Rust on Outside of Pool

[somedaypool]

Hi Expert Pool People,

Rust has developed on the outside of my pool where the pump and filter are. I'm positive it's from splashes and overfills out the pool outlet for the filter. I know rust is a very bad thing for an above ground pool. How bad is this and what do I do? I'm about to buy a new pump and filter and I don't want to buy a nice one if the pool is failing and I'm only going to get another year out of this.

 

[Newdude]

I'm positive it's from splashes and overfills out the pool outlet for the filter

I'm pretty sure it's from having dissimilar metals of less than stellar quality. It's a common weak point for above ground pools.

I'm sorry to say it's on borrowed time IMO. @kimkats pool failed there. Maybe she has thoughts.

 

[Texas Splash]

While there's nothing you can at the moment for the inside of those areas, I would take a wire brush or wheel to those areas to remove as much surface corrosion as possible. Then consider applying a rust inhibitor/protective coating to keep it from getting worse from the outside.

 

[somedaypool]

If it's a common failure point for the pool, how safe am I to continue to use this thing? At what point does one pull the plug?

 

[kimkats]

For right now it looks like it is not all the way through. We could not see ours where it went REAL bad. We woke up in the morning and there was not pool At least it did not do any damage to the house.

Once the rust/metal starts flaking I would think about taking it down to be on the safe side. I would NOT waste my time trying to fix it.

 

[somedaypool]

I appreciate all of your honesty. The pool is only 3 years old so this is super upsetting. We just bought a robot too. The cost of getting a new filter and pump for a pool that is failing seems unwise at this point. I think we're just going to take it down. My kids are being really cool about the whole thing. We'll just start carting them over to my in-laws to swim I guess. Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Newdude]

The cost of getting a new filter and pump for a pool that is failing seems unwise at this point

What's wrong with the originals?

 

[somedaypool]

The pump gate valve was shut while it was running by my kids which messed it up because it wasn't discovered right away. The seal on the electrical box for the pump was seated crooked and salt water got in it and shorted it out. My husband was able to get it going again but it's kind of jerry-rigged and has caught on fire and melted some stuff. The filter has tabs at the bottom where you seat it and the screw it to seat it. The second and only working tab broke off this morning and it's attached to the whole housing so not an easily replaceable part. The filter can't be used anymore so we started our journey of researching filters only to discover the rust that wasn't there a month ago. My husband thinks maybe it happened when he cleaned out the SWG. We've been wracking our brains as to how that part could have rusted. He said after further inspection, there's bubbling under the finish of the wall that's traveling along the bottom of the track now.

 

[Newdude]

We've been wrecking our brains as to how that part could have rusted.

If it's 3 years old it was rushed through production at the start of the shortages. That's about when quality control went to crud for *everything*.

 

[somedaypool]

If it's 3 years old it was rushed through production at the start of the shortages. That's about when quality control went to crud for *everything*.

That's probably true. We got it in August of 2020.

 

[richierich]

What kind of pool is that? Is that a saltwater 5000 or saltwater 8000 from the pool factory? My pool looks almost the same, but with almost no rust on the stainless steel panel. Stunned to see a pool rust like that over 3 years? I've had mine for 6 and there's a tiny bit of rust (that was my fault from having rocks and dirt up against the pool). But to answer your question I wouldn't think it's still good, there is probably a lot of rust that you can't see from inside the pool

 

[somedaypool]

Yes I think it's the 5000 from the pool factory. It's been a huge bummer. My 6 year old cried today as we started emptying the water. I feel terrible having to take it down. It's super frustrating too because we invested in a fair amount of pool stuff anticipating that it would last 10 years and then we'd know if we wanted and in-ground pool. Our next door neighbors have one and said we could swim anytime so we are consoling our daughter with the promise of swimming next door.

We agree about the rust where you can't see. Not willing to risk it. I'm on an incline so the last thing I want is to have my much lower neighbor have their yard and house flooded.

 

[richierich]

Yes I think it's the 5000 from the pool factory. It's been a huge bummer. My 6 year old cried today as we started emptying the water. I feel terrible having to take it down. It's super frustrating too because we invested in a fair amount of pool stuff anticipating that it would last 10 years and then we'd know if we wanted and in-ground pool. Our next door neighbors have one and said we could swim anytime so we are consoling our daughter with the promise of swimming next door.

We agree about the rust where you can't see. Not willing to risk it. I'm on an incline so the last thing I want is to have my much lower neighbor have their yard and house flooded.

I would honestly call them and send pics, maybe there's some sort of warranty. I can't fathom how that could happen in 3 years, they have a great reputation

 

[somedaypool]

I would honestly call them and send pics, maybe there's some sort of warranty. I can't fathom how that could happen in 3 years, they have a great reputation

I'm not sure what they could do that would be worth it for us. It would need a whole new side and probably rail and a new pump and filter. That's nearly the whole pool package. It's not under warranty anymore and even if they were willing to replace it, I'm not sure I can muster the labor to put up another one. I'm not blaming them. Sometimes you just get a bum one of something or something goes wrong. I also saw that they had a really good reputation and they were really helpful when we ran into some issues with the pillars having broken pieces once it was up the first time. They replaced several boots at no cost. We put it up and had to take it back down because part of it wasn't level and so we've already rebuilt this pool twice. The second time I had to purchase a bunch of extra pieces for the boots because several broke in the process of taking it down. The first filter we had had a crack in the top while it was still under warranty and we had that fixed. It's just been one thing after another. I think if we do this again we'll either go in-ground or go visit someone and use theirs.

 

[Newdude]

I'm not sure what they could do that would be worth it for us

Exactly. You're not sure. A 10 min phonecall explaining your experience that wasn't up to their standards, might make them want to help.

Or you'll know for sure they wouldn't have helped. Don't tell them about the parts you messed up on the pump. Only the their fault parts. Lol.

You've got nothing to lose but 10 minutes.