slow leak in liner of above ground pool need to close for winter what should i do
You've probably never sabbatum past your cute pool, sipping a absurd beverage, wondering how to patch a puddle liner. It's far more likely you'll be all gear up to bound in for a refreshing swim, only terminate expressionless in your tracks when you discover the thousand past your inground puddle feels swampy. Peradventure you'll glance out the back window just earlier your kickoff sip of java in the morn, and see a growing waterfall has sprung from the side of your above ground pool.
If you're reading this, you may have simply discovered the demand to patch your vinyl puddle liner, and that's never a fun discovery. Yous may fifty-fifty be freaking out a trivial. Take a jiff. Unless yous accept a very one-time liner, a massive tear, or a tree fell on your puddle, you can probably patch it.
Why Should You Learn How to Patch a Pool Liner?
Depending on the size and location of a leak, you could face serious harm if it isn't addressed chop-chop.
Higher up Basis Pool Dangers
If an higher up ground pool springs a leak, the h2o volition drain until information technology reaches the level of the hole. If the leak is near the top runway, the water might only become downwardly a couple of inches. But if it'southward nigh the bottom of the wall or the floor of the pool, the extensive water loss could collapse the puddle and plow your yard into a muddy mess.
Inground Puddle Dangers
A leak in your inground pool liner tin can also cause a lot of damage. The h2o can create a pocket of liquid under your pool deck or cause soil erosion, leading to instability and deck cavern-ins. Information technology can also cause rust on steel pools, or erosion of concrete ones.
While those issues can be repaired, you can but observe them if y'all completely remove and replace your inground pool liner. The best form of action is to stop the leak as chop-chop as you can.
Tip: If you've just institute a leak and you're trying to effigy out what to practise: Grab a roll of duct tape, and cut a piece a flake larger than the hole. You can stick it correct under water and rub it onto your liner. It won't last forever, simply it'll help keep the water in your puddle until yous can properly patch it.
Note: If your pool is concrete and develops cracks (which information technology will over time) that demand to exist patched, pool plaster repair is a whole other task with its own tools and precautions.
The Practicalities of Puddle Liner Patching
So your pool is losing h2o, which means your liner has sprung a leak. Or does it? That information is primal before you commencement patching anything.
Leak or Just Evaporation?
Most pools lose an average of about ¼ to ½ an inch of water every 24-hour interval to evaporation. But if you lot notice you're losing an inch or more per day? That sounds like a leak. Possibly.
Confirm the Leak
Use the bucket examination to be certain your suspected puddle leak isn't just evaporation.
Locate the Leak
When you lot're sure you've got a leak, utilize the ink method to observe the exact spot y'all demand to patch. Determine whether the hole is pocket-size enough to patch, then whether y'all demand to patch it wet or dry.
How Big is Too Big?
Patches are temporary. Some will last for years, only they're not probable to terminal fifteen years. And the bigger a tear is, the more likely the edges of the patch volition get snagged, ringlet upwards, or pull abroad.
When the patch comes up on its own, you lot may be able to repair information technology. Nosotros'll refrain from examining how meta it is to repair a repair. Merely if the patch gets caught on something and pulled off, it could further rip the liner, and then you'll have a bigger trouble than y'all started with.
No hard and fast rules employ to the size of leaks that can exist successfully patched. You could have a 2-inch patch fall off after a solar day or a 10-inch patch stay in identify for v years. The more of import factor to consider is whether your liner is worth trying to patch.
If your liner is two years old and in great shape except for an viii-inch tear on the back wall, it's certainly worth trying a patch. The tear is large, simply the vinyl is otherwise strong and in a spot that won't go much traffic.
If your liner 15 years quondam with a 2-inch tear next to the stairs, yous definitely need to patch it to command water loss and preclude damage. Just you as well need to start shopping for a new liner.
An older liner is thinner, more than decumbent to pinholes and weak spots, and more than likely to spring more than leaks. Patching may extend the life of your liner, merely know that this leak is likely a symptom that the liner is nearing the end of its life.
Note: Areas of the liner close to the stairs, bead, or any of the fittings have the weight of the pool water pulling on them. They're under more stress than other areas, so patches at that place may be less likely to hold upward long term.
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Instantly End Leaks
Quick fixes come up in three flavors. All 3 tin can be applied underwater or dry out.
Waterproof Tape
Not specifically a vinyl puddle patching product, waterproof tapes are marketed for all sorts of quick repairs. It's similar to duct tape, but clear, waterproof, and UV resistant. The tape can be overlapped to create larger sections for patching.
It'south low cost, durable, and easy to re-do if necessary. Information technology'due south best for smaller patch jobs because it tends to peel.
Peel-and-Stick Patches
As easy as waterproof record, but made from real vinyl and designed for use in pools and on inflatable pool items. Some pare-and-stick patches are even pre-cut in perfect, peachy circles. The circular shape makes them less likely to peel up around the edges.
Just remove the paper bankroll, and press it over the leak. These are also cheap and all-time used on small punctures and tears.
Vinyl Patch Kit
If you need to seal a slightly larger hole or you're hoping for a longer-term ready, you tin can grab a patch kit. Kits include large chunks of liner and special vinyl adhesive that works underwater. Some come with blue and articulate vinyl.
Patch kits for soft-sided in a higher place ground pools too include a slice of special laminated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material, and then you tin properly patch the outside of the puddle walls.
Wet or Dry Patch?
If the pool's water level has dropped to the level of a wall leak, it's okay to patch it dry. You don't demand to drain your puddle to apply a patch to any leak, though.
How to Patch a Pool Liner Underwater
Letting all the water out can cause above footing pool walls to collapse. Emptying any pool with a vinyl liner dries it out and exposes it to dissentious ultraviolet (UV) rays, which can make the liner brittle. And draining an inground pool can cause information technology to literally pop out of the footing if yous're not careful. It'south best to patch the liner underwater, unless the leak exposed it.
Important: Never bleed an inground pool unless information technology's admittedly necessary—not fifty-fifty before a hurricane—because information technology tin further weaken your liner and even crusade structural damage. If it's necessary, and you're non sure how to drain a pool, larn the process before you start, or hire a professional to do it for you.
Yous'll demand:
- Pair of scissors
- Non-abrasive scouring pad
- Weight (pool cleaner head or brick wrapped in plastic wrap)
- Swimming goggles (if needed)
- Vinyl patch kit or vinyl adhesive
- Dauber applicator or craft stick (to spread agglutinative)
- Patching vinyl
1. Clean the Area
Whatever droppings, algae, sunscreen or other stuff stuck to your pool walls makes it harder for a patch or adhesive to adhere. Employ a non-annoying scouring pad to gently clean the vinyl effectually the hole. Do not scrub. You lot don't desire to make the hole whatsoever bigger.
two. Trim the Patch
If you're not using peel-and-stick patches, cut the patching vinyl into a circle. Be certain it's at least 2 inches larger in diameter than the hole. For example, if the rip is three inches long, the patch must be five inches in diameter.
three. Apply Agglutinative
For peel-and-stick patches, remove the newspaper backing to expose the adhesive side. For all other patches, be certain information technology'southward free of debris, so use the dauber to apply a generous amount of adhesive. Brand sure it reaches all the edges.
4. Taco 'Bout It
Fold the patch in half like a taco, with the sticky side out, then submerge it.
5. Stick It
Property the patch over the hole, slowly and gently open the patch taco while smoothing information technology onto the puddle liner. Press out whatever air bubbles, and then concord the patch in place for two minutes. The adhesive needs to cure to reach its full strength, so resist the urge to tug on the patch to check information technology.
6. Apply Weight
Some patch products recommend putting weight on your patch for 24 hours while the adhesive cures. It'south next to incommunicable to apply weight to your puddle wall. Only if your patch is in a spot where information technology's possible to do so, rest your pool cleaner head or a clean brick covered in plastic wrap on top of the patch.
7. Double Patch It
Placing a 2nd patch over the first won't brand your fix any stronger, but if information technology makes yous feel more at ease, in that location's no reason you can't double upward. If y'all do, exist sure to permit the first patch cure completely earlier applying the second. Cutting the second patch at least two inches larger in diameter than the first patch (making it 4 inches larger than the pigsty), so it can adhere to the pool liner and the showtime patch.
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03/29/2022 12:xiv am GMT
Easy Soft-Sided Vinyl Pool Patching
Intex-manner pools are fabricated from slightly different material than vinyl pool liners, but they can too exist patched, even on the outside. You don't need to empty them, either.
Patch kits for this blazon of pool usually include clear vinyl, blue vinyl, and exterior patch material (laminated PVC). The clear is for summit band repairs, the blue is for interior repairs, and the laminated PVC is for outer wall repairs. The adhesive works for all three. If you're concerned near risks associated with PVC exposure, wait for patch kits with bisphenol A (BPA)-free patching vinyl.
You tin also detect skin-and-stick patches for this type of pool, which may be easier to use.
Patching soft-sided pools follows the same process as with any vinyl liner, except when patching the height band. Fully inflate the ring, marker the hole, and apply adhesive around it. And then apply adhesive to the clear patch and apply it. Press on it for a few seconds, and then slightly deflate the ring so the agglutinative can cure without pressure. Later on 12 hours, y'all can reinflate the band.
When Patches Aren't Enough
The road to a make-new pool liner is paved with good intentions and waterproof record. Eventually, no matter how adept y'all are with a dauber and agglutinative, your liner will surrender the ghost. Knowing how to patch a pool liner tin can buy y'all time to find a replacement liner without letting leaks destroy your pool or holding.
Once your liner has a patch or two, be sure to go on an eye them. If they beginning to pull up, work a fiddling agglutinative under the edges and smooth them dorsum downwardly. You lot can as well double patch by smoothing a larger patch over ane that's starting to give out. But remember, pool patches won't terminal forever. But if practical correctly, y'all may well proceed enjoying your pool liner for years to come.
Happy Swimming!
Matt Giovanisci is the founder of Swim University® and has been in the pool and spa industry since 1995. Since then, his mission is to make pool and hot tub care easy for everyone. And each year, he continues to help more people with h2o chemical science, cleaning, and troubleshooting.
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