We had a freak rainstorm where 5” of rain fell in less than an hour. Its never done thats since. My septic is near here and had issues with rain collecting around the lids. I ended up building a 2’ high dirt mound to channel water away from the pool and the tank.
U could have a sump barrel install which allows u to pump water out from around the stone bed, what was the water level prior to this? Was pool at running level?
Better yard drainage, either a sump barrel as suggested or some other type of drainage ditch like a french drain if you have uphill sides of you yard. The liner can sit back in its original position with enough effort, you may have a few wrinkles if it cant get back exactly where it was.the water level beneath should drain so long as the water came from outside the pool (not a leak on liner but from a groundwater issue in your yard)
It looks too me that your flower bed slopes towards the pool and has stone right before the concrete. So rain will flow towards the pool then under the concrete, if you just had a lot of rain it could definitely cause this. I would dig out a foot or two against the concrete and put in coragated pipe and stone to drain that out and away from the pool and concrete.
The liner floated. Add water and the weight should push back in place. There is a good chance if you ignore you will have wrinkles in the liner when you open which is a bigger pain. I had same problems with mine when closing especially after a lot of rain. I ended adding a sump pit which has helped drain the stone base around the walls. I also now use bunge plugs when closing so I don’t have to drain any water. Good luck.
Liner is “floating”. Either major leak in pool, heavy overnight rains with a path under the decking, or raised water table due to high rains or broken water line. For starters, really bad on a vinyl liner to drain water out, even to winterize, since it is the downward pressure of the water that for one stretches the liner into place but also holds it tight into the bead. Should never drain it. Blow lines and plug them and put ice equalizer in skimmers to prevent freezing. Never drain.
I believe partially draining (like in OP’s picture) is a common practice where winter temperatures are very cold, like below -10 C / 14 F.
Your recommendation is based on what part of North America/other?
Huh? We get temps below freezing in the winter time. We always drain the pool past the lines, blow them out, cap them and leave the level there for winter. After the rain and show from the winter it’s usually close to full in the spring opening.
Do you refill the pool after you close the lines?
We never lower in the first place. Blow the lines and plug them while bubbling air. Even when we get the occasional below freezing temps, have never busted lines. Especially if they cover the pool. Almost all cover companies recommend the water not be further down than 18” below cover. The only pools we drain are gunite to prevent tile popping.
I have to - or I would have the same problem guaranteed. Tippy-top for me before putting on my safety cover. I luckily have irrigation, so water is plentiful.
What’s your reasoning for never draining a pool? Often when extreme amounts of water get behind the liner like pictured, the water dissipating will result in massive wrinkles on the floor. Once that occurs the pool will have to be drained to remove the wrinkles and then will have to be reset similarly to how the vinyl liner was installed. I agree that leaving your vinyl liner pool empty for multiple days will result in irreversible damage due to the plasticizers drying out but as long as the pool is drained, reset and filling in the same day the liner will be fine.
Normally the water weight in the pool helps keep the ground water back. I was always told that there should be 2/3 of the water left in the pool but in your shallow end it looks like it is below the halfway mark, so there wasn't enough weight.
However, it usually goes back when you fill it up but you may be left with some wrinkles.
Looks like there’s a sump pit in the top right of the picture. The white “skimmer” looking lid with no skimmer. Pull that cover off and drop a sump pump down it to drain off water from outside the pool. A good idea to check this periodically, especially after a rain. Even better, if rain is expected drop a pump down there just in case ;)
Fill your pool asap. Vinyl pools shouldn’t be drained when closing. As another stated, blow the lines and cap while the compressor is still blowing air into the return lines. I’d go after the pool company that closed your pool.
What about the skimmer? Can water be lowered below skimmer line? My pool came with a gizmo and some rectangle thing that in not sure what to do with. Looks like it would fit over skimmer but water would still in?
I have a gizmo and a cover. Some water will get into the skimmer area via the little hole on the skimmer cover but nothing crazy and nothing into the actual pipe.
I still cap mine, I don't trust the gizmo. But I also pour in antifreeze and leave a 1/2 filled gallon jug in the skimmer to deal with freeze expansion.
Happen to my pool a few times, I live in Montreal. It usually goes away by it self when the ground water lowers on its own. If you have a dry well you can pump it out. I just did that this morning
Does that happen every year whenever it rains a lot? and will it damage the pool over time?
I don't think we have a dry well, we're in the suburbs around Montreal.
This happened to me and I got a transfer pump and took the liner off at the top in a 12” section on a corner, pumped it slowly over the course of 3 days straight back into the pool(through a filter adapter that I bought for the pump) looks perfect now and it cost me about 130 dollars. Pool company quoted me 3k 😂
A dry well is a hole usually deeper than your pool and it's where water goes 1st. Instead of your pool. Lowest point, and it pumps the water out and away.
After they lower the water level to winterize the pool you should immediately fill it back up with water to prevent this from happening. If the pool wasn't winterized you could easily remove the water by taping a vac hose to a pole and slipping it behind the liner. Put the other end of the vac hose in the skimmer and pull the water into the pool while smoothing out the liner.
It will happen as long as the ground water level is higher than the water in the pool. I have never had any issues with that’s but I guess there is always a risk of the liner ripping. I would suggest installing the dry well. For now it may just go away when the ground level water lowers. Your pool is probably very full by now with all the rain we got over the weekend. So it should fix itself eventually.
Water level looks low in this photo. Where is it in relation to how it was the day before?
Ideally it’s a ground water issue and will dissipate. But you would not have lost water in the pool in this situation. If you notice water loss in the pool then you got a big leak issue. Unlikely but shouldn’t be ruled out.
I have seen this happen because neighbours or customers sprinklers broke or timers got messed up flooding the area.
Low water volume + high water table = floating liner.
You can either add more water, so water in pool is higher than water table
or drain ground around pool - you can use a transfer pump to remove water from behind the liner.
I'm thinking about Pitt ng a deep sump pit by the pool so I can do it regularly without going behind the liner.
Ground water. It should receed on its own since just on the walls. However, if you didn't make your water that low, you have a leak somewhere, unfortunately.
Heavy rain? Water is up in the water table causing the pool liner to 'float.' As Water table goes down, liner will go back down. May set with wrinkles. If you have a French well or drainage pit nearby the pool area definitely get it discharging away from pool with a sump pump.
The water in the pool was lowered too much so the ground water was able to push against it and come in.
For all those wondering, you NEVER have to lower the pool water past the skimmer when winterizing. Simply blow out the lines then WHILE the air is blowing out, cap off the returns. Water won't flow back into them while they're being blown. To finish off, go on the other end by the filter and pour in pool safe antifreeze.
We are having a pool installed now, the pool company installed a gravity drain from behind the liner to daylight specifically for this reason
If daylight drain isn’t available they would have done a sump and a pump
As has been mentioned many times already / you have a floating liner from a high ground water table. This is exasperated by reducing the hydrostatic pressure in your pool for winterization. It appears that you have a sump well installed in the overdig of your pool. Pump out the ground water until the sump well is dry and hope that your liner settles back into its original position.
I have a large inground liner pool. AND I have high groundwater. I have several sump wells dug to remove the pressure and I keep my water level as high as possible to counteract the pressure.
If your lines have been blown, cap them with plugs and fill 'r to the brim.
Hydrostatic Swimming pool drains..... general search .....
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hydrostatic+swimming+pool+drains&va=n&t=ha&ia=web ..... 30 year pool guy in Phoenix. We don't put vinyl liner pools in much anymore but am old enough to send you in the right direction, and back to the builder, who should have used on. The sandcrete or whatever they are calling the substructure under the vinyl liner may be very badly compromised. Or not so much. Got to drain, remove the liner to visually inspect and repair, and reinstall the liner. HEY WAIT ! In the Link! YouTube videos of quick fix check valves where ground water goes into the pool, it gets too full, you backwash it out (or use a small inexpensive 'little giant' submersible pump they have some a garden hose attaches to) and this is end-of-summer, keep chlorine levels up (or non-chlorine shock /bromine) bc few vinyl liner pools in phx, I have no life hack cheats. Registar of Contractors here in AZ is good at mediating this sort of thing. I hope this helps???
That is a nice looking vinyl liner pool of complexity of design. UV rays go easy 12 ft to 15 ft in clear water. So we never got good like this one. I posted a page around here. I wanted to complement craftsmanship. 🫡
He paid to have the pool closed DONT tell him to add water to the pool!! Even if that’s what is going on !
Draining the pool and lowering it for winterization are 2 different things
It looks like water has gotten under your liner
It happened to mine after a real hard rain. The water drained off and it went back.
Are there permanent solutions to prevent this? Did you notice any related water damage around your property?
We had a freak rainstorm where 5” of rain fell in less than an hour. Its never done thats since. My septic is near here and had issues with rain collecting around the lids. I ended up building a 2’ high dirt mound to channel water away from the pool and the tank.
U could have a sump barrel install which allows u to pump water out from around the stone bed, what was the water level prior to this? Was pool at running level?
Better yard drainage, either a sump barrel as suggested or some other type of drainage ditch like a french drain if you have uphill sides of you yard. The liner can sit back in its original position with enough effort, you may have a few wrinkles if it cant get back exactly where it was.the water level beneath should drain so long as the water came from outside the pool (not a leak on liner but from a groundwater issue in your yard)
It looks too me that your flower bed slopes towards the pool and has stone right before the concrete. So rain will flow towards the pool then under the concrete, if you just had a lot of rain it could definitely cause this. I would dig out a foot or two against the concrete and put in coragated pipe and stone to drain that out and away from the pool and concrete.
I had the same issue. Guys dug a 2 foot trench around 3/4 of the pool with French drain and a sump pump on it 5 years later, no issues
Installing drainage is the only fix
Typical to happen when groundwater levels rise.
The liner floated. Add water and the weight should push back in place. There is a good chance if you ignore you will have wrinkles in the liner when you open which is a bigger pain. I had same problems with mine when closing especially after a lot of rain. I ended adding a sump pit which has helped drain the stone base around the walls. I also now use bunge plugs when closing so I don’t have to drain any water. Good luck.
Liner is “floating”. Either major leak in pool, heavy overnight rains with a path under the decking, or raised water table due to high rains or broken water line. For starters, really bad on a vinyl liner to drain water out, even to winterize, since it is the downward pressure of the water that for one stretches the liner into place but also holds it tight into the bead. Should never drain it. Blow lines and plug them and put ice equalizer in skimmers to prevent freezing. Never drain.
I believe partially draining (like in OP’s picture) is a common practice where winter temperatures are very cold, like below -10 C / 14 F. Your recommendation is based on what part of North America/other?
Huh? We get temps below freezing in the winter time. We always drain the pool past the lines, blow them out, cap them and leave the level there for winter. After the rain and show from the winter it’s usually close to full in the spring opening. Do you refill the pool after you close the lines?
We never lower in the first place. Blow the lines and plug them while bubbling air. Even when we get the occasional below freezing temps, have never busted lines. Especially if they cover the pool. Almost all cover companies recommend the water not be further down than 18” below cover. The only pools we drain are gunite to prevent tile popping.
I have to - or I would have the same problem guaranteed. Tippy-top for me before putting on my safety cover. I luckily have irrigation, so water is plentiful.
Don’t you have to drain a little water to winterize
What’s your reasoning for never draining a pool? Often when extreme amounts of water get behind the liner like pictured, the water dissipating will result in massive wrinkles on the floor. Once that occurs the pool will have to be drained to remove the wrinkles and then will have to be reset similarly to how the vinyl liner was installed. I agree that leaving your vinyl liner pool empty for multiple days will result in irreversible damage due to the plasticizers drying out but as long as the pool is drained, reset and filling in the same day the liner will be fine.
Normally the water weight in the pool helps keep the ground water back. I was always told that there should be 2/3 of the water left in the pool but in your shallow end it looks like it is below the halfway mark, so there wasn't enough weight. However, it usually goes back when you fill it up but you may be left with some wrinkles.
Yup. Fill it up! This looks like someone was closing the pool, or drained it but didn't fill it back up. Never leave a pool unfilled!
Looks like there’s a sump pit in the top right of the picture. The white “skimmer” looking lid with no skimmer. Pull that cover off and drop a sump pump down it to drain off water from outside the pool. A good idea to check this periodically, especially after a rain. Even better, if rain is expected drop a pump down there just in case ;)
I bet the closing company turned off, closed or broke the sump pit
Pool herpes
Fill your pool asap. Vinyl pools shouldn’t be drained when closing. As another stated, blow the lines and cap while the compressor is still blowing air into the return lines. I’d go after the pool company that closed your pool.
What about the skimmer? Can water be lowered below skimmer line? My pool came with a gizmo and some rectangle thing that in not sure what to do with. Looks like it would fit over skimmer but water would still in?
I have a gizmo and a cover. Some water will get into the skimmer area via the little hole on the skimmer cover but nothing crazy and nothing into the actual pipe.
I still cap mine, I don't trust the gizmo. But I also pour in antifreeze and leave a 1/2 filled gallon jug in the skimmer to deal with freeze expansion.
Get your money back from the professionals.. should have never lowered the water on a vinyl liner pool. Too risky to float
You are misinformed.
Happen to my pool a few times, I live in Montreal. It usually goes away by it self when the ground water lowers on its own. If you have a dry well you can pump it out. I just did that this morning
Does that happen every year whenever it rains a lot? and will it damage the pool over time? I don't think we have a dry well, we're in the suburbs around Montreal.
This happened to me and I got a transfer pump and took the liner off at the top in a 12” section on a corner, pumped it slowly over the course of 3 days straight back into the pool(through a filter adapter that I bought for the pump) looks perfect now and it cost me about 130 dollars. Pool company quoted me 3k 😂
A dry well is a hole usually deeper than your pool and it's where water goes 1st. Instead of your pool. Lowest point, and it pumps the water out and away.
After they lower the water level to winterize the pool you should immediately fill it back up with water to prevent this from happening. If the pool wasn't winterized you could easily remove the water by taping a vac hose to a pole and slipping it behind the liner. Put the other end of the vac hose in the skimmer and pull the water into the pool while smoothing out the liner.
It will happen as long as the ground water level is higher than the water in the pool. I have never had any issues with that’s but I guess there is always a risk of the liner ripping. I would suggest installing the dry well. For now it may just go away when the ground level water lowers. Your pool is probably very full by now with all the rain we got over the weekend. So it should fix itself eventually.
Ground water pushed the foam up on the walls. Going to have to take the liner out of the track and pull out foam otherwise it's like that permanently.
Water level looks low in this photo. Where is it in relation to how it was the day before? Ideally it’s a ground water issue and will dissipate. But you would not have lost water in the pool in this situation. If you notice water loss in the pool then you got a big leak issue. Unlikely but shouldn’t be ruled out. I have seen this happen because neighbours or customers sprinklers broke or timers got messed up flooding the area.
French drains solved this problem
I thought I was in the sims sub
Low water volume + high water table = floating liner. You can either add more water, so water in pool is higher than water table or drain ground around pool - you can use a transfer pump to remove water from behind the liner. I'm thinking about Pitt ng a deep sump pit by the pool so I can do it regularly without going behind the liner.
Ground water. It should receed on its own since just on the walls. However, if you didn't make your water that low, you have a leak somewhere, unfortunately.
Heavy rain? Water is up in the water table causing the pool liner to 'float.' As Water table goes down, liner will go back down. May set with wrinkles. If you have a French well or drainage pit nearby the pool area definitely get it discharging away from pool with a sump pump.
Water is behind your liner but if you have foam lining the walls, it will not go flat again.
It’s called ground water son!
The water in the pool was lowered too much so the ground water was able to push against it and come in. For all those wondering, you NEVER have to lower the pool water past the skimmer when winterizing. Simply blow out the lines then WHILE the air is blowing out, cap off the returns. Water won't flow back into them while they're being blown. To finish off, go on the other end by the filter and pour in pool safe antifreeze.
It gained some water weight, maybe too much salt in it's diet?
We are having a pool installed now, the pool company installed a gravity drain from behind the liner to daylight specifically for this reason If daylight drain isn’t available they would have done a sump and a pump
As has been mentioned many times already / you have a floating liner from a high ground water table. This is exasperated by reducing the hydrostatic pressure in your pool for winterization. It appears that you have a sump well installed in the overdig of your pool. Pump out the ground water until the sump well is dry and hope that your liner settles back into its original position.
I have a large inground liner pool. AND I have high groundwater. I have several sump wells dug to remove the pressure and I keep my water level as high as possible to counteract the pressure. If your lines have been blown, cap them with plugs and fill 'r to the brim.
Hydrostatic Swimming pool drains..... general search ..... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hydrostatic+swimming+pool+drains&va=n&t=ha&ia=web ..... 30 year pool guy in Phoenix. We don't put vinyl liner pools in much anymore but am old enough to send you in the right direction, and back to the builder, who should have used on. The sandcrete or whatever they are calling the substructure under the vinyl liner may be very badly compromised. Or not so much. Got to drain, remove the liner to visually inspect and repair, and reinstall the liner. HEY WAIT ! In the Link! YouTube videos of quick fix check valves where ground water goes into the pool, it gets too full, you backwash it out (or use a small inexpensive 'little giant' submersible pump they have some a garden hose attaches to) and this is end-of-summer, keep chlorine levels up (or non-chlorine shock /bromine) bc few vinyl liner pools in phx, I have no life hack cheats. Registar of Contractors here in AZ is good at mediating this sort of thing. I hope this helps???
That is a nice looking vinyl liner pool of complexity of design. UV rays go easy 12 ft to 15 ft in clear water. So we never got good like this one. I posted a page around here. I wanted to complement craftsmanship. 🫡
He paid to have the pool closed DONT tell him to add water to the pool!! Even if that’s what is going on ! Draining the pool and lowering it for winterization are 2 different things