AGP Brittle Liner

[sbn56]

Just finished replacing a liner in a 24' round AGP. Along with the usual wall rust, etc.

The old liner came with the house, it was only three years old. I knew it would be trouble, given that it was installed upside down (seam showing) but what was really bizarre was the condition of the bottom - the sides were perfectly fine, but the bottom was paper thin and brittle.

Is there a straightforward reason for this occurring? The water table is very high here, and I suspect the liner is reggularly wet underneath, but I would not have suspected that the liner would have been that brittle. I had applied a half dozen patches before I saw that the bottom would tear by simply walking on it.

Water chemistry is pretty nominal - I use chlorine tabs in the skimmer and only shock when free chlorine drps to near zero. I'm aware that my PH is usually a bit low, but never off the scale. I do add algaecide approx. monthly.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I installed a 30 mil liner - it was a big job and I don't really want to repeat it anytime soon!

 

[BBBliever]

Hi welcome to TFP. Replacing a liner every three years is a big job and a big expense. The best way to prevent that is proper water chemistry. You say your water was "in range" and "not of the charts" those are not values that will allow us to help you maintain maximum longevity of your liner.

By chance are you useing test strips to monitor your chemisty? Test strips are useless. If you are useing trichlor pucks they are very acidic and will lower PH. What might look "within range" on a test strip could be shown to be low on a drop based kit.

Do yourself a favor. Get one of our reccomended test kits. Your liner will thank you. The test kit will allow you to get in tune with your pool. After you see all you have to do to maintain proper water chemistry with trichlor pucks you might decide to go to pool school to learn how a trouble free pool is maintained.

Best of luck to you and your new liner. Hope to see you here often.

Edit: hopefully somebody more knowledgeable than myself will be along shortly to answer more of your questions. I have no idea if your upside down install contributed to a premature failure although it makes since to me.

 

[JohnT]

Many pool chemicals are heavier than water and will settle to the bottom if not thoroughly mixed and allowed to circulate afterwards. Shocking is a likely culprit since you are introducing a large amount of chlorine at once.

Just maintain your chlorine level and forget the shocking. I go through entire pool seasons without shocking at all.

 

[thepiratemorgan]

Just maintain your chlorine level and forget the shocking. I go through entire pool seasons without shocking at all.

Ditto, didn't shock pool at all this year.
Oops, I'm wrong ... I brought it up to shock level and maintained it for about 36 hours until I closed my pool. And I guess you can count the initial opening shock also.

Otherwise, the BBB Method works and you will be quite happy with the savings.