My Pool Liner Is Leaking

[crokett]

AGP. 27' round. Liner is 5 years old. This summer I thought it might be leaking. It passed the bucket test. Sometime between then and when I put the cover on, it developed a leak. Or I screwed up the bucket test, which is quite possible. We had an unusually wet late summer/fall with a lot of rain so that could have masked a slow leak. The return is plugged, the skimmer is also plugged. It is losing water and the area around the pool on the low side of the yard is constantly wet. I've been adding water to it. The water is much too cold for me to try to find the leak - it is getting below freezing here. at 5 years old, is that liner worth trying to patch? If so, what happens if I wait until spring and all the water drains out? I'm kind of looking for an excuse to remove the liner and put down foam board, which I should have done when I installed the pool. If it's not worth saving, it makes things easier, since I will take the cover off, let all the water leak out and deal with it in the spring.

 

[ajw22]

I don't know exactly what the construction of your pool is. But if you let your pool sit empty you take the risk that you will lose the pool walls to the winter weather. The water is what hold the pool walls up.

If you empty the pool then you should brace the walls with plywood and 2x4's.

 

[CrystalRiver]

Letting it leak on its own has the advantage of finding the level of the leak for you. It should drain down to the hole, then stop.

 

[crokett]

I have a plan for preventing the wall from collapsing. It can't fall outward since the ends of the wall are bolted together, and the top rails are all bolted. At least not unless the opposite side falls inward. I can prevent it from falling inward. However CrystalRiver's post made me realize I'm assuming the leak is in the bottom of the pool, which is a faulty assumption. That's the most likely spot for a leak but it is still a faulty assumption. I will not fill it for several days and will see how low the water gets.

 

[crokett]

Merged threads - TFP Mod
I didn't want to necro-post my old thread after two months. My pool liner is leaking. At this point, all the water has leaked out, so the hole (or holes) were at the bottom. It was leaking about as fast as I could put water in it. I've braced the windward side from falling in. The leeward side can't fall outward because a) the deck is there and b) the windward side would have to fall in for that to happen. The pool wall is pretty stiff anyway. My plan is to wait until closer to spring, take out the old liner, put down foam, and get a new liner rather than try to patch the 5 year old liner.

 

[Newdude]

Thanks for the update but post away on your own thread anytime. It helps anybody in the future follow the whole story instead of having to find the pieces all over the place. You know how that goes..... they’ll click twice and then give up without ever seeing the answers and how it went

 

[OutdoorsyNewEngland]

Any thoughts on the kind of liner you will be getting? Our pool has had a slow leak that has led to a full drain this winter. This is the 2nd liner in 5 years since replacing the pool. The first liner also had a leak that the pool installation company replaced for free because it was within 6 months, this one had a hole in the same wall within a year but they wouldn't cover it so we patched and it held somewhat ok. Now we need to replace the liner and will do it ourselves- but after bad luck wondering what recommendations there are for gauge or brand or what to look for without setting ourselves up for rapid failure