Tip for finding a vinyl liner leak

[Achilles]

I finally found the leak that has been plaguing me and thought I'd offer up a tip that might help others. What finally homed me into the leak location was that the liner around that area was not tight against the wall. I knew the approximate height of the leak from where it seemed that the water level stopped falling this spring, so I swam around the pool with a mask on feeling for a tear/hole. As I did this, I noticed that one section of the liner was loose - it has some water behind it. I looked a little closer - and yay there was the tear! The leak height happened to be at the same height as my return line and bottom edge of the skimmer, so all this time I was suspecting that it was a leak in the pipes or at the interface of the liner to the return port or skimmer, but food coloring around those areas never showed anything. I didn't see this look-for-loose-liner advice anywhere, so thought I'd offer it up. Now I just need to patch it.

One question - I've read the patching advice here and it seems straightforward to apply, but do I need to worry about getting the water out from behind the liner or will that just go away on its own? I assume it will bleed out into the ground.

Thanks as always to this forum and community!

 

[duraleigh]

That's a very good tip about the loose liner. It doesn't occur very often because the leak is small enough not to "balloon" the liner. Nevertheless a very good tip.

Yes, once you make the repair the water behind the liner will find it's way down and out from the pool wall and the liner will compress tightly against the wall.

Congrats on finding your leak.....they are often quite difficult to locate.