I know this is a three year old post, but it seemed like a good one to pick back up in regards to this --

What about the steps? What are the steps made of in a vinyl IG pool? I ask this because of the consideration given to fiberglass pools and potential gelcoat leaching. I have some bubbling and cracking of the face of 6 year old steps in my vinyl IG SW pool. I've kept the water well within acceptable levels the entire 6 years - not a single slip, honestly. And I keep it open and balanced year round. I know the levels I maintain have never gone out of whack (pH, TA, FC, cya) I have never maintained CH due to info from poolsolutions back when I started. Now my steps are bubbling and they won't cover warranty because my CH is 46ppm. I don't know that it caused the problem, but it's an easy out for them because I haven't kept it up. My bad there - should have kept it up for warranty alone. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and bump it up just in case that caused it - I figure having 100ppm isn't going to hurt anything anyway, and if it protects the steps from further damage that would be cool. I'd just like to know if it's responsible for the damage.