Collapse?

[buoyant1]

Inherited this pool with a purchased house. It was installed in ‘09 but due to poor yard drainage, it appears groundwater pooling in heavy rains has led to rust on a couple of the panels. Trying to gauge the risk of catastrophe here over the next year or two before removing/replacing. Was planning on hitting it with a rust reformer but not sure how much that will actually help. Any insight is appreciated!

 

[Bperry]

Inherited this pool with a purchased house. It was installed in ‘09 but due to poor yard drainage, it appears groundwater pooling in heavy rains has led to rust on a couple of the panels. Trying to gauge the risk of catastrophe here over the next year or two before removing/replacing. Was planning on hitting it with a rust reformer but not sure how much that will actually help. Any insight is appreciated!

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Hard to say how long it’ll last but spray paint rust converter won’t do much unless that’s all just surface rust.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I would take a screwdriver and gently tap on the rusted areas to see if they're sound. If the screwdriver make a hole - you're on borrowed time. Be aware that inside is going to be similar to outside, if not worse. The good news I think is you can still see the bottom track so if the wall is solid enough the wall is being contained in the track.

I can relate to your issue as we have a sloping back yard that we made an area flat for the pool. It can collect water after a rain and the water eventually goes away. Our new pool is in the same area as our old pool so I suspect eventually it will have the same issue of rust as our old pool. When the liner ripped on our old pool I was going to put a new liner in until I saw all the rust on the inside walls and the bottom track was gone. I would have been ok with the inside wall rust if it passed the screwdriver test but no bottom track was the deal breaker. If the walls passed the test I was planning on using rust converter and painting the areas with outdoor paint to cover those areas. We got 19-20 years from the pool so I can't complain too much! Some people do a french drain around their pool to divert water away, I never bothered to do that.

If the rusted areas pass the screwdriver test use rust converter and spray paint the areas. I would test the areas every so often to make sure they're still solid

 

[buoyant1]

I would take a screwdriver and gently tap on the rusted areas to see if they're sound. If the screwdriver make a hole - you're on borrowed time. Be aware that inside is going to be similar to outside, if not worse. The good news I think is you can still see the bottom track so if the wall is solid enough the wall is being contained in the track.

I can relate to your issue as we have a sloping back yard that we made an area flat for the pool. It can collect water after a rain and the water eventually goes away. Our new pool is in the same area as our old pool so I suspect eventually it will have the same issue of rust as our old pool. When the liner ripped on our old pool I was going to put a new liner in until I saw all the rust on the inside walls and the bottom track was gone. I would have been ok with the inside wall rust if it passed the screwdriver test but no bottom track was the deal breaker. If the walls passed the test I was planning on using rust converter and painting the areas with outdoor paint to cover those areas. We got 19-20 years from the pool so I can't complain too much! Some people do a french drain around their pool to divert water away, I never bothered to do that.

If the rusted areas pass the screwdriver test use rust converter and spray paint the areas. I would test the areas every so often to make sure they're still solid

Thanks for sharing your experience. It indeed passed the screwdriver test, so I’ve got some rust reformer and paint that I’ll hit it with once it dries up around here. I’ll keep testing it going forward, but hoping to get a few more years out of it at least. Just hope I’m able to enjoy swimming without thinking every minute about a potential collapse The good news is that it’s not anywhere near our house, so not much of a risk of nearby structure damage if it happens.