Plasbot said:I gave up on patching this stupid ring. At first I had set up a reminder in my phone to reinflate it everyday. But that was tedious. Being an X10 home automation fanatic, I figured it shouldn't be too hard to rig up an auto-inflator using the electric inflator that came with the set. I plugged the inflator hose into the ring and duct-taped it shut. However after an inflation all the air leaks back out of the inflator after it shuts off.
So I went to Lowes and bought some 5/8" clear tubing and a 1/2" pvc check valve. The check valve is spring-loaded and only allows air to flow in one direction. Amazingly everything fit snugly without much hassle. I cut off the little black inflator nozzle and pushed it about a quarter of an inch into the tube. Then plugged it into the ring and taped all around it really good.
Finally I set up a timer with X10 to turn on the pump every hour and run for 30 seconds. So now I have a DIY pool ring auto inflator.
I will try to include some pictures, bear with me this is my first post.
Did you have any problem with the check valve not springing back after the pump ran several times? I used the same setup, it worked great for a couple of times, then the valve wouldn't hold the air back.
Also what type of timmer did you use? I could one find one with one minute intervals at a time.