Water behind Pool Liner, and a fix

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B

BaconsPool

0
May 16, 2018
3
Memphis TN
Hi Folks,

I took my pool cover off last Friday and was greeted by this

IMG_7725 2.jpg

Never seen that before. Matter of fact, after searching all over Google on this topic, it is the WORST water-behind-pool-liner photo I have seen anywhere. And its my pool. And I took the picture. Arrgghh!

At first I was tempted to troll you guys and gals a little with a "is this bad?" thread but I just didn't have the heart to do it.

So at any rate, before any of the naysayers jump in here and tell me horror stories I've already fixed it. I wanted to post and share how I did it in case anyone else has any other similar nightmares.

Two days later my liner was back in place and looks like this

IMG_7731 2.jpg

Google was my friend in this case. I came across a video of a contractor correcting a similar problem by pumping out the water from behind the liner with a utility pump, and putting the water right back in the pool. I didn't want to go to the expense of purchasing another pump, so I ran my vacuum hose to a strainer and connected that to a piece of 1-1/4" PVC pipe slipped down behind the liner. This used my pool pump to remove the water. If you do this you need to pre-charge the drain hose with water and make sure all of your connections are seal tight.
 
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Thanks guys! Sorry for the delay I had to figure out how to get more pics on here.

So here's the setup to pumping this out. pretty simple except for the attention to detail to make sure all of the water connections were water tight. My local pool store had a PVC barbed fitting designed to go into the end of a pool hose that terminated in a female pipe thread. I combined this with PVC piping parts from Home Depot to make the rest.

oe6H7Gp.jpg


In the picture above, the sharp-eyed will note the strainer the hose is connected into is above water level due to the pool level being too low. If you just plug your suction hose into a strainer above water level suction will be lost quickly due to the leaky connection evacuating all the water out of the strainer and allowing air to get in, breaking the pump vacuum. That is why I have the garden hose running into that strainer, it is keeping it full of water and acting as a water seal for the suction hose.

Here's what it looked like yesterday, after running a few days to clean up the water

9BHjpLD.jpg


I didn't have any issues with the water I pulled out from behind the pool liner except it required a dose of algae killer, which I've not had to use before. pH was right on and everything else was good too.

At any rate, the tip I have about doing this correction yourself is: COAT THE SIPHON PIPE WITH SILICONE LUBE prior to sticking it down behind your liner to pump out the water. The reason is, the next morning after running overnight, and the miracle occurred resetting the liner everywhere in the pool, the pump had pulled such a powerful vacuum that it bent the 1-1/4" PVC pipe like a banana against the curve of the pool wall and vacuum-packed it solidly into place behind the liner. I couldn't pull the tube out it was trapped in there. I had to put some water back behind the liner to release the pressure to get the 1-1/4" pipe out, then I went back in with a 1/2" PVC pipe covered in silicone lube to finish the job. After the 1/2" pipe finished pulling the last of the water out of the pocket I pulled the tube out. Now all I have to do is reset the liner back in the groove and I'm done.
 
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Thanks guys. I have to say when we removed the pool cover from the whole pool, the view was... heartstopping. I seriously thought I was about to dump several thousand dollars out of my wallet.

I called two pool service places around here and they both said "You'll have to call a construction company to fix that". No thanks. I wanted to make sure I posted the fix because it wasn't very hard, mostly just frightening thinking about trying it, and the final thing was to lube the siphon pipe for an easy withdrawal.

The other thing was there was a bit of balancing I did back at the pump station. The pump did not like drawing 100% of its feed through that suction hose - evident by cavitation noise at the pump - so the bottom drain feed was cracked open just past the point where the pump started sounding normal.
 
I know this is an old thread but can anyone tell me how to keep this from happening. I’ve been vacuuming water out between my liner with a shop vac that has a pump on it but I’m about at my wits end. My pool builder said that there was really nothing that could stop it.
 
The problem exists because there are either high water tables around the pool liner causing it to float, or you have a serious drainage problem. When my pool was built, trenches, fabric, rocks, drains, and recharge pits were all installed to reroute water away from the concrete and pool. Based on the engineer and his calculation, the back yard can hold up to 6" of rain from gutters, downspouts, water run off, and it would take less than 8 hours to drain into the earth from the pit. Probably over $8,000 gallons.

Does not take much. Look at downspouts, pitch of property towards the pool, etc. A small 2*4 with a level on it will show you which way water runs and where to. Some properties just have high water tables and a professional usually is called in to create French Drains underground with pumps, just like in the video below, and around pool patios.

French Drain and Sump Pump Fixes Pool Liner Problem - YouTube

Apple Drains has some good videos on how things are done. Again, I do not know the property, but drainage due to run off and high water tables can always be reduced or eliminated so problems are minimized.
 

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Drainage is the number one enemy. There are drainage issues near and around the pool, and even underground. Where the problems exist, a drench is dug, rocks are placed with a pump that kicks on and removes water. This kind of reminds me of my outdoor well (have city water as well). The pump broke a few years ago (expensive), but worth it. The plastic tube (very thick and long - about 65') wrapped up over the winter. The tube went into a pipe and for 16 years has never been clogged from dirt, etc. There is a big screen down below and rocks. It has always worked. So for a company to come in and do the same type of project with only 8'-10' should be a breeze. Cost is another thing. No one works for little money these days. Everything has become quite expensive.
 
First time pool owner here. I specifically joined this forum just to respond to this.

I am currently going through this issue right now but not nearly as bad. Just bought a house with a 33 foot round in-ground pool. Got all the chemical levels back to normal. The liner is floating in some spots and I couldn't figure out why. I was swimming in it yesterday and found what I believe is the culprit: A quarter-sized hole in the liner.

From what I am told there is a patch that can be used without draining the pool. SO glad to see that this can be done without having to purchase expensive equipment to do so. I am going to try this out and see what happens.

Side note question: Is it common for the floor of the pool to site directly onto what feels like sand?
 
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