Swimming Pool Leak -and- Light Replacement

[rshady]

We recently purchased this house and this spring drained the pool to find out why we are losing so much water over the season (we typically lose about 1-2 inches of water per day). We noticed that there are some small cracks in the bottom of the pool and that some of the surface of the pool had crumbled off. It looks like it has been patched before, so I'm guessing the previous owner has had a problem with this for some time now.

So my question is, is there some sort of DIY silicon (or similar) type spray that we can spray down the walls of the pool with to help seal it and see how much (if any) that helps out leak problem? Also, in the course of investigating this I pulled the light out (it wasn't working) and noticed that the cord had melted and shorted out (burnt all the way thru the covering). Can this be repaired with a waterproof joint, or do we have to replace the cord all the way back to the electrical box (impossible for us without busting up about 20 feet of concrete).

The pool is old (probably 40 years if I had to guess) and really needs to be replaced, but we don't have that kind of money so we're trying to do what we can with what we've got.

Thanks!
-- Rob

(That's very weird, I have no idea who David Adams is, or why HIS signature is showing up in MY post!)

 

[JasonLion]

To repair the light cord you need to replace the fixture and entire cord together back to the junction box. Underwater patches are not allowed.

Fixing cracks in plaster is fairly easy if they are stable, but will simply fail again if the crack continues to spread or moves around.

 

[rshady]

To repair the light cord you need to replace the fixture and entire cord together back to the junction box. Underwater patches are not allowed.

That's what I was afraid of. Are there any self-contained battery operated remote control LED lights that might work so we don't have to bust up the concrete yet?

Fixing cracks in plaster is fairly easy if they are stable, but will simply fail again if the crack continues to spread or moves around.

We have a lot of micro-fracture cracks, so we were looking for some sort of sealant that we might be able to spray coat the pool with, we emptied all of the water to get a better view of things and it doesn't look good. Either in cans, or preferably with a spray-gun (like for painting a house). Do you know of anything like that?

 

[ourback]

Micro fracture cracks in the vinyl liner?

 

[rshady]

Micro fracture cracks in the vinyl liner?

This is an inground pool, no vinyl liner... If there was a vinyl liner, I'd just replace it - I imagine that'd only be a few hundred.

 

[ourback]

Sorry my bad, I somehow conflated JasonLion's signature with you.:foot:

 

[FamilyGuy]

I remember seeing in an old thread a guy built a pool for his dogs and used some sort of rubberized paint to waterproof the concrete block. So i am sure there is a product for your needs

 

[JasonLion]

Cracks that have stopped moving are normally chiseled out a little and filled with hydraulic cement.