Lay My Hat

Fitted a new pool liner on Wednesday and the pool has been extremely slow to fill, we kept turning it off overnight so that it wouldn't reach the skimmers that we yet had to fit and cut out. Yesterday finally fitted the skimmers but noticed a lot of water below the pool - it's on a slope - but came to the conclusion that we have a leak in the grey water exit pipe somewhere as it's always boggy in that area. Then realised that we have used a lot more water than the size of the pool, however have also been doing a lot of pressure-washing over the last few days.

Measured and photographed level of pool water against the steps, turned the filling tap off and wait till morning just in case there's a leak in the pool........

Morning is now here, the pool water has dropped by about 6", my husband isn't up yet so hasn't seen it, I really don't know how we're going to handle this. Feeling completely devastated, I know there's nothing anyone can do but just needed to write this down somewhere.

Oh Kathy, I feel for you. Pool leaks are so tricky to find and fix - but at least you know about it now, rather than discovering it in mid-summer with loads of guests.

We had a leak in the cottage pool. It turned out to have been a hole in the liner caused by the rubber stops on the step ladder wearing out! Such a small hole, but as with yours, about 6" of water lost overnight.

Good luck with finding and solving your leak.

Oh Kathy....I do hope you find it and that it's a fairly quick fix. I can imagine how you feel.....bet it was bloody hard work fitting it.

Mousie
x

Thanks both, the water continues to drop by about 1cm per hour, can't see/feel anything. OH has also blown air into the gap between liner and wall hoping to get bubbles but nothing..... the worst case will be if the hole is on the bottom, all that wasted, expensive water.
We'll find it though, and fix it

Nightmare....

Presumably it wasn't leaking before you fitted the new liner? Or has it been empty for a while?

Rather than refill, is it worth letting it leak / drain, to see at what level it stops? If it drains to the bottom, could it be the seal around your sump drain, assuming you have one in the bottom? You could re-seal this, and fill a little to see what happens?

Having said that, when this was the cause of our pool leak, we could see that there was water between the pool wall and the liner, although it was difficult to identify until the water level dropped.

There are so many factors, aren't there, depending on your pool structure....here's hoping for a speedy resolution...

No it wasn't leaking before, we emptied the pool last week, and put the new liner in on Wednesday, we don't have a sump drain so that's one bit eliminated We're waiting now to see at what level it stops, I'm so hoping it's in the wall and not the floor. Off to buy a wetsuit tomorrow!! Unless all the water's gone by the morning.......

Hi Kathy, probably a "little after the horse has bolted" but when I have fitted liners in "in-ground" pools, so different to yours, I have always waited until the weather was warmer so that the liner would be more supple. Did you warm it in the house before attempting to fit ?
Good luck with sorting the problem.

bornintheuk wrote:I have always waited until the weather was warmer so that the liner would be more supple. Did you warm it in the house before attempting to fit ?
Good luck with sorting the problem.

It was a good warm day when we fitted it, supplier said it had 60% of stretch, bit extreme I thought! Just back from buying wetsuit and nifty little facemask/cum snorkel. Weather now raining and about 10º cooler, last thing I feel like doing is getting in that pool. Mind you, there's only about a foot of water left now.

Just a quick question and nothing to do with the post - just curious. Why are lined pools so prevalent in France as opposed to the tiled pools you find much more routinely elsewhere? Apart from above ground pools I don't think you would find a lined pool in Spain. I know that tiled pools have their issues too, but why are they not the norm in France?

Found the problem! It's a 1" split in the seam, manufacturing defect I suspect! It's now patched and the pool is filling nicely as expected. Have now emailed the supplier, as although seams are under warranty for 5 years I think, I do not want to go through the trauma of fitting another one! We'll see what they have to say...... (I did mention the C word..... )

Casscat - I have no idea, ours is partly above ground so not much choice really. But maybe it's because they're cheaper? In Spain pools are so common and there are so many more suppliers than France.

Phew! Well done, Kathy

Casscat wrote:Why are lined pools so prevalent in France as opposed to the tiled pools you find much more routinely elsewhere? Apart from above ground pools I don't think you would find a lined pool in Spain. I know that tiled pools have their issues too, but why are they not the norm in France?

I think most pools in Cyprus are lined - liners stretch slightly so when there's a "chair wobbler" (as there was on Saturday night, only a 4.4ish on the Richter scale, nothing to worry about ), there are no tiles to crack. From experience, liners are also easier to clean, especially with the new wipe-clean borders available.

Kathy - so glad for you that you found the leak and stopped it. Such a shame it was so near the bottom - just typical isn't it?! Some years ago, we had a leak in one of the pipes leading to the water inlets for our pool at home. The original builder did not leave manholes so our new builder had to dig up the patio to locate the leak. Three options of where to dig and his third guess was correct - but at least we now have manholes just in case of future leaks!

Yes absolutely just typical!!

We now have water just a few inches away from where it should be, at last, yippee!

Yeah!!!

Well done. My tiled pool had a leak through underground movement last year, in winter...would have been expensive in summer with lets.