Tiny Holes in Liner?

[Guest Yvonne]

Any idea what could cause tiny circular holes on the bottom of a pool liner? This liner is only 2 yrs old and pool is maintained excellently. Found 3 small holes near the side wall of my doughboy oval pool which is causing leak. No woods or weeds growing near that wall and the pool was put on a bed of fine sand. The liner is the thickest one that doughboy makes. Also, sharp toys, long toenails etc have been ruled out as the cause. This is in the shallow end. Ideas?

[Guest kaylia]

I know what are causing the holes in my vinyl liner, and it just might be the cause of yours also. I called my local pool supply store. They told me that adding shock from the bag directly in the pool is not a good idea.

The granules are landing on the pool bottom and along the sides not disolving, they sit on the bottom burning little pin holes in the liner.

She says the correct way is to fill a bucket full of water then add your shock, letting it disolve and setting for an hour or so. Then add to your pool water only after the granules are disolved in your bucket.

DO NOT put shock in the bucket first, then add water! (this may cause a small explosion burning your face).

DO fill bucket with water first, then add your shock. Disolving all granules before adding to your pool! Save your vinyl liner!

[Guest Yvonne]

I was thinking this too but only in one 2 foot area? I know mix it with water before putting in pool.

[Guest Brian Carabetta]

I too am suffering from tiny holes in my liner in approximately a 5' x 5' area. Our pool was installed 1 year ago. About a month ago we noticed our water level dropping at a rate of about 1" every 4-5 days. We finally contacted our pool store who had a sub-contracted diver come out and look. He arrived and did a thorough inspection and patched several small holes. He advised me to mark the skimmer and monitor the level over the next few days. I did. And wouldnt you know it, the level dropped again. I contacted the diver, who came out again at no charge, and he went in again and found several new holes and patched them. This time he gave me a possibility of what was occurring.....BUGS were eating my liner? I didnt assume that, and he said to monitor it over the next couple of days again to see if he fixed the leaks. Well, it rained the next couple of days, and after it rained....the level of my pool actually dropped again. (Extremely frustrated at this point.)

I called the diver out again. He came out (at no charge again) and found over 10 more holes with no obvious cause. The BUG prospect came up again. So I did a search on-line and found there are instances where bugs eat the liner. However, the warranty only covers damage to the liner at the seam areas, not bug damage. So, now, I have to figure out what can be done about this. If anyone else has heard or suffered this and has a way to either get the pool company to caver it (I have heard that they should have sprayed an insecticide to prevent this at installation) or a way to stop it without replacing the liner it would be much appreciated. Liner replacement can be extremely expensive and the purchase of the pool itself was already expensive. My family isnt really in a position to spent $1500 - $2000 for a new liner and installation.

[Beacon]

Hi, I have a different question, something that is worrying me a lot.

yesterday we had our new vynil in ground pool liner put in after it was cut to big in the first attempt. Because we had so much rain and communication was not the best the lyner has been sitting in the workplace for about 6 months. When the guys attempted to put in the lyner in yesterday they game across about 4 tiny holes, they fixed these holes on the go. My worry is that there will be more holes as it is a big pool 9.5 meters x 4 m that they might have missed.

Now I am reluctant to make the final payment as I think we pay for a already damaged liner with the repairs it is not new anymore and maybe more repairs to follow, we already had to fill the pool now for the second time with all that water. We have not been offered a discount and we have not asked as yet. Don’t know what our option is, would like to hear your thoughts please

[RDspaguy]

Start your own thread please. This one has been dead for 15 years.

[la Vieja]

This is happening to our above ground pool too … it’s less than 12 months old and also has been maintained meticulously. Never sharp objects or rough play and we are not only finding them on the ground but the walls too … like slits and also circular holes  

[Cusser]

I'm responding, even though the poster did not start his own thread.

purchased a Doughboy brand above-ground pool liner for my 15' pool and had it professionally installed (installer said Doughboy was best).  Same installer as 14 years earlier when entire pool was installed.

Within a month I discovered a leak at a seam, a bad seal in the manufacturing process. Doughboy wanted me to cut out the area with the leak, and also the area with a Sharpie-written manufacturing number, and ship that to them for evaluation (10 year warranty or so).  Well, that was obviously out of the question (I could put a pencil through the hole), and they would not accept a local Doughboy dealer's opinion either.  Finally after fighting for 2 months (and doing a home-made patch), I told them that I would just post the facts everywhere on the Internet, and Doughboy realized that loss of even ONE pool sale would be worse than replacing the liner.  So they agreed to send a new liner if I would pay shipping, and I reluctantly agreed.

Well, that liner has been in a closet now, and I've got apparently leaks in 2 other places, so that newer liner might go in next spring, and I'd try doing that myself.  Believe me, sad that sometimes one has to complain a bunch to get action.

UPDATE 2021:

In April 2021 I needed to drain the water and planned to fix those two leaks, but when mostly drained a windstorm came up and damaged my pool structure and tore the old liner to shreds. So a week later, my daughter and I installed that liner that had been in my closet, my first install, took us 3 hours and 3 upright posts needed to be shortened due to rust from leakage/damage.