Seam leak Intex 22' x 52" Ultra Frame Swimming Pool

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B

Boujii

0
May 10, 2015
30
Cape May/New Jersey
Hello my friends at TFP :)

I am resetting up my pool this year. Well things are not going quite as planned. I got about 1/2 way and can see some water on the ground outside the pool in a few different spots.
At first I didn't think much of it, but after a day I can see quite a bit more water on the ground. I walked around the pool to where the water spots are are kicked the bottom to see
if any water comes out. BTW you need to kick it pretty hard! Each time I kicked it, I could see some water shoot out. Looking from the inside, I could see this right where the bottom
seam is going completely around the pool. This is in 3 different spots and the spots are in completely different areas.

Intex Pools are a bit different as the liner and wall are all in one. Basically it's just a very thick vinyl is all. Now the seam I am talking about is at the bottom and goes the whole diameter
of the pool. On the inside, it has a lip about 1 inch that covers the seam. Oddly enough, the lip is facing upward instead of downward. I've had to clean inside this lip before because
crud can build up in there. This means you can pull that lip back and look down into where the seam really is.

I've poked about the forum for a bit reading about fixing Intex seams but nothing really stands out for my situation. Most was suggesting patching it just as a normal tear. But I am trying
to think out of the box and go a different method such as using my HH-66 Vinyl Cement I have and pulling back that lip applying directly to the seam. Another thought was a bead of
liquid nail or silicone. I plan on doing the whole seam if I can just to prevent any other leaks that might arise.

I am looking for some alternative to just regular patching since the area is a bit unique and that lip.

I'll try to get a better picture when I get home.

Thanks a bunch,
Jeff
Screenshot_135.jpg
 
I had this exact thing happen to my ultraframe pool Saturday. I went to Leslies and bought their under/out of water patch kit. I took the cement out and took it down and squeezed some cement onto the flipped up vinyl flap and then pressed it down. I could'nty believe it but it sealed like a welded seam. I never dreamed that an underwater cement would really work that well. On my pool, the flap is anywhere from 1/8" to 1" past the seal.
 
gtty,
That is so sweet. I was hoping someone else had success with this. I spent 2 weeks doing a 6 layer patch (3 each side) on a 3 inch tear I did pulling it up on a trailer. So after 2 weeks of doing that patch, I was a bit disappointed with the
seam leak. I am starting to feel that by the time I get the pool up, it'll be time to take it down lol.
I drained it last night for the most part and only have an inch left. I have a sump in there now and will suck out the rest of the water tonight. I plan on doing it with dry with that HH-66 Vinyl Cement. Just curious what type of cement you used and did
you do it while wet or dry?
51Ht4hUnNvL._SX342_.jpg
 
Well I spent a couple hours last night sealing this seam. As I was working with it, I realized that that lip is not really the seam itself. Rather it's the left over after the seam.
The seam itself has 3 stitching and then that lip after the last stitch. I used my vinyl cement to glue that lip down completely around the whole pool. But then was debating on
doing something with the seams themselves. The last thing I want to do is put more water in AGAIN and have a leak and have to drain it AGAIN. As I mentioned before, there
was like 4 leaks in the exact as height (bottom - 2 to 3 inches from the ground), but different areas. If I full it again and it leaks, I'll probably hook the pool up to the hitch and
drag it down to the dump.

So I am considering sealing the 3 stitch seams myself and not take the chance. I really wanted to do this tonight to be able to fill it up over the weekend, giving it enough time
for the sealant to dry. So in order to do that, I am going to have to shop locally. I am undecided as to what to use though. My first thought was the cement I already have, and
same idea (different brand) in case I run out; or a silicone caulk. If using the caulk, I can shoot it out and spread into the seams with my fingers I suppose.

Here is the Sealant I would use:
2d07956c-a344-43aa-8f86-70c3769ab4cf_400.jpg
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Oatey-Rain-R-Shine-16-oz-PVC-Cement-308933/100342516

Here is the Caulk I would use:
12674bd1-47f1-4da5-bc38-a169a174eaf9_400.jpg
http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Supreme-Silicone-10-1-oz-White-Window-and-Door-Caulk-M90015-30-12C/202499233

Looking to get some opinions as to which would be better.

Thanks again my friends :)
 
Looks like I am all set to go out and tackle this seam leak. I am going to do the whole 22 foot bottom seam (3 stitches).
I am going to try the vinyl cement rather then the caulk. It might take some time, but I guess that's what's left for me to do
before trashing it.

I'd like to think of this situation like waterproofing a pair of boots with bee's wax. Boots would usually always leak at the seams.
So hopefully the vinyl cement will fill in whatever cracks there are.
 
I never thought of that 'Pv2'. But the job is done now so we shall see.
This was definitely a hands on job that's for sure. I sat my rear down and started at one spot and just kept going in a circle until done. I started out nice and neat, but that lasted about 9.6 seconds! By the end I felt like I was just splashing it on (sarcastic). The brush in this pvc cement was better then my HH-66 vinyl cement in the sense that it was much wider and fluffy. Anyone who has done PVC knows what I am talking about. The brush in my HH-66 was more like a small paint brush. That big fluffy brush allowed me to just slop it on and spread it out easy enough.

One thing I noticed as I was going along was there was other pinholes as well on the floor. The are easy to spot when your sitting down and concentrating on an area. They look like specs of dirt. When you fiddle with it, you can see easy enough that it's actually a hole. They are rarely ever a straight hole but more like an angle. And if the lip on the hole is just right, you will not even notice it. The quickest way I found was just looking for anything that looked like a spec of dirt. Originally I went around and seal the seam lip with my HH-66 cement and didn't notice not a single of these holes. But the second time around, I was making sure the whole area of the seam was clean and that's when I noticed the first one. Then I became more alert was actually looking for them.

This stuff dries quick, but I'll let it sit overnight just in case. I am going to go back in once more and use my HH-66 cement on the other random non-seam holes I came across. The are so small, that I am going to try and just "Fill the hole" rather then patching them. I can't promise this will do the job, but will know more tomorrow after stuff dries.

I seen in another post about using a rope or ratchet strap to secure the legs better since mine just has this "junk band".
So I bought a 30x2 ratchet strap to secure them better.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/100193-Help-w-Intex-22-Pool-Poles-Vertical-Success-w-jacking-up-to-fix?p=866174&viewfull=1#post866174
 
I was so hoping my next post on this would have been "Success". Unfortunately that's not the case. I filled the pool about 1/8 of the way and went out to survey it. Just as I was making the circle complete, I found a leak at one spot. Granted this is much better then it was before, but still disappointing. This is one of the original leaks I can tell by the spot the water is at. There is quite a bit of water for the amount of time it was filling. The pool only has few inches of water in it. So I shut the water off and will investigate in the morning. I can see where the water on the ground starts. Maybe I can get lucky and go in and look and see something I missed the first two times :(

By the amount of water one would think the hole would be pretty big. But apparently that's not the case. I should just cut my losses and quit until next year. I could buy a new liner, but the cost of it from Intex would probably be as much to buy a new pool. I tried finding the liner on the Intex site, but the site really sucks.
 

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We have struggled with illusive leaks from our Intex liner since the 2nd year. We have never taken the pool down. We can't see any holes, so I am assuming there must be pin prick holes or weak seams? They are just slow leaks that we probably wouldn't even know about except for the fact that our pool is up on concrete. We have just "lived with it". The amount of actual water loss is very minimal. In fact, I'm not sure how much of our water loss is from the leak and what is from normal splash-out and evaporation.

Anyway, we will be replacing our whole pool next year (got 4 years out of the 16x48 Intex Round). I discovered that one of the poles has completely rusted away down where the foot rests in the black rubber ring. Crazy! I'm not sure what just one has rusted out.
 
Still determined to get it going lol. So I went in and cut some 3 inch circles to patch a couple tiny holes that stood out. I let it fill a bit overnight and come out and walked around the pool and same stubborn leak.
So I look in the pool and I can see my patches have little tiny air bubbles on the top of them. So I am suspecting that it's still leaking by the obvious water on the ground. The holes are really small. I reckon the patch is going to
be bigger then 3 inches though. I thought 3 inches would had been enough for a spec of a hole. But seeing tiny air bubbles exactly on the top of the patches says different I guess.
 
Some recommend doing a series of patches. A smaller one that covers the entire leak, then one a little bigger, and one more bigger than that. I had to patch my easy set once. I did it while there was still water in it.
 
The 3 patch method is what we recommend. One to cover the hole, the next larger than the first to cover that path, with the last being the largest. All corners of the patch should be rounded.
 
My 22x52 intex pool just sprung a huge leak overnight. I added about 5 inches of water yesterday so that it would be over the filter hoses and at 3:30am I looked out the window and saw that it was way below all the filter hoses. My leak is on the seem also, exactly as the first person explained theirs. I patched it from inside, under the water and it seemed to stop. Going to check again when its daylight and maybe try the 3 patch system. I'm afraid to put more water in excel that I have to to get the pump to run.
 
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