Wall completely out of track

[Tammie-Lee]

We installed a above ground Discovery resin oval pool 18x33 deck does not touch the pool. We live in Manitoba Canada and had many days of -45C (that’s the same in F when you get this cold) and the wall which is a single piece of sheet metal has detached from the e-Z lock tracking. It’s terrible.
My question isn’t how to fix this my question is would it be best to drain our pool before each winter? We have our own well and can fill it each spring.

 

[cj133]

If possible please share some pictures of what happened as well as how the pool was maintained during the winter.

Was it covered? Was the cover pulling on the walls at all?

 

[kimkats]

The draining is not the hard part..................it is the keeping walls up that will be the hard part. Also keeping the liner in place could be a problem as well.

 

[Tammie-Lee]

If possible please share some pictures of what happened as well as how the pool was maintained during the winter.

Was it covered? Was the cover pulling on the walls at all?

 

[Tammie-Lee]

Pool is covered and we placed a large air pillow which was only half inflated.

 

[Tammie-Lee]

 

[Casey]

It looks like you have an extremely low spot and to fix it, the ground would need fixed and that would entail a full tear down and reinstallation.

 

[Tammie-Lee]

It looks like you have an extremely low spot and to fix it, the ground would need fixed and that would entail a full tear down and reinstallation.

I don’t think so. The cement ring is level.

 

[cj133]

I can't see the rest but I'd bet that the cover pulled the wall in?

How does the rest of the pool look? Anything leaning? Pulled?

 

[Tammie-Lee]

I can't see the rest but I'd bet that the cover pulled the wall in?

How does the rest of the pool look? Anything leaning? Pulled?

Much of the pool lifted from the track. Nothing leaning. Just the wall pulled front the track. It’s as though when the water froze it took the sides up. We won’t know what the liner look like until we are finished the melt.

 

[cj133]

Much of the pool lifted from the track. Nothing leaning. Just the wall pulled front the track. It’s as though when the water froze it took the sides up. We won’t know what the liner look like until we are finished the melt.

Did you drain the water to a few inches below the return before closing? Was anything like the stairs or ladder left in the pool?

 

[Casey]

I don’t think so. The cement ring is level.

If you want to fix this, you'll need to tear the liner out and reset it. You're not going to get it back in the track with the pool full. Good luck with it.

 

[Casey]

View attachment 395625

And you say that's a cement ring... the pool slid off the ring and needs moved. You're not going to do that with a full pool. This is why I'm saying you need a full tear down with an reinstallment.

 

[Newdude]

Hey Tammie and Welcome !!!! Sorry we are meeting like this. You don't know us yet, but you have Kim and Casey on your side already. They are both Above Ground pool royalty with their knowledge, helping people over 60K times combined.

To say you are in good hands is beyond an understatement.

 

[zea3]

We installed a above ground Discovery resin oval pool 18x33 deck does not touch the pool. We live in Manitoba Canada and had many days of -45C (that’s the same in F when you get this cold) and the wall which is a single piece of sheet metal has detached from the e-Z lock tracking. It’s terrible.
My question isn’t how to fix this my question is would it be best to drain our pool before each winter? We have our own well and can fill it each spring.

You don't want to drain the pool much below the skimmer. Water provides the structural support for the pool. If you drain it completely the walls will blow in with a strong wind.

 

[Tammie-Lee]

Did you drain the water to a few inches below the return before closing? Was anything like the stairs or ladder left in the pool?

Yes drained a few inches from the skimmer and the only thing left in the water was a large half inflated air pillow which we also used last winter (this is the second winter with our pool).

 

[Tammie-Lee]

And you say that's a cement ring... the pool slid off the ring and needs moved. You're not going to do that with a full pool. This is why I'm saying you need a full tear down with an reinstallment.

We won’t know what’s up with the liner until the melt happens. So far my husband is attaching the track back to the wall and making sure no 1/4 down is in the way of the track and cement for when the sides come back down and meet the cement. Pool is still in the same spot, it did not slide- I’d think it’s much too heavy to do that.
Either the ground heaved from our horrid winter or the water expanded to the point of pulling the liner up with it and the wall.

The big question is how can we prevent this? We had many days of -45 weather.

 

[Tammie-Lee]

Hey Tammie and Welcome !!!! Sorry we are meeting like this. You don't know us yet, but you have Kim and Casey on your side already. They are both Above Ground pool royalty with their knowledge, helping people over 60K times combined.

To say you are in good hands is beyond an understatement.

Love this so much. Thank you I can’t tell you how much joy this pool brought to us last year. We are a nurse and a firefighter - this pandemic has done us in. Seeing what happened to the pool over this horrid winter is alarming and worrisome. My husband is slowly fixing it- attaching the track back to the wall before the melt starts but if we can do something to prevent this in the future winters that would be so helpful.

 

[Tammie-Lee]

Big thank you to everyone so far. Please keep asking questions. We’d like to learn as much as we can to not have this happen again.

 

[Newdude]

The big question is how can we prevent this?

I am on team 'it happened because of the bottom, not the top'.

Whether the heave/thaw got you, or a gopher, or drainage issues eroded it, to me it's a ground problem.