Hers had a small leak at the return they never fixed, it looked like someone took a rust colored marker and made a thin line straight down from the return. One day in a heavy rain it opened up like a zipper. Her inside walls had no additional rust, where mine was full of rust almost all the way around.
- May 11, 2021
- 973
- Pool Size
- 7000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-30
That is one thing I like about this place. I’m always learning something new. Today’s lesson was watch for rust signs.
Selenap
Well-known member
I have a resin coated aluminum sheeted pool? I think. The only thing not coated is the straps and support thingies buried underground. I had to replace my liner because of an unfortunate incident involving my vacuum and a random rock. Cut a trench 3 inch deep in the sand base. So with going back down to the bones, after 4 years I see no rust at all. I don’t know if this resin coated metal is the same as a resin wall but there you have it. Going strong at least 4 years, really 5 because this happened Last year and it took 8 months plus winter to get a liner. I have that 1/4 inch foam board completely around the walls floor and coving. (I have a full dump trucks worth of sand under that.) so in no spot does my wall touch the liner and no dirt outside the wall.
I'm worried about my pool one day collapsing as its close to my house. Can I ask, is there a way to tell if the pool wall is rusting at all? Is that something you would see from the outside of the pool first?
CJadamec
TFP Expert
Not my own pool but a neighbor pool was taken out by age and heavy rains.
The extremely heavy (like 3inch an hour) rain overfilled the pool and likely washed out the ground under the pool. Not entirely sure what caused the failure but the rain likely played a part.
Either way the pool failed on the downhill side so I'm inclined to think the dirt under the pool got washed out.
Nobody was home to see it happen just what was left afterwards. I guess it's really what wasn't left afterwards that is really telling. There had been a pile of gravel about 200 feet away from the pool on the downhill side. Not a huge pile of gravel but it was a good 2-3 yards worth. After the pool failed that pile was gone. So gone not a single stone was left. If you didn't know the pile was there you never would have guessed it was.
Near as we can tell the pool water took that entire pile with it to the river which is another 100 feet or so thru the woods from where it was. That was a 24foot round pool.
The extremely heavy (like 3inch an hour) rain overfilled the pool and likely washed out the ground under the pool. Not entirely sure what caused the failure but the rain likely played a part.
Either way the pool failed on the downhill side so I'm inclined to think the dirt under the pool got washed out.
Nobody was home to see it happen just what was left afterwards. I guess it's really what wasn't left afterwards that is really telling. There had been a pile of gravel about 200 feet away from the pool on the downhill side. Not a huge pile of gravel but it was a good 2-3 yards worth. After the pool failed that pile was gone. So gone not a single stone was left. If you didn't know the pile was there you never would have guessed it was.
Near as we can tell the pool water took that entire pile with it to the river which is another 100 feet or so thru the woods from where it was. That was a 24foot round pool.
We did not see any rust on the outside of the pool. It was only after we took the old liner out to install the new one that we saw it.
I had visible rust on the outside, so did my sister. My house is also close to where my pool was, however the rust was away from the house. Most of the water was deflected by the fence and directed back into the yard. My collapse happened during Harvey, so there was a lot of torrential rain for 3 days prior to the collapse.
@richierich One thing you can watch for is bulging areas in the wall. Water seeks its own level, so it constantly pushes downward and outward. That is what gives an above ground pool its strength, an empty AGP has little structural strength. If you have a weak area due to rust or anything else you may see a slight bowing or bulge in that area. Previous damage is also something to watch. For example the pool blew over while empty and now there is a crease in the wall. Even if you knock the crease out that will forever be a weak spot in that wall. Places that are prone to rust are the seam where the wall bolts together, skimmer opening, and return opening. My situation, rust on an undamaged wall away from the skimmer and return, is pretty unusual. My speculation is that side of the pool was not adequately rust proofed in the factory. I never had a liner leak, but I did have heavy horizontal wall wrinkles in the liner due to extended low pH before I found TFP. I think condensation collected in the void between the liner and wall formed by the wrinkles and the rust started there.
I think it was condensation that caused our rust. There was often "sweat" on the outside of the pool so I am am sure there was also some between the wall and liner thus causing the rust
hmm thanks very interesting for sure. will always keep an eye out for those potential problems
Similar threads
