Caring for Your Liner or Safety Cover

The most common cause of staining and discoloration of your liner below the water line is secretions by micro-organisms. As these micro-organisms feed, they secrete dyes, which can be one of many colors that stain the vinyl. Although these stains are unsightly, they in no way degrade the performance of the vinyl.

Some types of bacteria and fungus found in the soil can actually penetrate through a vinyl liner and cause stains to appear on the liner. Usually they will start off as spotted or cloud-like formations on the liner. Algaecides used in the pool water have little if any effect on the stains caused frombacteria, since it does not get to the source of the bacteria in the soil.

Our vinyl manufacturer has invested a great deal of time and money into discovering the causes of and the prevention of wrinkling. Wrinkles that develop in swimming pool liners after installation are caused by the vinyl absorbing water and thereby changing dimensions.

In most cases, these three problems are different stages of the same phenomenon. The cause of these problems are many and varied, but have a universal theme.

If Trichlor Sanitizer is Used in a Vinyl Lined Pool:

To understand why the pattern may flake off, there must be a basic understanding of the procedures involved in the printing of your pool liner. The print pattern is applied by a process called "roto-gravure" printing.

There can be many contributing factors that lead to the fading of your liner. All of those factors can be grouped under the heading of chemical attack, however the leading cause is simply over chlorinating. Just as excessive use of bleach will fade your clothes, over chlorinating of your pool water will greatly accelerate the fading of your liner.

For many years now it has been known and proven that termites and ants will sometimes attack a vinyl pool liner. It is suspected that termites are attracted to the pool area due to dampness in the soil around the pool.

Many homeowners who have been sold saltwater chlorine generators do not realize that their system is indeed a chlorine generator and not simply the use of salt to sanitize their pool.

Due to the relatively tight fitting nature of automatic pool covers they can allow for a buildup of heat and chlorine in the head space above the pool water and below the underside of the cover.

What is the most vinyl friendly way to winterize a vinyl lined pool? It is fairly simple. Use the absolute minimum amount of chemicals that will allow the desired effect. Do not shock your pool using Trichlor (hypochlorite is safer) and circulate the pool water for 72 hours before shutting down.

Most people put off the process of opening their pools until it is time for it to be used. Therefore, when the pool is first uncovered, the pool water is usually an ugly shade of green. So what is the natural tendency? Throw a ton of chemicals in the water to clean it up as soon as possible. This is exactly the wrong way to go about it.