Dog Made Hole In Liner

by Haili
(Minnesota)

Ok, so my dog fell in our pool and ripped a hole in the liner, and now my dad is threatening to take down the pool (this happens to be the one year that the pool has warmed up enough to swim in it!). How can we fix it without having to purchase a new liner?

Hi Haili.

A Boxer patch kit can repair just about any hole a vinyl liner might have. Any store that sells above ground pools should have these. I have repaired holes as large as the skimmer opening, so the size should not be a problem.

Most normal size holes can be patched with water still in the pool. I actually have better luck with water in the pool. You need to determine the size of the patch you need, cut it out in a circle shape, apply glue to the back of it and go under water and put it into place.

The patch then needs to be held in place for a minute or so.

My brother in law had an above ground pool that was installed over nut grass. The grass was constantly growing up through the pool liner. He would simply go under and pull up the grass and put his toe over the hole. One of his kids would hand him a patch with glue already applied. He would go down and put the patch over the hole, and put his toe back on top of the patch. Another kid would hand him his bowling ball, he would go down again and place the ball on top of the patch. The next day the ball would come out of the pool and another problem was solved. He did this for a couple of years until the grass finally decided to quit growing.

I hope you can convince your dad that the pool is worth saving.

Liner Has Bumps and Leaks

by Rachael

Over the winter my pool seems to have gotten a hole, because when we tried to reopen it for summer all of the water was gone except about a foot.

We searched around the entire liner and cannot find a hole and the seem isn't split. There is, however, about a dozen of these tiny bumps that stick out along the water level. Do these mean anything?

Hi Rachael.

This page talks about holes in vinyl liners.

Holes in Vinyl Pool

Another method I am forced to use sometimes is to drain the pool completely, pull back a small section of liner, and crawl underneath it. Small pinholes are easy to find this way. Looking up from the underside of a liner with pinholes is like looking up at the milky way. Every hole in vinyl liner looks like a star when seen from the underside.

The only drawback to finding holes this way is the liner will shrink when completely drained. A liner in it's first couple of years will probably stretch back out without a problem. Older liners will not stretch and in most cases they would have to be replaced.

Pinholes in a liner can be just about impossible to see from the top side, they are just to small. They are usually caused by a pool cleaner that spends to much time in one area of the pool. If a cleaner is allowed to stand still for long periods of time it wears on the liner causing holes.

The bumps on you wall should be looked at closely to see if they are tears in the liner. A hole from the top side of the liner just looks like a piece of dirt. The liner needs scraped with a finger nail to see if the dirt moves or if it is a hole. Once you identify a few holes they are pretty easy to see.

Wet spots around the outside of the pool are also good indicators of where a hole might be. Generally speaking pinholes on the bottom will not leave wet spots on the perimeter, outside the pool. Holes that are in or near the cove area will always leave the ground wet. A small wet spot outside the pool would mean the hole is just inside the pool in the cove area.

A large tear, or hole, in the bottom of the pool will usually leave a soft spongy area, depending on the pool base you have used. A sand base will get very soft and mushy under your feet.

Small Holes All Over My Doughboy Vinyl Liner

Does Anyone have idea what could cause dozens, possibly up to 100 pinholes all over my vinyl Doughboy liner? Our liner was less than a year old when it started losing water.

The pool company kept trying to tell us it was evaporation but we had a feeling it was more. When we went to open the pool this spring we found the water had almost completely drained out and found several holes.

Now each time we think we have it fixed more holes pop up. We resorted to having a diver look for all the holes and we were told there could be as many as 100 pinholes all over our liner. He cannot explain how this could happen other than the liner got to dry and brittle since it drained overt the cold winter and got left empty until the poll company could fix it.

The original holes that caused the pool to drain were caused by the wedding cake step installed by the pool company.

We are at a complete loss. The pool company is taking no responsibility and we have thousands of dollars wrapped up in the pool and deck.

Colleen

Hi Colleen

Leaving a pool dry could cause the liner to become weak, so this is a possibility.

The most common cause of pin holes in the bottoms of vinyl liner pools are automatic pool cleaners.

A pool cleaner that spends too much time in one spot could do it, in that one spot. A pool cleaner that runs every time the filter does could cause holes all over the pool. I recommend that you use an automatic pool cleaner only as often as you need to keep the pool clean.

I use mine when I am in the pool chillin on an air mattress. I float by and move it from one spot to the next. This keeps the pool clean and the cleaner in motion.

Course sand could be another cause of pin holes. If you can feel small pebbles of sand across the bottom of your pool the liner is probably feeling them too.

Fine sand like Silica sand, or filter sand, can cause pin holes. Fine that fine is like little needles poking up into the vinyl liner.

Tear in Liner

I drained & refilled my above ground pool. Well, of course the liner shifted a little and we tried to get it in place as much as possible. We started to fill and got a few feet of water in and now we noticed that on the side that was kind of tight now has a nickel size tear. I took the top rails off on the side and let an inch or so of liner down for more room. Is it possible to patch and fill on up or will it just continue to rip. The liner is about 2 yrs old.

Hi.

The liner is still young and fresh so I would definitely patch it. I have patched entire skimmer openings before so any hole can be patched. If you still have the rails off it might be a good idea to double patch it. You can get into the backside and apply a patch and then another on the front side.

I use only the liquid glue, Boxer vinyl repair glue is my favorite. I also like to use a piece of the actual liner to use as a patch. This can be cut off of the overhang if you still have plenty available.

Above Ground Liner Leak

by Art
(nj)

I have two large holes that I patched at the bottom of my pool, at the cove section. But the water is still leaking.

I believe it is because the sand washed out and the water pressure is to much. Can I use expandable foam to push the liner up? Thanks

Hi Art.

I would not try the expandable foam. I can't see where that would solve your problem.

I would drain the pool down to just a couple of inches of water. Be careful not to drain more water than you absolutely have to, as the liner will shrink. You want to drain, repair and refill all in the same day. You want the refilling to be done during the hot part of the day in direct sunlight.

With the pool drained I would unhook the liner and have someone hold it back out of my way while I repaired the cove.

I would then get in behind the liner and install another patch. Patching the liner on both sides is a sure way to make sure it never leaks again.

Use a liquid patch glue like Boxer. Doing this on both sides of the liner should create a repair job that will last for years.