How long can i let old liner stay?

[rowesouth]

Have a 20k gal vinyl pool that developed a severe leak a month ago. Now have about 1 ft water remaining in deep end, and liner has shrunk & pulled away from the bottom. Since thisliner is >6 yrs old and starting to get brittle, i've reached the conclusion that i need to replace.

Qestion is, how urgent is this effort? I'm not at this houe all the time, so i have to schedule a timeslot to do the job. Existing liner is still (mostly) waterproof so dirt pool bottom isn't getting wet. But can i postpone actual replacement until say, early spring? Or do i need to get this done ASAP as water pressure is critical to the integrity of the pool biottom Pool construction is dirt floor & deep end with concrete vertical walls; local dirt is mostly red clay (we're in Georgia)

[CarlD]

PLEASE DO NOT DOUBLE POST STARTING NEW THREADS!
I have merged both into one thread and will delete one of the posts.

Is water mass integral to your pool's integrity? Can you put on additional supports to compensate? You know, stakes and guy wires to prevent it from collapsing in, just till spring.

[rowesouth]

A - i didn't double post intentionally, did not realize there was a manual review of new posts. When I hit "send", logged out & back in, and my post still didn't appear, i assumed it was lost - so i started over. Won't repeat that.

B - I still have about 2 ft of water in bottom of deep end; vertical walls are concrete, and slopes are GA red clay -so i'm betting it'll stay til spring. I'm thinking maybe add a bit of water & put winter cover on to minimize debris accumulation - then plan for new liner in early spring. That would be my preferred scenario. I"m thinking of leaving old liner in place to protect pool bottom - but wondering if it'll shrink too much & damage fittings & such. Any thoughts?

[Watermom]

A - i didn't double post intentionally, did not realize there was a manual review of new posts. When I hit "send", logged out & back in, and my post still didn't appear, i assumed it was lost - so i started over. Won't repeat that.

No worries. Happens all the time with our new members who are unaware that posts first go into a moderation queue before they appear on the forum. No big deal.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!