Hayward Skimmer SP10841OM Leak - Cork gasket?

[offtheclock]

While trying to track down the reason for water getting behind my liner right at or a little below water liner on pool wall on the skimmer side of pool I noticed my faceplate had what looks like a cork gasket. Pool is a steel wall vinyl liner. Is this the best gasket choice? Seams very thin and I noticed the faceplate has a slight curve towards the pool wall so not sure a cork gasket can seal that. Thought?

 

[Texas Splash]

Following up ..... do you still need an answer to this question? Since no one replied as of yet, we can try to tag an expert in that area if needed.

 

[offtheclock]

Yes still needing help. Did a test at my sons birthday. Prior to people swimming their was no water behind the liner and after splashing and fun there was water behind the liner by that skimmer. No water splashed over top of pool.

 

[Texas Splash]

Let's see if @jimmythegreek can give you some tips.

 

[offtheclock]

Let's see if @jimmythegreek can give you some tips.

Thanks. Here is pic of install.

 

[duckcmmndr]

This is the way most of them are done.


We can see the gasket on the face of the skimmer throat in your picture. I used a thin layer of silicon to make my gasket stick to the face of the skimmer, I am guessing your installers did the same thing. I also did this exact same thing on the gasket on the back of the faceplate. The liner should be sandwiched between the two gaskets.

How much water is behind the liner? Does it go away on it's own? What makes you think it's getting in around the skimmer?

 

[offtheclock]

This is the way most of them are done.

View attachment 374946
We can see the gasket on the face of the skimmer throat in your picture. I used a thin layer of silicon to make my gasket stick to the face of the skimmer, I am guessing your installers did the same thing. I also did this exact same thing on the gasket on the back of the faceplate. The liner should be sandwiched between the two gaskets.

How much water is behind the liner? Does it go away on it's own? What makes you think it's getting in around the skimmer?

From what I remember this was how mine was installed. The picture shows the gasket on the steel wall and when I look at the face plate on the outside of the liner I can see the other gasket. They used some type of blue silly string looking product on the gaskets as well.

If the water gets more than mid way above the middle of the liner from rain I get a good bit of water that works its way around the outside top of the pool in the deep end. If its just my son making waves and jumping in the water just concentrates just to the side of the skimmer at the water line. It goes away with no swimming in two days.

 

[jimmythegreek]

They make a neoprene set that's thicker. Regardless the section of wall skimmer sits on needs to be flat if it's a flat skimmer. They make curved units for freeform pools. Have the PB do a dye test it should show easily bu the sound of it. And dont let it sit like this the wall will start corroding around the cutout it's a pain to fix down the road

 

[offtheclock]

They are going to come. Been raining for two days and I now have a significant amount of water around the liner all around the water line and in some sections below by a foot or so. PB stated as soon as the rain lets up they will be by.

 

[offtheclock]

Ugh it has rained everyday this week and I keep draining the pool everyday to the bottom of the skimmer but as it fills back up I end up with water all around the top water line of the liner and several larger pockets. It was pretty bad this morning. Probably had six inches of rain this week and still coming through tomorrow morning. PB is coming, but waiting for weather to break. This pool is only two months old and this is now the third or fourth time pool water has got behind the liner do I need to worry about damage now or will it be ok pending it gets fixed hopefully in the next couple of days. I do not want my steel walls to be damaged already. Any input?

 

[jimmythegreek]

It will be fine as long as issue is resolved. Theres always moisture around the walls, show me ground that isnt moist a foot or 2 down. The issue is repeated exposure to chemicals. All pools are exposed to some, just dont want it to continue. Like wood in a house it will rot with time

 

[offtheclock]

So pool company is going to come in the next two weeks to address this. I asked them to bring a butterfly gasket. They are going to close my pool and also bring and install my cover. However the more I research the more I wonder if my skimmer is installed correct and not just a gasket issue. They installed the skimmer through the wall and not behind the wall like the directions from Hayward indicate however my panels came pre cut out for the skimmer. Can anyone advise if through panel skimmer install are normal?

 

[wireform]

I guess it would need to be like this for the vinyl to sandwiched between what you have along with gaskets and skimmer frame.

 

[Bill1974]

It looks installed correctly. Maybe it was not backfilled around the skimmer as well as it could have been or the skimmer moved when back filling. If the skimmer pulled back from the pool wall it makes it more difficult for the face plate to sandwich the liner and seal. Or as Jimmy mentioned is that a curved section of walls? A thicker gasket between the face of the skimmer and the liner should move it out and allow it to seal.

Have you checked to see if there is some other way water could be getting behind the liner? Do you have a high water table or soil that does not drain well? What was the pool backfilled with? I ask this because for enough water to get behind the liner to be noticeable means that it's a significant amount of water and the water isn't draining. For that much water to leak just from splashing around seems off. Is it possible rain that falls on the decking is getting between the concrete and skimmer and pooling close to the liner? Is the concrete around the skimmer sloped to direct rain to run away from the skimmer?

 

[offtheclock]

It looks installed correctly. Maybe it was not backfilled around the skimmer as well as it could have been or the skimmer moved when back filling. If the skimmer pulled back from the pool wall it makes it more difficult for the face plate to sandwich the liner and seal. Or as Jimmy mentioned is that a curved section of walls? A thicker gasket between the face of the skimmer and the liner should move it out and allow it to seal.

Have you checked to see if there is some other way water could be getting behind the liner? Do you have a high water table or soil that does not drain well? What was the pool backfilled with? I ask this because for enough water to get behind the liner to be noticeable means that it's a significant amount of water and the water isn't draining. For that much water to leak just from splashing around seems off. Is it possible rain that falls on the decking is getting between the concrete and skimmer and pooling close to the liner? Is the concrete around the skimmer sloped to direct rain to run away from the skimmer?

Thanks for your response. I do not believe it to be ground water as the pool is 75% above ground with a retaining wall that is back filled with gravel and proper drainage. Now the side the is closet to the house is dirt but the property slopes properly away from the pool except with for one area where I had a catch basin and drain installed. Also the water would get behind the liner even with kids playing in the pool. I also do not believe it to be water run off from the deck as the concrete does slope away from pool and drains to a open section about a foot deep between the deck and wall. Very focused on the skimmer but if that is not it definitely will have to investigate more.

The pool does have a continuous curve to it but the panels came pre cut for the skimmers so I would image that area would have straight enough for the skimmer. Here are some additional pictures.

 

[offtheclock]

So we had a very light rain last night. Not even enough for the retaining wall drains to be putting out water and yet again there is water behind the liner. I went out this morning while still raining to inspect deck drainage and it all looks good except for one small area where there is a some by the edge of the pool. I did push some water over the coping and it just went down the face of the liner and into the pool. Does not look like its getting behind the line from there. Also cant imagine this was enough rain to be a ground water. Pool water is up about a 1/2 inch, there is a collection of water by deep end skimmer and then some on the opposite side on the shallow end. It must work its way around from the deep end skimmer to the shallow end and also collect there???

 

[Bill1974]

Try putting a straight edge across the face of the skimmer. The face plate needs to be pretty flat to seal. I would guess if you see more than a 1/16? gap between the straight edge and face plate it's not sealing fully. There is a small lip on the backside of the faceplate that hides/masks seeing or feeling if it is not fully seated all around. If the face plate has a curve similar to the pool wall it is likely your leak. I am guessing the bottom of the faceplate is sealing and then not sealing on sides fully (otherwise you would have noticed the pool level constantly dropping to the bottom of the skimmer face).

Ideally the sealing face of the skimmer is in the same plane or protruding into the pool a little bit, when the pool wall is flat. With your curved wall the face of the skimmer need to protrude in to the pool more. The vertical sides of the skimmer should minimally be in the same plane as the pool wall if not slightly in the pool. The skimmer sealing face is raised about the thickness of the pool wall steel.

 

[offtheclock]

So this issue is still not fixed. Pool builder came to install my solid winter cover and I thought repair the suspected skimmer leak. They were not thinking it was a skimmer leak and also not thinking ground water either. He was more suspect of water running off of the deck and behind the liner from off of the coping. He was going to do some research and get back to me. They went ahead and installed the cover and placed a pump on top of the cover to pump out water.

We did have a heavy rain and the pump did a great job keeping water from pooling on it. I decided to remove cover from skimmer where water seemed to always get behind liner and was surprised to find the water up 3/4in from when we covered it and water behind the liner in that section. I did not pull entire cover off to inspect entire pool wall for water. So this tells me that either my solid cover is permeable or water is running from the deck, down coping and behind liner. Could the relief cuts aid in allowing water into the pool is it normal for water to be able to get behind liner from running from the deck? Really wanting to put this to bed.

 

[wireform]

Hard to tell from the aerial picture how much sag on the cover is where the pump is placed. To me if the water reaches the pump the way it is you may be up around the liner bead or there about. That is to high in my book. You should pull back the cover some and pump down a good amount say even a foot to give room for precip and not let hang around the liner bead level.

 

[offtheclock]

Hard to tell from the aerial picture how much sag on the cover is where the pump is placed. To me if the water reaches the pump the way it is you may be up around the liner bead or there about. That is to high in my book. You should pull back the cover some and pump down a good amount say even a foot to give room for precip and not let hang around the liner bead level.

Pool water is about 3 in above bottom of skimmer. Which is pretty low. Is the cover too loose or should I still lower pool water? Do you know if these solid covers allow water through still? Thanks.