Rusting Walls After 1.5 years? Normal?

[JamesW]

In the pictures, it looks like there is no deck and the pool is out of the ground some.

If that's the case, it looks like you should be able to get access to the back of the steel walls.

If you can get access to the back of the steel walls, I think that it would be helpful to get some zinc anodes and attach one to each wall.

A 1 or 2 pound zinc anode on or near each wall connected to each wall would probably help reduce the amount of corrosion over the next 10 to 20 years.

 

[mariane]

Sword fight with Lathom on twitter. https://twitter.com/LathamPool

Maybe you'll get more attention. Share you correspondence with them and the photos

We had a similar problem with a defective Tropitone captain's patio chair when the local dealer would not help us. We went to their FB page and complained. That got their attention and Tropitone was on it and had it taken care of within days. They were committed to customer service.
Hopefully Lathom will do the same and move quickly for you.

 

[91stealthes]

We had a similar problem with a defective Tropitone captain's patio chair when the local dealer would not help us. We went to their FB page and complained. That got their attention and Tropitone was on it and had it taken care of within days. They were committed to customer service.
Hopefully Lathom will do the same and move quickly for you.

I've reached out to the CEO and COO. I'll see what they have to say and then maybe I'll need to go the Facebook/Twitter route. Unfortunately, the new liner will probably be ready soon and I need to have time to paint the walls if needed.

In the pictures, it looks like there is no deck and the pool is out of the ground some.

If that's the case, it looks like you should be able to get access to the back of the steel walls.

If you can get access to the back of the steel walls, I think that it would be helpful to get some zinc anodes and attach one to each wall.

A 1 or 2 pound zinc anode on or near each wall connected to each wall would probably help reduce the amount of corrosion over the next 10 to 20 years.

The pool is out of the ground a few inches, as I haven't brought in topsoil yet. I didn't want to do the lawn until the garage and pool house was up, which is in progress now. I have 2 ft of bluestone around the pool, so to get to every panel I'd need to dig down and then in to get around the bluestone mortar. If I cant get to the wall, how close do they need to be?

 

[JamesW]

It looks like you should be able to get to the walls by digging down a few feet.

The zinc has to be in electrical contact with the walls by being bolted to the wall or by a copper wire.

 

[JamesW]

You should be able to get to the metal brace or the wall.

Connect the zinc to the wall or the brace.

 

[JamesW]

There are holes in the wall studs and braces that you can use to connect the zinc to.

I would suggest 1 anode per wall.

Maybe 15 total anodes spaced evenly around the perimeter.

Deeper might be better than shallow, but a few feet down should be sufficient.

https://www.rotometals.com/zinc-anode-5-x-9-hang-overboard-w-copper-wire/

https://www.rotometals.com/zinc-anode-4-x-6-hang-overboard-w-copper-wire/

 

[rmundo21]

I feel your pain first hand. I discovered the same issue, maybe worse, with my then 3 year old pool (now in it's 5th year) manufactured by Cardinal Pools. The link to that discussion is here Steel Wall Corrosion On 3 Year Old IG Pool
Of course Cardinal mfg sent a rep to inspect and take photos and blamed it on ground water even though they could only pull the liner away in one corner that didn't have any corrosion. I did trench around the entire perimeter and put a weeping product called Hydroblox to help divert run off water from the patio and sloping ground. I also added an inline zinc anode which was not installed by the builder even though I have a SWG. Still not sure the issue is under control. Contemplating a liner replacement next season to address the corrosion. Crazy to think that a product made to go in the ground could not stand up to the occasional ground water run off. Of course after the fact, I wish I would have spent a few more bucks and got the polymer walls. I wish you luck.

 

[Mike1162]

Am I correct that in all the pictures in your first post we are actually seeing rust stains on the styrofoam?

 

[91stealthes]

Am I correct that in all the pictures in your first post we are actually seeing rust stains on the styrofoam?

On a few of the photos yes, it seems to be coming up and over. The others, it's behind.

 

[91stealthes]

So I picked up some Zinc Clad V today to scrap and paint sometime later this week. I had time to removed part of the liner and pulled back the foam to see what I was really dealing with. Here's what I found. Thoughts?

 

[91stealthes]

Any additional thoughts now that we see behind the styrofoam wrap? I should have time and be able to remove the rest of the liner and foam on Friday.

I plan to get at least 1 zinc anode and dig down to a brace to attach it. Assuming I should put this on the opposite side of the pool than the inline one I already have?

 

[JamesW]

It's a lot of corrosion. You will need to sand it down and coat it.

I would do at least 14 of the big anodes around the pool. One single anode isn't going to do much.

I would get rid of the inline anode.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

It’s really impressive how compromised the galvanized coating is after 1.5 years. There’s significant amounts of white rust all over the panels. I wonder if the foam caused the failure by holding/trapping moisture between the liner and the panel. White rust tends to form when water doesn’t have a lot of carbonate alkalinity in it. Long Island water is extremely soft and dominated by rain and snow melt. Trapping soft water at the zinc surface would slowly convert it to a mushy hydroxide and lead to wash out.

Whatever barrier material you apply, making it waterproof might be helpful.

 

[JamesW]

I suspect that there might be some sort of stray current causing accelerated corrosion.

That can be difficult to test for.

Try to determine if there is any stray current causing accelerated corrosion.

In any case, a bunch of zinc anodes should be able to reduce the corrosion, but it probably won't stop it completely.

 

[91stealthes]

Finally started wire brushing and scraping the pool yesterday. I feel this is pretty advanced as I spent about 45-60 minutes on the upper portion of these two panels. I think I need a power brush.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

A 4” angle grinder with a steel wire brush attachment would reduce the muscle aches you’re going to get doing all that manual scrapping. However, you have to be careful not to go too hard and “cut” a lot into the steel. It will definitely need some kind of oxidation barrier (zinc paint or rust-oleum) applied or else it will rust right up again.

 

[91stealthes]

Thank you JoyfulNoise.

Yes, I've purchased Zinc Clad V and will be painting the scraped areas.

 

[JamesW]

Whatever is causing the rust is going to continue to eat the metal.

I would get as much zinc anode as possible connected to the walls.

If not, the next liner change is probably going to involve trying to patch holes in the walls.