Liner is Slipping

by David
(Minnesota, USA)

We just installed an overlap replacement liner in our 30' AGP on Friday evening. This morning, Sunday, we noticed that one side of the pool liner had slipped down in varying amounts.

We left to run some errands and after returning home we found it had slipped some more leaving us with only a 3" overlap in some places.

The temperature on Friday was 70 degrees but has since then fallen to 50 and is supposed to remain there for the next two weeks. We stopped filling the pool when we saw this and now the pool has about 1' of water in it.

What do we do now? Is it safe to keep filling it? If so, will the overlap be enough to survive winters and frost heave? Do we wait until the weather turns warm, drain some of the water and try to re-stretch it? Help!

Hi David.

These are very good questions. If the liner had been tucked back into the pool, as described on the following page, you would probably not be having this problem.

Vinyl Liner Overhang

You are very correct about the temperature and the amount of sunlight a liner receives as being important factors. If you were looking at 100 plus degree days ahead filling would probably not be a problem. The weather is not working in your favor. I would still continue, however, filling only during the hottest times of the day. Watch it closely, you can always drain and start over if it slips out.

Normally by the time a pool has a foot of water in it the stretching is done. The liner should be tight against the wall and should not pull down any more. If you always leave the pool completely full of water there should never be any further shrinking. Draining, on the other hand, could be a problem.

Liner Keeps Slipping

by Jennifer
(Buchanan, NY)

My brother n law purchased an above ground pool. We leveled the ground, set up the pool, and began filling it with water.

At first it looked great, a few days later one side of the liner slipped off. We emptied the pool out manually, fixed the liner and began filling the pool up again. The liner began slipping out again.

Apparently the ground is way too soft and the pool sinks down on one side more than the other. Now we did level it correctly but unfortunately it's a natural act of nature.

Is there any way that we can use some heavy duty clips to hold the liner in place? Starting from scratch isn't an option especially when the ground being soft is giving us the issue. You can not fight with nature.

Hi Jennifer.

I wish I had more information about what type of liner you are using, what kind of pool and what you used for a cushion under the liner. So I will do my best.

When a liner is slipping it usually helps to do the filling during the hottest part of the day. Until the water is at least over half full do not fill at night or when the liner is in shade.

As far as the soft ground goes, this should not happen. It is extremely important that above ground pools be set on firm solid ground. The posts should be set on concrete blocks. The bottom rails should be set on equally firm ground. The track can rest on blocks, some sort of granite, or a very firm packed soil.

Any soft ground, ground that will not pack, should be removed. The pool should be set on a base that is firm and solid, even if it means bringing in several tons of granite, or something similar. To say the ground is soft and there is nothing you can do does not sound right. But neither does it sound right to say the soft ground is responsible for the liner coming out. I think there are other issues involved.

J Hook Liner is Slipping

by Trish
(Georgia)

We installed a new j hook liner last year, it started to slip at the end of the season, this year after fixing it, the j hook liner is slipping off the track but in more places. Any help besides duck tape?

Hi Trish.

I have a couple different suggestions that might work. First off, are there any retaining rods that snap in place over the bead of the liner? There are usually metal rods around the top of the pool and these could be crimped tighter to better hold the liner in place.

The second thing I would do is drain the pool down to about a half inch of water. On a very warm day, with direct sunlight, working on your hands and knees, starting in the center, work the liner in all directions pushing as much slack as possible to the outer edges of the pool. With a warm liner you might be amazed at the amount of liner you can work out of the bottom. This excess liner is needed for the pool sides.

When the bottom is worked as tight as you can get it, the start of the refill needs to be done during the hottest part of the day. With direct sunlight the liner should stretch into place properly.

If you have tightened the rods, and used the heat of the sun effectively, and the liner is still to small, it's probably time to replace it.

Liner Trouble

A company is putting in our above ground pool. They have run into trouble - the liner keeps slipping when water is put in.

They are going to use cuppingly, is this a good idea, or should we be concern?

Hi.

I have no idea what cuppingly is, unless you mean coping. If the liner is an overlap liner they might try stretching it in over the framework of the pool like in the photo on this page.

Above Ground Pool Liner Installation

If the liner is a beaded liner that will not stay in the receiver they might be talking about pulling it over the wall and using coping strips. This would work fine, especially if they stretch the liner like illustrated in the page above. I do this a lot for beaded liners as they are usually to big for the pool, I pull the excess over the wall and use coping.

It is also possible that they are talking about the pieces of plastic that are made to go in behind the bead on a beaded liner. These do help to hold the liner in place.

Anytime you are having liner problems try working with it during the hottest part of the day. Liners change considerably when they are under direct, overhead, sunlight.

Liner Installation Problem

by David
(Minnesota, USA)

We just installed a new liner into our 30ft round above ground pool. We left a 6-8" overlap and started to fill the pool. We had started to fill the pool Friday night when the weather turned colder (went from 70 down to about 50).

It has been cold and rainy since then and is not due to warm up for over a week (upper 50s for highs and 40 for lows). Yesterday was Saturday and we filled the pool all day and worked out the wrinkles.

This morning, Sunday, we came home and found that the liner had slipped down on about half of the pool. We still had a lot of overlap so we kept filling the pool, only to find later that it had slipped further, varying from about 4-7" total in some areas. This left us with about 3" of overlap in some places and we only have about 1 1/2 feet of water in the pool right now.

Help! Do we let the pool sit the week or two weeks that the weather report says will be cold until we get warmer weather so that the liner can stretch? Do we drain the pool and pull it over towards that side if that's possible? Will the water continue to pull the liner down until it pulls it completely out?

Thanks for any assistance you can give!

David

Hi David.

If it were me I would continue to fill the pool. I would, however, watch it closely. It is doubtful the liner will pull down any more with that much water in it, but it is possible. Once you get it full you should be fine, regardless of how much liner is left hanging over the wall.

If you do have to do it again you might try my method of folding the excess liner back into the pool. It doubles the thickness of the liner under the coping, making a tighter fit, it also looks a lot better. More about this can be found on this page.

Vinyl Liner Overhang

General liner installation tips are on these pages.

Overlap Liners

Above Ground Pool Liner Installation

Vinyl Liner Replacement