Leaks!!!!

[AnnaK]

Came out to the pool this morning and found the pump pot empty. Looked in the pool and found it down 8", maybe more. Yikes!!!!

We discovered four very tiny tears in the liner, maybe 1/4", behind and under the wedding cake steps in the cove. What likely happened is that the metal end of the hose banged into the liner. Yes, we did leave the hose behind the steps while the dogs used the steps as jumping off points. So very dumb of us!

We patched them using a kit that has heavy duty clear vinyl and a tube of glue. Do we need to weigh the patches down? We can put a bag of sand on the ones in the cove but how do you put pressure on the ones on the wall?

The leaking water flushed out a considerable area of sand and we now have a good sized dent in the bottom, abut 12" x 12". Will that cause us grief in the long term?

I'll post pictures as soon as I've got them downloaded off the camera.

[Watermom]

I'm not sure how you can apply pressure to the wall, but a sand bag on the ones you can would be a good idea.

As far as the sand washing out, we had something similar happen to us years ago. When we installed our first pool, we taped the hose to the top rail of the pool and let the hose run all night as it was initially filling. (We had been getting up every few hours through the night to take a look to make sure all was well.) When we got up the next morning, we found that the tape had come loose and the hose was now on the ground aiming right at the base of the pool. A footprint-sized amount of sand had washed out. How disappointing. That footprint remained the whole time until we replaced that liner. I just told my kids to keep away from the footprint and we never had any problems other than it wasn't pretty. Sounds like your washed out area is larger than ours was, but my guess is that it won't be a problem for you either. (I'd guess that mine was maybe 4"x8" or so.)

What a bummer. Sorry this happened, Anna.

[AnnaK]

Thanks for the sympathy and the empathy. Seven years without problems, untold dogs in the pool and never a scratch, and now this, the result of our own unthinking carelessness. I am a little upset.

We put a pillow case filled with sand on the patch on the cove. It was easier to mold and shape than the sand bag. The patch on the wall, well, we'll just have to wait and see. Since we're filling from a well this will take days. I run the water 2 hours max in a 24 hour period. Two hours gets me about 2 inches of fill. And it's hot here . . . no pool.

We will have to relocate the steps since the big cave-in is right under the back part of them. Not a major problem, it just means removing the rail holders and putting them elsewhere. I sent some photos to Ben, hope he has a chance to post them.

From now on, the fill hose will have an old sock zip-ties to it.

[Watermom]

You can still cool off in that pool even if the water level is down a bit! Don't let that stop you!

[AnnaK]

Definitely! I poured some bleach in tonight and mixed it in with the brush. We'll have to go manual until we can test the pump. Oh please, let's hope that pump shut down when it overheated and will work still. It was new in March.

[PoolDoc]

Anna's pictures:

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[AnnaK]

Thank you for posting the pictures, Ben.

Refilling will take some time at just 2 hours per day. The water is now up to the bottom screws on the skimmer after 4 hours total. I expect I have another 2 days to go. But the patches seem to be holding; we had no water loss overnight.

[AnnaK]

Progress! The pool has been refilled and–amazingly!–the pump still works!!!! Whoever designed this pump with whatever fail-safe or idiot switch to shut it down when it's starved for water has just risen to my Circle of Awesomeness. Gauge pressure is correct, water pressure at return is correct, no funny noises, no unusual vibrations.

The water stayed clean because I added bleach throughout this ordeal and mixed it in manually. The bottom is a little dirty but that should clear up soon, now that I can filter again. The cave-in is truly ugly, what can I say? We'll live with it.

[BigDave]

Not ugly, Character!
I'm really happy that your gear still works - congrats!

[AnnaK]

Character, eh? Those two holes will collect every smidgen of dirt and dust which, come to think of it, should make vacuuming much easier
Yeah, I'm really glad the pump held. DO they have some sort of shut-off mechanism when they run dry?