Large Tear in Vinyl Liner

[Jecoso]

Today we pulled the cover off the pool in hopes of simply opening for the summer, only to discover a huge tear in our liner. It's right at, or maybe just above where the water line is during normal operations, maybe almost 3 feet long and a few inches wide but I believe the vinyl kind of "curled" away after tearing and the gap could be narrower. In short, what do I do?

I know and fully agree the real answer is "replace the liner". But we just got done paying for a new roof (this house has been...fun...the two years we've been in it) and it would be a dangerous stretch of the budget to pay what I've seen for liner replacements. In the immediate term, a Boxer patch kit is on quick order, but this brings up a few questions.



1.) Is this even feasible to patch? I can't find much solid discussion about how large is too large, so to speak.
2.) How hard is it to replace a liner? I've already replaced the pump myself, as well as wired, installed, and plumbed a heat pump, and opened and closed for winter twice. I see it's critical to measure properly, and it's a multiple person job, but it's a pretty daunting task!

We don't know how old the liner is. We were told it was 3 years old two years ago, but it seems like every week we uncover a new lie that we were told about the house in general. It's also a little faded above the normal water level. I'm also very curious how this tore open just sitting over winter. It was covered with a Loop Location cover, the water level was drained to below the return, and the water surface never froze all winter. But first things first, I just need to fix it!

 

[wireform]

Yes, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that's DONE. If your a very good DIY'er yes but, you also need to get the perfectly sized liner for the job and messing up a new liner is an expensive mistake which I don't think you should attempt.

 

[Newdude]

I can't find much solid discussion about how large is too large, so to speak.

The where is more important than the how big IMO.

You don't have enough meat on the high side to get a good seal.

I see it's critical to measure properly

Looploc sent their own guy to measure. He was probably an independent contractor, but they scheduled that.

Any goofs were on them.

 

[Jecoso]

That's what I was afraid of :/

So, say any local pool company can't get us on their schedule for a month or so. The weather is definitely going to be naturally warming the water soon, do I fill it to just under the tear so I can run the system and keep the algae at bay? Or do I let it go, embrace the swamp, and tell myself it's getting pumped out soon anyway?

 

[Newdude]

I would lower the pool a few inches and gorilla tape the snot out of it. They make a waterproof version.

Then fill back to where it should be. While it won't look pretty, it'll buy you as much time as you need.

 

[kimkats]

I 2nd the tape. I would put the tape like this - l------------l to help keep the liner from tearing any further either way.

 

[Jecoso]

Good idea on the tape, thanks for that! Hopefully one of the local pool companies can fit us in before too long!

 

[Mdragger88]

If at all possible try to tape from the back & the front if you can do so without tearing it further. You want it to be as warm as possible so the liner stretches & is pliable instead of being brittle.

Some people opt use a blow dryer but you don’t want it too hot & using a blow dryer near a pool is an electrocution risk ️ so beware.

If it won’t fully come together & there’s a gap you may need to source a large patch from excess vinyl. A pool store that sells/installs liners may just give you some.

While diy’ing a liner install is possible (another member recently completed this task),
Having the exact measurements (preferably from the original liner) is key & you take all the risk as opposed to the installer being on the hook.

 

[Jecoso]

I definitely have space behind the tear, the dirt has kind of settled away from the wall in the area of the tear so I can easily fit my hand between the liner and the wall foam. The vinyl is pretty flexible, which plays to my favor. The only local place that does vinyl liners can't get to us till August, which is a troubling amount of time for us to be dealing with a patched pool!

On another note, they don't truck water away, we have to handle that ourselves. Is it feasible to attempt to store any amount of it in a horse trough or something? Wasting 13,000 gallons just to replace it at a time where I guarantee we'll be on drought conditions and water restrictions concerns me...

 

[Mdragger88]

I have seen duct tape/saran wrap patches last a year so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Not ideal or a long term solution but it’s possible.
I watch a YouTube guy in the uk who uses intex easy set pools (the kind with the blow up ring) for holding water.
He also has one thing he just calls a bladder.
Most people in the US just drain to sewer or storm drains depending upon their municipality’s regulations.
To avoid excessive charges many water departments allow for a credit/adjustment once a year or so for filling a pool where they don’t charge you sewer fees for it so you might inquire about both those things.
You’ll need a submersible pump to drain - they can be rented for fairly cheap at Home Depot etc. if you don’t want to buy one.

 

[gregch]

We finally got around to replacing our liner a couple of years ago, but the old liner got a split/tear similar to yours, maybe not quite as big but right at the corner. I got hold of an 'off-cut' of liner material which I cut to a suitable size and got some glue from a pool repair kit I found on Amazon, thinking it would be a miracle if it even worked as a temporary fix. Just dropped the water level a tad, but the glue said it could be applied underwater and part of it was. It was still doing its job just fine (not looking pretty, but holding water) FOUR YEARS later when we replaced the liner!!! So don't panic too much if it takes a while to get fixed. Good luck with it all!

 

[Jecoso]

Good to hear a couple positive outlooks on patches being successful! We'll see how this one holds up, I have the hose filling the pool up right now. I was able to get a few strips of waterproof gorilla tape behind the liner to help keep it supported, then put a vinyl patch on the water side with Boxer 100, with some more gorilla tape in a vertical fashion as kimkats suggested. Hopefully I'll remember to come back here and update on how long it lasted!