Vinyl leak

[Tmort024]

Maybe a big problem???

Ordinary winter in PA. On and off cold/ice/snow/rain.

25,000 gal inground vinyl liner. Liner is completely shot and we had plans on replacing the liner this up coming spring. Closed pool as normal with safety cover.

All good until this weekend, I noticed the ice/snow on top of the liner had "sunk" way down into the pool. Stretching the liner down about 2 feet into pool. Shouldn't stretch this low because of the normal water line.

Went out and pulled a corner of the pool cover back to see what was going on. Looks like the 20 year old liner being so brittle, cracked and split in the major corners of the pool. Prob due to the icy water surface puncturing the corners of the liner. Well now with the liner being torn, water has leaked behind it and down the walls.

The water is down about 1.5 feet or so in the entire pool. Just below the return lines.

Obviously I'm too concerned about the liner. We knew that we squeezed the last year out of it last summer. Def had plans on replacing it first thing this spring. My concern now, is the water level and walls.

Being mid winter and everything being frozen, is there anything I can do right now?

I went around to the thawed corners of the cover, peeled back and reached in to pull up the flap of pool liner that had been torn to prevent the ice/water from continuing to "pull" down the liner anymore.

At what level should I really be concerned?? Always read that the water in the pool supports the walls. Worried about structural wall damage.

Need to make it to May.

TIA




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[JasonLion]

The reason you never drain a vinyl liner pool is to protect the liner. Since your liner is a loss in any case, there is no need to protect it. In most cases you can simply leave the pool alone and replace the liner in the spring. The exception is if you have a lot of ground water flowing through the area that could wash out the dirt at the base of the walls. That is quite rare however, and in many cases what is left of the liner will hold enough water to prevent even that.

 

[Citizen]

The reason you never drain a vinyl liner pool is to protect the liner. Since your liner is a loss in any case, there is no need to protect it. In most cases you can simply leave the pool alone and replace the liner in the spring. The exception is if you have a lot of ground water flowing through the area that could wash out the dirt at the base of the walls. That is quite rare however, and in many cases what is left of the liner will hold enough water to prevent even that.

How would you determine the groundwater effect?

 

[JasonLion]

Generally you would know from when the pool was built, as it would have been a major issue at that time. Failing that, you will see a significant amount of water coming out of a wall when the poll is drained down, which will be very obvious.

 

[Tmort024]

Thanks for the response. I'm a little more at ease knowing that I shouldn't have to worry about the walls now. So, even at worst case, if for some reason the water continues to leak, I still should be ok until April/May when we open and tear out the liner? Is there a point at which the water is getting too low that I should be concerned? When full, the shallow end is about 3' deep and then slopes to 8' in the deep end.


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