How To Repair A Vinyl Pool If You Cant Find The Leak

When pond season rolls around, nothing can go in the way of a pool owner's happiness except for maybe a thunderstorm, a cold front, or i of the well-nigh dreaded...a new tear in the vinyl pool liner.

It happens. Despite the upsides that vinyl pools offer, one of the biggest downsides is that tears or holes can occur. The practiced news? There are easy fixes to this problem.

At River Pools, we industry fiberglass pools, simply we used to install vinyl liner pools and worked with them for many years. Here, nosotros'll cover how to identify a pool liner tear and a few methods for fixing them so that you tin can get back to your summer plans ASAP.

How to Notice a Hole in a Pool Liner

Before you panic, we desire you to know that information technology'due south non uncommon for inground pools to encounter a loss of h2o each day. About of the fourth dimension, evaporation is the culprit. In fact, yous can await to lose anywhere from ½ inch to an inch of water per twenty-four hours (pool covers tin can assistance with this, though).

If you're still paranoid, there are ii sure-fire ways to determine if your liner has a pigsty or tear.

1. The Bucket Test - Fill a 5-gallon saucepan with water and set it on the steps of your puddle. Make sure the water level in the bucket matches the surrounding water level in the pool. Mark the water level in the bucket with painter'due south tape to proceed track of changes. Turn off the pump and come up back to it after one full day (24 hours). Measure out the difference betwixt the water level in the bucket and the surrounding pool water. If the h2o level in the saucepan is higher than the water level in the pool, you lot have a leak. If it's similar, breathe a sigh of relief considering it's only evaporation.
2. Food Coloring - Walk around your pool and identify whatever spots that experience squishy and apply food coloring in those areas. If at that place is a hole or tear, you'll see the food coloring get swept in the menstruation of water leaking through the tear, which will reveal the location of the damage.

If you are unable to locate a tear and your pool seems to be still leaking, check the electrical and filtration systems. Better still, call a professional person to check out your pool to brand sure that y'all take hold of any costly or unsafe leaks early on.

Many times, people can run into the tear while swimming or lounging poolside, then they don't have to become through the trouble of testing for leaks. Since you're reading this commodity, y'all're probably already aware that there's a pigsty in your pool liner, but it's always a skillful thought to have these tricks upwardly your sleeve for the futurity.

How to Fix a Hole in a Puddle Liner

You've found the tear. Footstep one done! Let'due south work on fixing it.

Outset, if it's an emergency, do yourself a favor and grab the duct record. No, we're not kidding. It will work temporarily.

Now, fourth dimension for a real repair. You lot'll have two main options depending on the blazon of tear.

Option ane: Patch It

Patching your pool liner tin work on a tear as piddling as ii-inches and as large equally 8-inches depending on location and pool historic period. For instance, if you have a two-inch tear about your filtration arrangement and your pool is ten years old, you tin can temporarily patch it while shopping for a new vinyl liner.

Alternatively, if you have an viii-inch tear on the side of your iii-year-sometime pool that is in otherwise good status, a patch might suffice for a while longer.

An important affair to remember most patches is that they are unpredictable. Sometimes, they can hold up for years, and other times, unproblematic and very small patch repairs can fail within days. Keep an middle on your patch and check on it at to the lowest degree once a calendar week to make sure information technology's nonetheless in place.

Types of pool liner patches to consider:

• Waterproof record - Like to duct tape, waterproof tape can be used underwater, it's UV resistant, and it's clear (and then your pool tin can stay beautiful).
• Vinyl patch kit - This is a improve option for larger tears and lasts long-term. Most include big chunks of vinyl and adhesive that can be applied underwater.
• Peel-and-Stick- This is as piece of cake as it sounds. It'south made from vinyl and designed specifically for pond pools. Go for round stickers as they are less likely to peel upward.

Option 2: Replace the Liner

Yeah, we know. This is a worst-case scenario. However, yous tin can use one of the patching options as a temporary set up while you shop around for a new liner. The toll of a new vinyl pool liner is typically a thousand to several thousand dollars (though the full cost to replace the liner is $4,500 on average). The do good of replacing the liner is that y'all'll have another v-9 years of worry-free puddle enjoyment.

Read more: Vinyl Pool Liner Replacement: Cost, Steps, Tips

How to Patch a Pool Liner

You tin can patch a pool liner pigsty or tear above or beneath water. A dry out patch might be an option if the water receded below the tear, for instance, or if your pool has already been drained for other repairs or maintenance work.

Warning: we strongly advise confronting draining your pool unless absolutely necessary. If you lot practise need to drain your pool for whatsoever reason, call a professional for assistance.

Go along in mind that about repairs volition demand to be completed underwater, as draining your pool could cause information technology to collapse or create further liner damage. Additionally, exposure to sunlight tin brand a dry liner brittle and unmanageable.

How to Patch a Pool Liner in 4 Steps

Footstep 1: Clean the area. Go rid of any algae or build-up on the pool wall or ground.

Pace 2: Trim the patch as needed. Make sure the diameter of the patch is ii inches away from the tear on all sides.

Step 3: Apply adhesive if you lot're using information technology.

Stride 4: Stick it and immediately apply pressure. Push on it to remove air bubbles. If it'due south possible, put a weight on it to utilise force per unit area for 24 hours.

Fiberglass Pools every bit an Alternative Option

All this talk near tears and patches tin can seem daunting, merely the reality is nearly punctures and tears are easily repaired using cost-effective methods. With that said, if you lot are planning to upgrade your lawn paradise, a fiberglass puddle might be a better choice.

Fiberglass pools aren't in the same price range as vinyl liner pools, but they are low-maintenance and accept significantly lower lifetime costs compared to physical and vinyl liner pools.

If you desire to learn more almost your fiberglass puddle options, yous can scan our itemize of models, effort out our free puddle pricing estimator, or contact u.s.a. to asking pricing and information using the push button below.

Want to replace your existing pool with a fiberglass unit of measurement? Read our commodity below to learn nearly the benefits and how much it might cost:

How Much Does Information technology Toll to Supplant a Vinyl Liner Pool with Fiberglass?

To research more than inground pool options, download our free ebook below, visit our learning center, or check out our extensive educational video library today!

Up Next:

How to Remove Stains from a Pool Liner

Shopping for a Fiberglass Pool Crush? 6 Things to Look for

Sliding Deck Puddle Covers: Cost, Designs, Pros & Cons

Source: https://www.riverpoolsandspas.com/blog/how-to-repair-a-tear-in-a-vinyl-pool-liner

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