Hole in Sidewall Doughboy 33Ft round

[33doughboy]

I am assuming this was from mowing the lawn. Pool is 2 years old, There is an approximal 1/8 in hole straight through sidewall and liner. I did patch the liner. I asked my pool dealer for advice, they reached out to Doughboy who said the entire wall and liner should be replaced. I am assuming I will void any warranty I have if I do not replace the wall as recommended, but this is definitely not something I can afford, as I would have to drain the pool, buy wall and liner, pay installers and refill pool, probably looking at 5K. Any thoughts on repair?

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Just my opinion ... I think the warranty is gone with the current pool since it was said it was due to mowing the lawn but I may be wrong. Interesting that a rock left a hole not only in the metal but the pool liner as well. If the company isn't offering to warrant their pool at this point I don't know what else they would do in the future.

If it were me I would drain the pool, pull the liner back in that location and repair the wall with sheet aluminum on the inside. I would first put some rust converter on it, paint it up to protect the converter and then put a patch on it. I would glue it to the wall and cover the patch with a couple of layers of duct tape. If the liner is holding water after the repair then all should be good there. As far as the outside, it may be possible to clean it up, maybe get some bondo (car body stuff) prime and prime then paint it. There's also putty type waterproof epoxy that may work. In order for the wall not to continue to rust you need to address any rust you see there.

I know draining the pool is something people don't want to do because of liner issues but I grew up taking down and putting up a pool for a number of years. If you prepare yourself for the inside work maybe it can get done in a few days after draining. If you don't touch the whole pool it may not be too bad reinstalling the area you took down. Once the patch is installed then it's just a simple matter of putting the liner back and filling the pool.

 

[TinFoilHat]

I think the rust behind it make it weak enough that a pebble could break through it. You may be leaking other places that you're not aware of.

 

[33doughboy]

Just my opinion ... I think the warranty is gone with the current pool since it was said it was due to mowing the lawn but I may be wrong. Interesting that a rock left a hole not only in the metal but the pool liner as well. If the company isn't offering to warrant their pool at this point I don't know what else they would do in the future.

If it were me I would drain the pool, pull the liner back in that location and repair the wall with sheet aluminum on the inside. I would first put some rust converter on it, paint it up to protect the converter and then put a patch on it. I would glue it to the wall and cover the patch with a couple of layers of duct tape. If the liner is holding water after the repair then all should be good there. As far as the outside, it may be possible to clean it up, maybe get some bondo (car body stuff) prime and prime then paint it. There's also putty type waterproof epoxy that may work. In order for the wall not to continue to rust you need to address any rust you see there.

I know draining the pool is something people don't want to do because of liner issues but I grew up taking down and putting up a pool for a number of years. If you prepare yourself for the inside work maybe it can get done in a few days after draining. If you don't touch the whole pool it may not be too bad reinstalling the area you took down. Once the patch is installed then it's just a simple matter of putting the liner back and filling the pool.

Thanks. Deep down I knew I was going to have to drain it, but am still in denial! That sounds like a solid plan.

I think the rust behind it make it weak enough that a pebble could break through it. You may be leaking other places that you're not aware of.

It was weird, I noticed the rust on the liner first inside the pool and didn't see the outside until a few days later. I wasn't losing water, that I could tell. Then I went to get a closer look and must have dislodged a piece of rust and water just started shooting out. I will have to do a through look at the liner for any other issues. I was just assuming it was a pebble, not positive, but not sure what else it could have been.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

It was weird, I noticed the rust on the liner first inside the pool and didn't see the outside until a few days later. ...

I had an issue with my old pool where after years of not having iron stains on the liner I started getting the whole pool liner turning brownish. I bought citric acid powder for metal stains and almost immediately it cleared the pool. I wasn't on this forum at the time but a pool store said it was probably my wall rust going through the vinyl liner. After the liner went and I was going to replace it, the pool wall was indeed rusty so the pool store probably was right.