How to use a shop vac to set the liner

[cstewart27]

I've seen a number of mentions of using a shop vac to set the liner.

Can anyone provide any details on how this is done? What is the process? I looked through Pool School but didn't find it. Maybe I missed it.

 

[Hd.Niels]

It has to be a pretty powerful shop vac , but tape a cardboard with the hose from a shop vav then the cardboard over the skiMmer area and tape seal the area and then the return hole tape over do not cut the liner till you have it in place, you tube has a few Vids of liner installations you can check out also .

 

[Bama Rambler]

Here's what we did on my sisters pool with and overlap liner.

1. Starting after leveling the sand and installing the Gorilla pad.
2. Put liner in pool and unfold it.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
3. Drape liner over wall and secure it with many plastic spring clamps.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
4. Adjust liner so it's even all the way around the pool.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
5. We used 1¼" vacuum hose and stuck it in the skimmer hole down the wall to within about 3" of the cove. DANGER: Skimmer cutout may have sharp edges, wear gloves! (Don't ask how I know!).[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
6. Turn on vacuum.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
7. Press liner around vac hose with your hands to create enough suction to start drawing the liner. (This is gonna take a while so be patient!)[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
8. Once the vacuum has a decent amount of vacuum on the liner so that it holds the liner to the walls you can let go holding the liner around the vac hose. It'll stay there by itself.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
9. We used a very soft bristled broom to 'kick' the wrinkles out of the liner as it was vacuumed to the walls and floor.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
10. Once the wrinkles are out of the floor you can start filling with water.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
11. Once the water is to the top of the cove you can stop the vacuum and pull the hose out. The buldge where the hose was, will flatten against the wall fine.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]

There a couple of things we learned while setting this liner.

• You can stop the vacuum and readjust the liner if you need to, to get all the wrinkles out. And you don't have to drain a drop of water out![/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
• The foot prints where the person unfolding the liner walked, will show up when the liner is fully vacuumed.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
• You can install the return fitting under water without losing more than a cup, in case you let the water get too high! (I don't recommend this!)[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
• You can also install the skimmer with it partially under water without losing any! (I don't recommend this either!)[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]
• You can use a clean smooth plate tamp to smooth the footprints out in the sand with the water in the pool.[/*:m:8uyd7p3r]

If you have a beaded or J-hook liner it's even easier, because you won't have to worry about getting the liner the right height in the pool.

 

[cstewart27]

Can anyone tell me how long it takes to set a 24' AG round liner? The videos I saw show seconds! Surely it's longer; but how long??

 

[Bama Rambler]

It took us about 2 hours counting the time we released the vacuum and reset it once. That's from the time we put the folded up liner in the pool to when we started filling with water. We left the vacuum on until the water level was above the cove. That took another 2 hours running one water hose.