Liner slipping out of coping

[daisy11]

I have a 5 year old Polytech 24' AG pool. When I uncovered it today, I noticed that there are 3 areas where the liner has apparently slipped out of the coping and sagged inside the pool wall. The top of the liner is only about 1/4" below the top of the wall, nowhere near the water level. The areas very small, the largest is only about 6-8 inches long and the other two are about 4 inches. I would not have noticed them if I didn't have a pattern in the liner. It may be in areas between the coping strips, I'm not sure without taking the rails off. We didn't install the pool, so I'm not sure what exactly the set up is.

My question is, should I try taking the rails off and fix them, or should i just leave them alone? My gut instinct is to leave them alone because I fear damaging the liner, but I'm afraid that the liner may slip out further.

[AquaBill]

Hi Daisy11:
When liners are new, they can be stretched, but this is not the case after a year. If there are wrinkles or slack areas where your liner has relaxed, then you may have some material that you can use so that you could pull your liner back where it belongs. If your pool wall is steel, you should at least tape the exposed edges of the liner so that water does not get between the pool wall and the liner. Otherwise the pool wall may start to rust.

[matt4x4]

You can easily get the liner back in - esp. if it's a) only a year old and b) only 1/4 inch down.
Use hot water to soften the liner so you can pull it back up into place and clip it in.
I've seen people with 15 year old liners use this trick to get it back in place.

[falken]

You can easily get the liner back in - esp. if it's a) only a year old and b) only 1/4 inch down.
Use hot water to soften the liner so you can pull it back up into place and clip it in.
I've seen people with 15 year old liners use this trick to get it back in place.

I did the same on my 4-5 year old liner.
You don't want to use boiling water, but it needs to be fairly hot. I used hot tap water then microwaved it a few seconds beyond that.
Pour it on the section of the liner that you need to stretch back into place, pull it up and push it back into the track. You will be pulling hard and your fingers and thumbs will be sore by the time are you done.

[daisy11]

The pool wall is aluminum, so I don't think rusting is an issue. That's a good point though, I hadn't even thought about that issue!

Thanks for the tip about the hot water, I will try that. I'll let you know how it goes!

I appreciate the advice, I was nervous about doing anything without some input from others....I didn't want a disaster on my hands!

[daisy11]

I did the same on my 4-5 year old liner.
You don't want to use boiling water, but it needs to be fairly hot. I used hot tap water then microwaved it a few seconds beyond that.
Pour it on the section of the liner that you need to stretch back into place, pull it up and push it back into the track. You will be pulling hard and your fingers and thumbs will be sore by the time are you done.

Well, you weren't kidding about my fingers being sore....and my arms, shoulders and patience were exhausted by the time I finished the first area! Now I am looking around the rest of the pool and noticing other small areas that look like they are starting to slip out so it looks like I will be working on this liner for a couple of weeks, one rail at a time. That's ok, I'm just glad that I can fix it!

I did stick a bunch of pennies in the bead receiver to keep the liner from slipping out again in that area.....I don't want to have to re-do this again! I'll have to raid my penny jar and put a few hundred of them in as I go.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the advice, the hot water trick really works.

[falken]

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the advice, the hot water trick really works.

It also helps if you do it on a hot day while the sun is beating down on the section you need to fix. Glad it worked out for you! Don't hurt yourself too much!