Liner keeps tenting near the steps, anyone dealt with this

Started by Jason Okafor · · 4 replies
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#1
Got a spot right where the steps meet the floor that keeps puffing up a little, like an inch or so, when the pump kicks on and settles back down when it's off. Been happening for a few weeks now, no tear that I can find, I've run my hand all around it. My gut says it's water getting behind the liner through a bad gasket somewhere down there, maybe the hydrostatic relief valve under the steps isn't doing its job, but I've never actually pulled one of those apart. Anyone had a tenting issue that wasn't a tear? Trying to figure out if this is a drain it halfway and go poke around job or if I'm overthinking a $12 part. For what it's worth the liner's from 2015 so it's not brand new but it's not ancient either. Your mileage may vary I guess but would rather chase this now than find out the hard way this fall.

4 Replies

#2
I'd gently push back on calling that hydrostatic valve a $12 overthink, Jason, the part's cheap but air getting trapped under there from a stuck or clogged valve is exactly the kind of thing that looks minor for months and then one day the liner creases somewhere you can't just smooth back out. We've got a concrete pool so no liner to worry about but my buddy here in Sarasota had almost this same puffing at his steps and it turned out leaves and silt had packed into the valve so it wasn't releasing when the pump ran, draining halfway and clearing it out fixed him right up, no tear anywhere.

Wouldn't wait till fall on this one. Good luck with it, let us know what you find under there.
#3
Not really pushing back on the fix, just the pump theory part, if it was leaves packed into the valve I'd expect it to stay puffed all the time not just cycle with the pump turning on and off, that sounds more like pressure actually forcing its way up through there. Gonna drain it down this weekend and pull the cover off and see what's going on underneath, appreciate the push not to wait on it.
#4
Jason, that cycling with the pump is the detail that'd make me suspicious too, pressure building and releasing like that instead of staying puffed. My vinyl pool doesn't have steps built into the floor like that, mine's a set of ladder steps bolted to the side, so I've never had to deal with a hydrostatic valve under the shell at all, lucky I guess. But I did have a spot by my main drain years back that would flex maybe half an inch when the pump kicked on and it turned out to be air getting pulled in through a suction fitting gasket, not water pushing up from underneath, just mentioning it because tenting doesn't always mean the same thing is happening underneath. Pull the cover and look close at the valve flapper itself before you assume it's clogged, sometimes those things warp or the little gasket on them hardens up after ten years and it won't fully seal shut between pump cycles either.
#5
no steps built into my floor either so i can't speak from experience here, but jason when you pull the cover off is the valve actually submerged under a couple inches of standing dirt/debris or does it look mostly clear already. feels like that'd tell you right away if dave's warped flapper theory is more likely than chuck's clogged valve theory before you even touch anything.