About to close; just found crack in vinyl liner

NJ-Bob

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Jun 15, 2014
43
Bridgewater, NJ
While getting the pool ready to close, I found a crack where the wall meets the floor in the shallow end. It is about 2 inches long and maybe 1/16" wide in the middle. Is it feasible to let it go until spring? The pool water temperature is below 60 and getting in the pool is not appealing. The water level does seem to be noticeably lower than yesterday.
 
Is it feasible to let it go until spring?
Sorry to hear that Bob. I would hate to leave that thing alone for a few months. Best to get a patch on it ASAP. Know anyone with a wetsuit so that getting in the water isn't so painful?
 
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As James said, plan on replacing the liner in the spring.
But for now you really don’t want the roughly 20k gallons of water all draining out of that crack & washing things out underneath or causing rust etc. so the patch is a temporary solution to prevent that & keep the liner in place protecting the base. If it doesn’t seem to hold then you may want to drain the pool with a submersible pump so you can discharge the water where you want it without undermining the pool/deck structure.
If you must drain leave the liner in place to protect the shell.
 
Yes it can be patched but be forewarned the cold water isn't the best condition for it. I'd recommend you place a sand bag against it for a minimum of 48 hours after it's fixed to give it the chance to hold properly.
Didn't see the sand bag suggestion until I had patched it, and patched the patch edges in several spots. I'll keep it in mind if additional patching is warranted.
You really need to replace the liner.

Once it cracks, the liner is done.

Most likely, any pressure will just cause the crack to get worse.
I lost 9" of water overnight before I could get a patch kit. Would you suggest I not refill any water to avoid increasing the pressure? The water is level with the top of the pool light at this point. Not sure what the freezing risk is with 2800 ppm of salt.
As James said, plan on replacing the liner in the spring.
But for now you really don’t want the roughly 20k gallons of water all draining out of that crack & washing things out underneath or causing rust etc. so the patch is a temporary solution to prevent that & keep the liner in place protecting the base. If it doesn’t seem to hold then you may want to drain the pool with a submersible pump so you can discharge the water where you want it without undermining the pool/deck structure.
If you must drain leave the liner in place to protect the shell.
As I said above, lost the 9" the first night and then about 2" more over the next two days. From what you have said about rust and washing things out, it sounds like I could have a real problem. I'll cross my fingers and call some companies in the area this week to see what they recommend to do to mitigate any potential damage.
 
I may have. Put the third patch, for the edges of the original patch, on Oct 28. At my point of reference, the water depth was 10" before. Now it is about 10 7/8" after we got .85-.88 inches of rain.

I'm going to miss the polar plunges.
 

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