New to liners

[sumi808]

Hi,
We are a military family and just moved to prattville,AL. Our pool in New Jersey was a concrete "traditional " chlorine pool. I used this site and lurked to learn about pools as it was our first time. Our new home appears to be a liner pool. I have 0 experience and the wife and I were kinda disappointed it was a liner pool. It has a salt converter<-- probably wrong wording, but I have no clue how to properly maintain it. Being born and raised in Hawaii I wanted a pool to have water nearby, haha. Please calm our nerves and tell me a liner is just as good. We have 3 children and they love the ocean/water. We literally just moved here and we need some piece of mind.
Thanks

 

[layla2052]

Hello & welcome! We are nearly neighbors as I live in NE Alabama myself.

Our pool has a vinyl liner and most people I know here locally have pools with liners, even the in grounds. They are not hard to take care of (particularly not since you found this site) so you should feel at ease knowing the good people of this forum will help you with any questions or problems you have regarding the upkeep of your pool. All you have to do is follow their advice. It works and it will be the easiest care of a pool you've ever had.

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi and welcome to TFP!

Nothing wrong at all with a vinyl liner pool. The only maintenence difference is that Vinyl Liners to not require that the Calcium Hardness be maintained. That makes sense because there is no chemical reaction between vinyl and calcium. Other than that, the maintenance is exactly the same.

 

[sumi808]

Thank you very much! I've been really busy with the move and thought I would get a indication that I had replies to this. (don't think this mechanic knows how to work this site yet). Well update is we got the pool going and the boys just love it! It's kinda weird to not be as "hands on" as I used to be with the balance of everything. Haha. Only problem is the light. It pops the gfi everytime I turn the switch on... not an electrician but my knowledge tells me somethings bleeding somewhere. Any help would be appreciated. I would really love to get a color changing light. (Wife loved that at our old house).
Thanks!!

 

[MarianParoo]

Thank you and your family for your service!!!

I have a vinyl and love the ease of not worrying about CH, pH, TA... All I really deal with is FC/CC.

 

[zea3]

pH and TA are still important in vinyl liner pools. If the pH drops too low it can damage the liner, and TA helps to stabilize pH.

 

[lefty51]

Welcome to TFP sumi808, and I will echo "Thank you for your service !!"

Ley me be the first to say, the best thing you can do for your pool is get a GOOD test kit (I prefer the TF100)

I have had a vinyl pool for over 15 years and had no problems except replacing liner last summer (everything gets old )

Your are at the best place you can be with TFP...............hey that rhymes

 

[sumi808]

Thank you for your support! I got the pool going great now thanks to everyone here and the "dreaded" pool store people near here. VERY nice people and tested the water for free. Even told me to go get chems from the supermarket! Haha. It was a swamp but now is beautiful. I've lurked this site for years and tried to learn as much as I could before asking or commenting. I just want to thank all the people here who take time from their day to help others. Thank You! Really hot day today...... think we need to go for a swim. Haha


One thing to add.
It appears the liner is pulling out on a couple parts of the pool, by the coping. Is this ok? Probably not...

 

[lefty51]

Well, it's not ok, but it depends on how bad it's pulling out and how big an area it is.
My old liner started to pull out in a couple of places and I was able to tug up on the liner and slip it back over the coping and never had the problem again. hopefully that's all you need to do.

BUT, hang on, someone will probably have a better idea any moment now

 

[sumi808]

Thanks Lefty. I tried pulling it up but can't get a grip on it. Its not bad... about an inch from the coping at the lowest point of the dip and about 6 inches across. That's the worst area. Also it appears now that my light fixture is done. Opened it up and rusty water...... Is it correct to assume it needs replacing? Seems chemistry was just one thing my pool needed. Haha

 

[lefty51]

Morning, yeah pulling on the liner loaded with water is hard. To show how bad my memory is, I'm trying to remember what I used to grip the liner. What I did was start at one end and work it back over the coping, little by little. Then went to other side and worked it back in till there was just the middle and it wasn't near as low. All I can remember is griping the middle with my hand while working the edge, But,.. I don't ever remember being that stout.......even in my younger days

As far as the light fixture, I have no experience with them, so hopefully someone will respond to that. I do know rusty doesn't sound good

 

[sumi808]

Thank you. Ill try that!