New pool owners, patching hole in bottom of liner?

We just purchased a house with a 15 x 30 above ground pool. Opened the pool and aside from some chmical balancing issues and realizing that a Nature 2 system isn't the exciting bonus item we thoguht it was, all was fine. We've only been in it a few days with being so busy painting inside the house and the stormy weather. On Monday, my husband came home from a business trip at 2 am and noticed we were losing water from the pool. After a 2 am dip with a flashlight, we found a 1 inch tear in the bottom of the liner. Since we only swim with noodles and goggles and soft pool toys, I have no idea how the tear got there. My only guess is that all of the little divots and indentations in the bottom of liner caused a stress tear. I have never owned a pool and thought they were just normal variations, my husband has experience with pools but has had his hand in a cast and hasn't been in the pool so didn't know they were there. Without a patch kit on hand, my husband temporarily patched the hole with some heavy duty plastic wrap and rocks on top. It slowed the leak until the morning. However, when he removed the plastic wrap to put the patch kit on, so much water gushed out, it caused a lot of sand to wash out from under the pool walls and the hole grew to a 2x2 inch hole! We patched the hole, but it is still slowly leaking and there is a big divot or pothole under the hole. We were intending to replace the liner next spring anyway, and would really like to try to find a way to patch it until next spring. We rented a sump pump to drain all of the water out, replace the sand, and patch the hole. But I luckily ended up reading online you shouldn't completely drain an above ground pool. Is there any way to funnel some sand into the hole and patch it? Will the liner that has been out of the water since Monday shrink? Thanks for any info.

This is a question for Waste, one of our long-time members who is a liner installer. I'll ask him to check in on this thread to see if he can help you out...

Welcome to the forum!

Hi Midnight, welcome to The Forum!

I've read and reread and reread your post. I fear that the liner has been chemically abused in the past S-). A liner should not deteriorate like that!

Your best bet is to replace the liner A.S.A.P and get the bottom fixed.


If finances prevent that this year, double or triple the patch and make sure that there aren't other holes!

It's great that you know the truth about the Nature2 :cool: Whenever you get your new liner (and fix the floor), you are set to just enjoy the pool for many years. But, if you have more questions - we'll be here to answer them:)

Thanks.

We patched again with a piece of real liner that a guy at the pool store gave us and a good adhesive. It is holding well, but we haven't been in it yet. We're still losing a small amount of water, I don't know if it's the patch, which looks good or another hole in the liner somewhere. I'll have to try to find any leaks. We would be replacing the liner next spring anyway, the liner just wasn't one I preferred at all. It has a picture of a coral reef along the bottom with fish along the liner. I'm sure the previous owners thought it was very cute, but it's too juvenile of an appearance for my taste, and with a folded over liner it looks silly with fish pictures above the water line. We've been having fun pretending to "snorkel" around the walls, my young son thinks it's cute, and were just going to replace it. But replacing it this soon after moving is a bit of an expense we'd like to hold off on if possible.

What would cause it to be chemically abused? ;) The previous owner left us many gadgets and accessories, which was nice of them to leave, but along with the Nature 2 and the chlorinator that attaches to the system, I think they really liked playing around with the pool and adding things on, I wouldn't be surprised if they "over maintained" the pool.

Anything we should look out for? I'd really like this liner to make it until the spring.

I should add, my biggest concern is that the divot or void under the patch where the sand washed out will cause another hole if someone steps on it. Again, we haven't been in the pool since we patched it Saturday. I have been too afraid the whole thing will just unravel and we'll flood everyone's yards. LOL. I could figure out any way to funnel any sand in there while there was water in the pool. I'll just try to put something bright that will stay underwater near the patch and remind everyone that swims not to play near there.

Do you have any suggestions to protect that area? Thanks again for your help!

Glad you got it patched!

If both patches were properly applied, it shouldn't be leaking there anymore. However, if the liner failed in one place, who's to say that there isn't a smaller hole somewhere else? If the water loss is negligible, ignore it - if it's bothersome, do some serious leak detection and dye testing.

I'd use a round rock (~ the size of the patch) to mark the area to avoid. I wouldn't let anyone step near the rock and certainly wouldn't vacuum within 5" of the rock. I would dive down and pick up the rock every other day and gently rub the patch, to keep algae from growing under it.

If you are SURE that you'll be replacing the liner next spring - I'd skip using any extra chems when you close the pool - who cares if it's a swamp when you open the pool -you're replacing the liner and water?

One last thing, can you tell me about your vacuum?

I hope you will enjoy the rest of the season with your pool :)

I don't know if I'd have a rock big enough, the patch ended up being about 4 x 4, and the divot is about 6 x 6. The vacuum is just the standard one that everyone originally buys, the oval-y shaped one on the end of the pole with the brush underneath. We hadn't vacuumed the pool yet when the tear appeared, I'm embarassed to admit we hadn't vacuumed for the first time until last week. But the pool was still very clean inside because we were barely in it and we run the filter. I'd like to get the Hayward Wanda the Whale vacuum next year. Can the vacuum we already have cause us problems until then?

I'll look up how to do a dye leak test. I'd like to find the leak, the patch seems to be holding fine. I was in the pool for the first time since the patch the other day and it looked good. But we're losing about an inch a day and I'd like to find any leaks.