Resin frame bowing a little near one of the uprights, worry or not

Started by Sam Whitaker · · 4 replies
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#1
Went out to mow monday and noticed one of the resin uprights on my 24ft has a slight outward bow to it, maybe a half inch, right at the seam where two wall sections meet. Pool's three summers old, sits on the deck i built so it's level, water's fine, no leaks that i can see. Could just be from the kids doing their cannonball thing off the one side all weekend, we got a real rotation going this year.

Is a little bow normal for these frames under load or is this the start of something i need to jump on now before it gets worse. Not trying to overreact but also don't want to wake up to a wall of water in my yard, buddy. Anybody had one actually fail or is this just cosmetic and i'm overthinking it.

4 Replies

#2
Half inch bow at a seam ain't nothing to me, that's the frame telling you something even if the water's holding fine right now. Mine's poured concrete and block so I can't say I've had that particular headache, but a seam is where these things let go, not the middle of a flat panel.

I'd get the kids to ease up on the cannonball rotation on that side for a week and watch it daily. If it don't move any further I'd call it cosmetic, if it creeps out any more before next weekend I'd be draining her down before you find out the hard way.
#3
Earl's right about the seam being the weak point, that's exactly where mine would worry me too. Half inch is enough to check with a level or a straight edge against it daily, not just eyeballing, up here in Ohio I've seen frames look fine one week and tell a different story the next once the ground shifts a hair. If it's not moving by the weekend I'd let the cannonballs resume, but I'd watch that seam like it owes me money.
#4
Sam, before Earl and Bill's watch-and-wait makes sense to me, is that bow above or below the waterline. Makes a real difference whether you're looking at a cosmetic seam issue or something with actual water pressure behind it pushing that panel out.
#5
I'm with Tom on that one, above or below the waterline changes everything here. I don't run an above ground so I can't speak to the frame specifics like Earl and Bill can, but I do know water pressure doesn't care about seams, it'll find the weak spot and lean on it steady, twenty four hours a day, way more consistent than a bunch of kids doing cannonballs on a Saturday.

The other thing I'd want to know before losing sleep over it is whether that bow was there summer one and two and you just never noticed it till you were out mowing with a fresh eye. Sometimes we stare right past a thing for years till the light hits it different. Either way Tom's question comes first, that tells you if this is a five minute fix or a drain it down situation.