Last year I noticed that I had probably about 75 pinholes going all the way around the bottom corner of my 27' round above ground swimming pool. I used patch kits to get me through the summer, but they never worked very well. Probably because I put them in from inside the filled pool. Water and glue don't work well together. This year I drained the pool and am looking for a way to quickly seal the entire bottom corner where all the holes are. I was initially thinking Flex Seal spray or liquid. Does anyone have any input or other recommendations? Thanks!!!
Mulitple toothpick size holes in above ground pool
- Thread starter eric859
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,260
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Hi,welcome to TFP! Boxer glue and vinyl pool patches will work best. You have to round off the corners and lay a second larger patch on top of the first. When patching underwater it help to put a weight on top of the patch until it cures. I don't know how well Flex seal would hold up to chlorine exposure over time. What you really need to do is try to find out what is making the pinholes and get rid of it. I have heard some types of ants will do this. Until you treat the area and get rid of the culprit the problem will keep coming back until the liner fails.
Thank you for the reply! I didn't think about the effects of chlorine. There must be some type of chemical that I can use. Even some type of glue or caulk that I may be able to smear over several holes at once. I'm just trying to get out of cutting and gluing 75+ patches again.
Understood. You can try the Flex seal, I just don't know how it will hold up under water long term. I guess you could try the spray on, but I would start saving for a new liner.
Selenap
Well-known member
Selenap
Well-known member
I don’t have any recommendations but I know that if you drained it completely the liner will shrink and you may have to get a new one.
So, you could patch a few holes under one patch, right?
I think I’d want a new liner though, with that many holes, and I’d want to deal with the ant problem first.
I think I’d want a new liner though, with that many holes, and I’d want to deal with the ant problem first.
Flex Seal is temporary, at best. You want a real Vinyl Pool Patch Kit, like a bike tire repair kit. I have a large roll of the flex seal tape hanging on the pegboard right next to the vinyl kit, just in case we have a sudden puncture, but it is mere gauze one presses into the wound to "stop the bleeding" not a long-term solution. When I used the same Flex Seal Tape to merely attach a very lightweight vibration sensor to the underside of my mailbox (rings my doorbell to announce mail call), the sensor fell off after the first rainstorm. The little fat guy has 30-second commercials for a reason - that's about how long his stuff works! 
Wonder if flex seal spray would work. Have to drain it but I used it on underground plumbing and it seems to form a rubber coating.
We have a similar problem that is undiagnosed, wonder if it could be raccoons or the bugs-ants, or wasps. My husband uses a black polyurethane chimney and flashing sealant, a dab about the size of a raisin on a 2"x 2" piece of duct tape. The Polyurethane sticks underwater, duct tape comes off later, seems to last about 5 years before sun & chlorine breaks it down, uses it on anything you can think of, gas cans, tractor tires, shoe soles, Pool, flex lines on pool equipment, floaties-dab it on and spit on your finger and smooth it off, then place duct tape on it and keep everyone off of that spot for 24 hours. The duct tape protects your body, clothes from getting stained black. He uses this every year on whatever we have holes in. I've never gotten it on my skin or clothing. I'm constantly being told to avoid this or that. We have a Coleman 22' above-ground pool that's about 10 years old. Have never had this problem with other pools that we've had.