Dozens of pin holes in my vinyl liner inground pool

[spidey07]

Bought a house with a pool in the fall with it "closed", got it opened/going great thanks to everybody here. Except there's the problem of losing close to an inch a day in water. Given the poor shape the pool was in from previous owner, pool company did a total drain and fill to open (water was only an inch deep in the shallow end), 3 companies immediately said "you got a leak". They patched some visible liner problems when drained/filled, light niches are good. Pool service said liner is 6-7 years old.

And the leak(s) are still there. I had them come out and just said "fix it". Their report was "pin holes everywhere, dozens, too many to patch".

Now I'm going to get in there with some food coloring to find out what is going on and where the water is going. My two questions are:

1) "If there are many dozens of pinhole compromises of the liner should I bite the bullet and get a new liner and also make sure the underlying problem of them is resolved"?
2) If I'm dedicated, can I patch/fill them with something?
3) I'll make it complicated - if I want to make modifications to depth and slope is now the time to do it?

I knew there was a reason I got this house on such a bargain... It's a lot to ask for regarding advice, but something regarding the leaks is enough to start on.

 

[Isaac-1]

Well without knowing the cause of your pinholes it is hard to know if they are a sign of a bigger problem or not. Many years ago I had an issue with my pool where steel metal shavings were allowed to get in the pool while some work was being done (installing ceiling fans, etc. above it) during the off season. These then sat on the bottom and caused a number of pinholes where they rusted (maybe a dozen or more), I patched them (scuba gear makes this easier, particularly in the deep end when you have to hold the vinyl patch with cement in place for 4-5 minutes) and managed to get another 3-4 years out of that liner.

Ike

p.s. if I had to patch without scuba gear I would probably use some soft scuba diving weights (mesh bags filled with lead shot) to hold the patch in place firmly until the cement could cure in about 5 minutes

 

[techguy]

Do you know if the liner sat in the sun, without water, for a long time?

 

[spidey07]

Thanks for the replies. The liner when "closed" had just a few inches of water in the shallow end but it was covered.

I've got scuba gear so I guess I'll just get in there and find out what's up and patch what I can. Pool shop said use Phenol Red rather than food coloring to find the pin holes, doesn't dilute as much (no, I didn't buy any...got plenty).

Great idea on using scuba weights!

 

[Isaac-1]

Scuba gear does make finding the leaks easier, red food coloring works fine, scuba gear also makes finding the leaks easier as you can move slowly through the water and not disturb it as much while searching for leaks. When you find a leak the food coloring will swirl away into it like a tiny vortex.

 

[oldkayak]

Something to consider, although I hope this is not the cause of your problem. Termites.

For the past two swimming seasons, I was losing water daily, and had many small pinholes in the liner. I was determined to keep the pool going and applied MANY patches all along the cove area of the pool. The water loss would level off, only to get worse again. By the end of the swimming season last year, I was adding water to the pool daily.

This year I decided no more huge water bills, time to replace the liner. When the pool guys stripped out the old liner they discovered a termite infestation in the kayak pool walls. All of the walls had to be replaced. I had an exterminator do a home inspection, and fortunately none were found in the house. The exterminator treated the pool area before the new liner went in.

Hopefully, only one last huge water bill, to refill the pool.

 

[spidey07]

Well I'm crossing my fingers, but my water loss is less than 1/4 inch per day in full sun. Maybe it was the liner just finally settling after the drain/re-fill.

I did not get into the pool and try to find leaks, just monitoring water levels. Seems pool store wanted to sell me a new liner. I'll run a bucket test to see just what's going on.