New to this forum and need help... liner floated ??

[1naylor]

So 2 years ago we shelled out the cash to have a new liner installed. Last year I bought a loop-loc cover and installed it myself. I was happy that we were protecting our new liner.

Well it has RAINED and RAINED nonstop for about a month here - floods, etc. One day I noticed water sitting on top of my cover in the middle and not draining. Then it dawned on me that the water had actually gotten up that high. So I went out and started the pump up and drained it down some.

Today I took the cover off and was happy at first - cover did it's job and just some silt on the bottom.

Then I saw it. A whole corner of the cover had come out of the track and it looks like it has a lot of slack in it. If I put it back in it just tries to fall out of the track again.

Then I saw the bottom - wrinkles everywhere. Not huge ones but LOTS of them. My wife and I just stood there feeling sick.

I guess the corner popped off and some water got under the liner. I have NO idea how it left little wrinkles from the shallow end - all the way down to the deep end.

I'm hoping somehow all the massive rains had maybe caused the ground to be so saturated that water was pushing up from underneath and somehow this would correct itself - but I'm about done with that thought. I assume I'm screwed.

Any semi-easy fix I can do here?

Thanks for the help.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

When the ground is completely saturated with water, you want to keep the pool extra full, so the water level in the pool is always higher than the ground water level. By keeping the water level in the pool extra high you use the weight of the water to hold the liner in place.

There are a couple of ways of fixing things, but they require quite a bit of effort. If you still have a lot of ground water, you could lower the water level in the pool, till the liner just starts to float again. Then the wrinkles can be brushed out with a pool brush. But this can be tricky to do, because spots that you put back in place won't always stay where you put them while you are working on other areas.

It is also often possible to move the liner around with a toilet plunger and lots of physical effort, even when the pool is full. Though this is usually only worth it when the wrinkles are in a limited area.

Another option, if the ground water has gone away, is to inject water behind the liner with a hose, and try to partially float the liner that way.

Any way you look at it, it is likely to be a major task. You might want to think about having it professionally reset.

 

[1naylor]

Thanks for the advice. In the corner where the liner has come out of the track it appears there is "extra" liner now. So I assume it's still a little bit floated??? It used to fit TIGHT. I pushed the liner back into the track but it just wants to fall out - so it has to be floated some right? I can't really tell. Water is cold and I haven't been in there yet. I'm going to vacuum it tonight and then maybe I'll step in and see. This liner was installed not quite 2 years ago and it was a huge expense for us.

If we're talking a few hundred bucks to get this thing done I could probably get myself to do that. But much more than that and it'll just have to stay wrinkled - we can't do it right now.

Man pools are a headache.

Thanks again.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Others with experience on this will chime in, in the meantime, use the Google search feature in the bottom left corner to search for other threads on this topic, there have been a few with pics even and you may get some tips.

 

[carolina pool]

You will probably need to drain the pool and reseat the liner once the water has perked out. This is not that difficult to do. Leaving the wrinkles in the bottom will eventually damage the liner and make the pool very difficult to clean. Good luck.

 

[1naylor]

It appears to be worse than I thought. The wrinkles are just as bad in the bottom of the deep end. They are everywhere.