Waldorf Modern

The time has come again to prepare the stock tank pool for another summer. It will be our third year with it already! It’s weathered in nicely, I’ve made some adjustments to the connections, mixed up the ways I treated the water, thought about and against many further adjustments, and fielded a number of email inquiries about it.

The stock tank pool is still the ideal set up for us. Imagine if we had a big blue vinyl thing in the backyard all this time. It might have been a little warmer (I hypothesize that the metal reflects the heat from the sun, therefore keeping the water temperature in the pool positively frigid at all times), but I highly doubt the lifespan of the vinyl could come close to competing with the galvanized steel on looks or sturdiness. Though we’ve dealt with leaking connections, that’s pretty much the only issue that comes up.

We started out with plumbers putty on the exterior of the tank at the hose connections. It intermittently leaked and eventually dried out a bit. Last year, we added some bolts and neoprene gaskets, covering the connections with PVC cement. It dried out a bit as well, flaking off where it was thin, but did a decent job of preventing leaks. Later in the summer last year, I covered the outtake filter hose connection with a two part epoxy, and this one seems to be the winner. Between the gasket, the bolts, a couple layers of the PVC cement and a generous application of the epoxy. I tried a silicone sealant on the intake hose connection, and that’s not quite working as well as the epoxy, maybe because of the slightly bent gasket on that part. But, a little trial and error, a little exposure to high VOC cement, has been worth a lot of cold soaking in the pool.

I must say that one of the most fun and rewarding parts of the project is filling it up at the beginning of the summer. I take a seat right next to it and watch the water rise.