Your swimming pool has given your family many days of fun in the sun but now the pool liner has developed unsightly and annoying wrinkles on the bottom. You want to smooth out these pool liner wrinkles but you have no idea how to remove them. Read our article to learn how to remove pool liner wrinkles and get back to enjoying your pool.
Vinyl pool liners are the least expensive option when it comes to the containment of water in your pool but they can stretch to form wrinkles and have a shorter lifespan than other options. Small wrinkles can usually be worked out of the liner by pushing the wrinkle to the sides and up the walls. Larger wrinkles require the pool to be emptied and the whole liner re-installed with a wet and dry vacuum to remove the problem.
Table of Contents
What Causes Wrinkles in a Pool Liner?
High Chlorine Level
High chlorine levels have been known to affect vinyl pool liners by bleaching the surface of the liner causing a loss of color and texture. The liner lose elasticity, shrink and form wrinkles. This usually happens when chlorine is manually added to the pool and especially when the pool has been shocked. Adding undissolved granular chlorine will sit on the bottom and cause bleaching.
Firstly, don’t have a high chlorine level in a vinyl lined pool. Maintain the free chlorine level between 1 and 3 ppm. A level above 4 ppm may begin to damage the liner.
When adding chlorine or shock to a vinyl lined pool you must always dilute the chlorine in a bucket of water and evenly spread it around the pool with the pump in operation. If the chlorine is added in one place it will sink to the bottom or stay in contact with the wall in its concentrated form causing damage until circulated by the pump.
Once a vinyl liner has been damaged by chemicals it would need replacing.
Unbalanced Pool Water Chemistry
If your pH is constantly too high or low this may cause the liner to shrink or expand forming the unattractive wrinkles in your pool. Always follow you pool maintenance routine and correctly balance the water chemistry. If you develop wrinkles you may be able to correct the problem with the methods below.
Please read our article on How to Balance Pool Water
Hydrostatic Pressure
Hydrostatic pressure is caused by a rising water table when ground water can rise up under your pool. All concrete inground pools are fitted with a hydrostatic valve that can open into the pool to release any water pressure build-up under the pool. The ground water would enter the pool through the valve preventing damage to the pool.
Vinyl lined pools do not have a hydrostatic valve to release pressure under the pool. When there is hydrostatic pressure the vinyl is stretched upwards in bulges causing wrinkles in the liner. Usually this is caused by poor ground preparation when building the pool. Above ground pools must be constructed on a base of bedding sand to allow water under the pool to escape.
Ground Movement
This is not a common cause but I have seen ground movement under an above ground pool that has stretched or twisted the liner. It’s typically caused by poor ground preparation when the pool was installed. Maybe the pool was situated on ground that contained fill soil that sunk or not enough sand was placed on the site. Sometimes poor drainage causes water to flow under and around a pool to destabilize or erode the soil under the pool.
Poor Site Preparation
When an above ground pool is sited on sloping land the entire site needs to be excavated to level ground so that the whole pool rests on solid, natural ground. You cannot cut and fill the site where half the pool is resting on filled ground. The fill will subside under the huge weight of water causing that half of the pool to sink and damage the pool.
Incorrectly Sized Liner
If an incorrectly sized liner was fitted to your pool it may cause wrinkles to form where there is too much material. The liner needs to be slightly stretched into place to make it a perfect fit but you need experience to know how to do this correctly.
Incorrect Liner Installation
An incorrectly fitted liner may cause wrinkles to form where there is too much material especially in the corners. Sometimes too much sand is added underneath the pool or the liner is not tightly fitted to the sides. Sometimes not enough clips are used at the top to secure the liner and the weight of the liner causes it to slip down leaving a wrinkle at the bottom.
Draining the Pool
Don’t drain an above ground pool in the summer and not fill it again immediately. The sun can dry out the liner quickly causing shrinkage and wrinkles. If you don’t want to refill immediately please cover the whole pool to protect the liner.
Age of the Liner
Old vinyl liners become stretched, less flexible and brittle causing wrinkles and splits. If the vinyl is old it’s time to replace it.
Is it bad to have wrinkles in a pool liner?
Pool liner wrinkles are unattractive particularly in an inground pool and can be difficult to remove but they are usually harmless.
However, it depends on the cause of the wrinkles. If the wrinkles are caused by ground movement, poor site preparation, poor liner installation or hydrostatic pressure under the pool these problems need to be fixed.
Can you put a new pool liner over an old one?
Never install a new liner over an old liner.
An inground pool requires the underlying pool surface to be properly prepared for a successful installation of a vinyl liner. The liner needs the correct installation and tension applied for it to be wrinkle free.
An above ground pool requires a base of sand under the pool and the liner to be correctly tensioned around the top of the pool.
How to remove pool liner wrinkles
How to remove inground pool liner wrinkles
If you have wrinkles in your inground pool it’s recommended to work them out before the wrinkles get worse. The longer you leave them the worse they become and are more difficult to remove.
As wrinkles often develop in cold water wait until the middle of summer to remove the wrinkles. It will be a lot easier in warm water when the liner is softer and more flexible.
If you only have one small wrinkle in the liner you can try to press it out without draining the pool. Try using a large plumber’s plunger that is used to clear blocked drains. Plunger each side of the wrinkle to move it around and flatten it out.
If your pool has many wrinkles you will need to drain the pool.
- Drain the pool water leaving a few inches at the bottom.
- Get into the pool and press out the wrinkles by hand. Start at the bottom, center of the pool and work your way towards the sides. A plumber’ plunger can be useful to suck and lift the vinyl towards the sides. Another method is to use sticky tape to work the wrinkle from the center to the sides. Now you have all the wrinkles pushed out to the sides and the bottom is smooth again.
- Remove some clips, one bracket or rail at the top of the pool that holds the liner in place.
- Lift up that section of the liner until the wall is smooth without wrinkles and clamp that section back down again.
- Move around the pool and repeat the process for one section at a time until the whole pool has been fixed.
- Now your pool liner is smooth with no wrinkles. Time to refill the pool before the liner dries out.
How to remove above ground pool liner wrinkles
Above ground pools are much easier to deal with than inground pools. Usually you can get in the pool and smooth out small wrinkles without draining the water. Try to move wrinkles on the bottom to the sides. Then you can stretch the liner up the sides and reattach at the top.
If there are many wrinkles it’s better to empty the pool. Then use a plunger or wet and dry vacuum cleaner to suck out the wrinkles. You can release the liner from the top in sections around the pool while moving the wrinkles up the walls.
It’s better to vacuum between the wall frame and liner rather than on the liner. If you apply the vacuum head to the liner turn down the suction as much as possible to prevent damage to the liner.
Once you have smoothed out the walls reattach the liner to the top again.
How Do I Replace My Pool Liner Myself?
If your liner is old, leaking and the wrinkles are permanent it’s time for a new liner. The good news is most pool owners of an above ground pool can replace the vinyl liner themselves.
- Drain the water from the pool. You will need a pump.
- Remove the old liner.
- Prepare the ground with sand as directed by the liner manufacturer.
- Install the new vinyl liner. Smooth out wrinkles and attach the liner to the top of the wall.
- Fill the pool.
- Balance the water chemistry.
Read our article on How to Repair or Replace a Pool Liner
Conclusion
Most newly formed vinyl liner wrinkles can be removed when the water is warm. However, if wrinkles are left through the winter season when the water is very cold they become more set and difficult to move. You can push out small wrinkles under the water but you will need to drain the pool to fix larger wrinkles. Reset the liner using a wet and dry vacuum cleaner to blow and then suck under the liner.