Steel vs. Aluminum vs. Resin

[falcon0321]

I have been a pool installer/repair man in Minnesota for the last 10 years and would not recomend buying a resin pool. Sure the resin will hold up and the walls wont crack... But when they do, it is a mess.

If you have seen a 20 year old resin pool and a 20 year old steel pool you would choose the steel. Simply because the resin breaks and doesnt bends as the steal does. When it does break, it is a totoal failure and llooses all support. The steel may corrode but you wont have a complete failure of the material.

A manufacturer can put a warranty on just about anything that they sell. What they wont tell you is that the labor to fix it is not covered. You could pay just as much getting your pool repaired as it was to get it installed.

Just one pool repairman's opinion.

Thanks,
Nick

[ShelleyAnn]

Nick,

In my heart of hearts I have to believe that resin won't last as long as steel...it's just affected by sun, rain, and temps too much to be as long a lasting material. Then there's you being a pool installer/repair person and having seen it all first hand.

This being the case, I have 2 questions for you. First, on a few of the steel pools, they advertise a resin top cap over the uprights. Are these top caps important to pool strenth, or are they just a cover to the uprights. If they're just a cover, then that wouldn't be so awful when they go bad. Secondly, do you have an opinion of extruded aluminum vs. steel? I'm going to have a ton of kids in this new pool we get, my husband being the biggest and rowdiest, and if there's a difference between alum. and steel for toughness, that just might help make my decision for me.

I guess I have a third question. After all this blah, blah, blah is the less expensive steel/aluminum pool with the 6" top rail just as good as the buttress free one with the 8" top rail? I had a rep tell me once that they all hold water the same 6", 8", buttress free, buttress. It would save me a little bit if $$ if they were all the same and all these choices are just marketing gimmics.

Thanks.

[matt4x4]

First, the resin, aluminum or steel upright and top plates are NOT structural components, you can remove them all on a full pool (round) and NOTHING will happen to the pool, they provide stability to the wall - if someone pushes on them to get themselves out, the weight is supposed to transfer to teh associated uprights and to the ground from there.
My pool is 2 years old, my resin uprights and top plates are as nice as the day they were bought, there is NO sign of any UV damage such as drying flaking etc. If they all rot out down the road, replacing them will cost me 0 dollars because they take about 2 minutes to remove (for 1 top rail and 1 upright) and I can replace them without needing to do more than releasing one bolt per set.
Oh, BTW as an FYI, - My neighbour's pool is about 20 years old - Aluminum structure, steel wall, at each joint between top plates, he has resin or plastic caps, they are all in better shape than any of the aluminum structure on the pool, matter of fact, they look new and the paint on teh aluminum is so oxydized, touching it makes it chalk off, so somehow, I have a hard time believing the resin/plastic stuff will fail early.
UV protectants are added to just about anything that is required to be outdoors 24/7 nowadays, my Brother in law has a resin shed approximately 5 years old - still looks as good as the day he bought it.
The wall on the pool is not made from resin, all pool walls are either aluminum or steel, mine's steel with umpteen coatings on it.
I would NOT recomment Aluminum posts or top plates because they are not very strong - meaning, you have a 200 lb person pushing on them to jump out of the pool (instead of using the steps) and you'll have permanent damage (dents etc) to the top plate, you bang an upright with your lawnmower and the same happens, at least steel is a bit stiffer.
With the resin, it barely flexes under a 250lb load.

[ShelleyAnn]

Matt - We will be getting a 15' x 30' oval, so the uprights on the sides will mean all the world to the structure of the pool.

[matt4x4]

Yes, on an oval, your forces are different , that's why I put round in brackets, however, I doubt very much that you'd have problems with resin, especially uprights since the UV rays don't hit it directly to begin with because of them being vertical.
Just my 2 cents, but a resin structure really won't give you issues, even over the long term - wall will still be steel and bottom track will Never rot or corrode out of resin.