Pool Liner Problem

[kevincook]

I hope someone can help me with this question. I was just looking at our inground pool and there are some huge bubbles under the liner. The corners have big wrinkles in them with soft bubbles and the shallow end has a bubble about 30" in diameter and about 6-8" high. We have had a lot of rain so at first I thought it was ground water pressure but the bubbles feel pretty soft like there is just air in there. I also can't figure out why ground water would push bubbles into the liner if the pool is already full of water. I'm really perplexed by this problem and will call the pool guy in the morning but I was hoping for some insight before then.

Does anyone know of a good pool discussion site that professional pool installers might use?

Thanks for the help.

 

[njrqs]

Kevin

I too have a concrete pool with a vinyl liner. Not had your problem but I'd hazard a guess that you do have water under the liner.

I'd reckon air bubbles would feel hard and I doubt there could be air down there.

Fibreglass pools have a hydrostatic relief valve at the bottom in case the water table pressure builds, it can release into the pool instead of pushing the pool up.

Concrete pools are inherently heavy and don't seem to have them.

The concrete base for our liners is not waterproof, hence the use of the liner, so I'd reckon your recent rain is the culprit.

Will be interesting to see if they go down over time.

Keep us/me posted.

Only my opinion by the way, I'm no pool expert.

Cheers

 

[Bird]

Kevin, I'd be inclined to think that Neil is right. We never had that problem when we had a vinyl liner pool, although we did have a couple of small cuts happen, and I guess they still make the clear vinyl patches so you can just put the adhesive on them, dive in and stick them on the hole in the vinyl? The first time I heard of that (and had to do it), I was amazed that you could stick a patch on under water.

 

[kevincook]

Thanks for the replies. I do have a drain under the pool so that I can pump the water out from under the liner so maybe I can give it a try. The pool guys put a bed of gravel at the bottom of the hole so they could pump out the water from the hole until the pool was full.

I'll let you know what the pool guy says.

 

[Bayrat]

Kevin,

You must feel sick /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif. I used to have nightmares about my pool leaking or some silly thing the first few years.I know that the pool people install what they call a "french drain" when water problems are evident. If you had a water problem during installation due to drainage or the inherent water table on your land it is probably still an issue and as has been stated here, most likely the problem. What you might try is this. Drain the pool after the wet season and install what is called a pressure relief valve in the bottom drain. You simply replace the current fitting with this item and when pressure builds under the cement, it "relieves" into the pool instead of under the liner. I had this done on mine despite the fact that I installed drainage on the uphill side of the pool. Speaking of drainage, that is another option. My home site was wet despite being on top of a hill, the original owner had a sump pump installed when built, and since it is a raised ranch, it is only dug three to four feet into the ground. I hired a contractor when I heard a noise under the stairs and discovered the sump pump hidden there. We trenched down one side of the driveway and across the front of the house and garage, through the side yard and down the hill. He ran the machine and I did the grunt work. When we dug the pool two years later, it was as dry as a bone. The sump pump well dried up and has cob webs in it now. Food for thought, good luck!

 

[rocky2]

Sounds like water is washing out underneath. How long has the pool been installed? I'm no pool expert but last summer I had an aboveground installed an noticed the same issue, except I then started loosing water and felt the soft area under foot. The pool company came out to replace the liner and informed me the pool had termites(!!??). After figuring they were stroking me big time I did some research and found out that termites really do have a fondness for PVC and it really was the little buggers. An exterminater couldn't find any place/reason on the property where they came from and he figured they were in the sand the installer got from the supply yard and the little boogers lived nice and cozy until they hatched and got the munchies. I paid for the exterminater/treatment, the pool company replaced the liner and since I'm on a well paid for the 18,000 gals of water to be delivered.

 

[kevincook]

I haven't tried fixing the problem yet but the pool company doesn't seem too surprised. The receptionist that answered the phone knew exactly what the problem was! I talked with the service guy and he said it is pretty common with all the rain we have had lately.

It is caused by the ground water. I have a french drain under the pool so he told me to just connect my pump to that hose and start pumping out the water. As the liner settles back down I'm supposed to use the pool brush to get all the wrinkles out. I'll give it a try and see how it works.

The service guy told me they had a customer last year with a bubble about 5 feet tall in his pool.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the help.

 

[Muhammad]

I would suggest <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.waternetonline.com/>PoolSpa.com's WaterNet Q&A</A> for a very good pool/spa discussion. Plenty of pros there.

 

[Wingnut]

I've got the opposite problem, Kevin ... fortunately. I have an inground and mine has a slow leak .... so far, slow enough that I haven't bothered to try and find the pinhole and patch it.
I would certainly echo the others and agree that it's groundwater .... when I see how much water ended in my crawlspace when the sump pump was on strike ... I'm amazed that I don't have a similar problem in my pool (since it's much deeper). I guess the installers must've done a good job getting past the clay layer or putting in some kind of drainage system.
Good luck.
Now I have to go attack my real problem .... pool furnace refuses to work and the doggone diagrams do NOT show the new gas valve that I got (so I'm really struggling trying to figure out the wiring).
Oh, and I'll echo Muhammad's suggestion on the website ... they usually have some good discussions over there.