Hopeless in ST Louis

[Crockfam]

Hello everyone, long time lurker but first time poster.

My husband and I purchased a foreclosed home and the previous owners left a 15 X 48 above ground pool. It's a Intex metal frame pool with the vinyl liner. I'm 5'9 and it probably reaches near my collar bone height wise. Anyway, when the weather got warmer I went out and scooped out the gunk because the cover had fallen into the pool and it was full of not just tree debris but the dead carcasses of squirrels and birds. It was filled with about 3 inches of water at the time.

Once I had the inside scooped out I noticed a perfectly round hole a little smaller than a tennis ball on the side of the pool but close to the bottom. In fact it was so perfectly symmetrical that I thought it must have some kind of hose or pump that went there. Well, it didn't sad to say. I'm not sure if a squirrel gave it one last try to get out or what, but I'm left with this hole.

I went to the pool store and I bought a vinyl repair kit with the glue and the sales person said to apply that on top of these like sticker patches and it should work. What. A. Nightmare.

The glue wouldn't stick first, I had a rough time getting it on properly. So, while up late one night I watched an infomercial for FlexSeal. Hey, if it can patch big holes in a boat ...surely it could seal these holes right? Well....not really. I didn't take the messy patches off as they just had a slow dribble leak. I assumed that if I just sprayed the FlexSeal OVER the patches it would gum up and close whatever holes were there.

That didn't work either.

So my question is ... with a hole that big is there anyway to seal it? The patches are not working, should I put something there on the hole and then try and patch it with that there? Or am I wasting time and I do I just need to call it a day and tear the pool down? I've only spent about $40 so far on trying to patch the hole, but I don't want to spend hundreds ....so if you guys have any ideas or things I can try low cost to try and patch this sucker my two kids would be very grateful

Thanks!!!

 

[Waldog]

Sounds like a new liner... Or no pool

 

[Coastal Carolina]

The hole that you are speaking about is where the manufacturer placed the drain plug. I am pretty sure with the angle of the placement that no patch is going to be able to hold because of the pressure of the water there. If it did hold even for a short time, if someone's foot was to put pressure on it, it would probably give way and start to leak. I think you should just consider maybe opting for a new pool if it is in the budget.

 

[Crockfam]

Thanks guys!
It's not where the drain plug is, I found that. But that is what I was thinking. It's about 5-6" from the bottom of the pool on the side but I'm not sure how that could even be patched. It seems like there would have to be something behind the patch rather than just the hole space? But again, this is my first above ground pool. Our previous home had an inground (which I miss dearly).

I was hoping to fix this up just for this summer for the kiddos but not so sure it's going to be viable

 

[duckcmmndr]

Thanks guys!
It's not where the drain plug is, I found that. But that is what I was thinking. It's about 5-6" from the bottom of the pool on the side but I'm not sure how that could even be patched. It seems like there would have to be something behind the patch rather than just the hole space? But again, this is my first above ground pool. Our previous home had an inground (which I miss dearly).

I was hoping to fix this up just for this summer for the kiddos but not so sure it's going to be viable

Did the previous owners leave the pump/filter system? I was just curious if they had something installed in that hole and took it with them?

You could buy one of these pool bulkhead fittings:
http://www.vminnovations.com/Produc...rd=gpf_60477&gclid=CN2NvdX75b4CFTAV7AodMCMAIw


Install that in the hole then simple screw in a 1.5" male pipe plug into the hole to block it off. Just a thought.

 

[poobears]

Could they have had a pool light through the wall there? I saw some earlier that were made to insert through the vinyl pool walls. No animal would have made a hole like that. I agree with plugging it, shouldn't be too hard, patching is not going to work, as you've found out.