Pool Repairs That Do Not Work
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There is a fine line between being a savvy DIY money saving pool owner and costing yourself a crapload of extra money because you went and made a problem much worse with a poorly attempted repair. Certainly I can understand why pool owners try to take on problems themselves when they encounter unexpected problems with their pool or pool equipment, however I am jaded after a lifetime of working in the pool industry. Attempting to get "one more year" from pool components at their end of their service life is as common as the day is long for pool workers and this is such a fallacy that it is something I warned pool owners about in this article about Why are swimming pools such a nightmare?
Fixing deficiencies promptly with a swimming pool is one of the most important things that pool owners should do to protect themselves from unexpected (huge) repair bills. However the repair needs to be a quality repair because a poorly attempted repair is very likely to make the problem worse and in the world of swimming pools that can easily amount to thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Of course not every failed repair is going to cost pool owners this much. Some failed pool repairs will just cost you wasted time or energy but why even waste that if there is little chance of the repair actually helping the situation. In this article I am going to look at some of the common (bad) repairs that we see on swimming pools and provide some context to the potential for actually solving the problem versus making the problem worse.
Leaks in pool plumbing
When you have a leak in your plumbing system the correct repair is almost certainly going to involve cutting into the system and redoing part of the plumbing. Some pool owners are not familiar or adept with plumbing and so the idea of cutting and gluing new pipes and fittings is intimidating. This leads them to attempting to repair plumbing leaks with topical applications such as covering the leak with epoxy or silicone. For the most part when you have a leak in swimming pool plumbing there is no topical application that is going to genuinely solve the problem. Leaking threads from a failed thread sealant, failed glue joints, cracks in pipes or fittings...all of these leaks are too hard to fix with a topical repair with any reasonable measure of success. Swimming pool plumbing systems are pressurized systems, but further to this they experience fluctuating pressures as well as pipe hammer and other forceful actions all of which will compromise a static repair. The constant movement, shuttering, expansion, contraction and vibration of swimming pool pipes makes the potential for a topical pipe leak repair very low. Failed thread sealants on threaded pipe connections should be unthreaded, cleaned and have a new thread sealant applied to repair properly. Repairs very unlikely to resolve plumbing leaks include epoxy, silicone, caulk, thoughts and prayers, duct tape or plastic bags.
Cracked pool filter tanks
Not only a bad idea but also incredibly dangerous! If you have a crack in the body of your pool filter tank then you need a new filter, no buts about it! A pool filter is a pressure vessel which operates up to 30 PSI under normal working conditions. Included in this is the potential that there is some air left within your filter even when the pump is running and this makes for a dangerous combination. Air has the ability to compress and as a result the pressure inside of a pool filter is like a coiled spring ready and waiting to explode with a truly scary amount of power. Pool filters have been known to kill and main people who happened to be near or overtop when the filter explosively failed. Pool filters have also been launched into low orbit from failing (or improperly installed) band clamps on split tank flanges. It is not practical nor safe to attempt to repair a pool filter. Most pool owners have probably never noticed this before but when you turn on your pool pump your filter physically swells in size. Given how tough and robust pool filters are it is scary when you feel how much they swell under pressure and this gives you a hint and the stored energy they contain and the respect that they deserve. You should definitely never attempt to wrap ratchet straps around your filter in an attempt to help it together after it has broken or you lost the pieces that hold it together properly. You should also know that if you did this and consider yourself pretty handy for coming up with that repair, there is a picture of your pool equipment in the back room of your local service company where everyone makes fun of you.
Taping vinyl pool liners
If you have a hole in your pool liner, or more commonly your liner is old and failing and the corners no longer connect into the coping track all the way do not bother taping up the corners with duct tape. If your liner is old enough that it has lost all elasticity and now no longer fits all the way into the coping track you should immediately begin the process of replacing the liner. By the time your liner is in this condition there is a massive amount of strain being placed on the coping track. If left long enough the coping will eventually fail and you will also need to replace this before you can install the new liner. In some cases where the coping track is permanently installed as part of the concrete pool deck (bullnose coping) if you experience a coping failure you will need to remove and replace the entire pool deck in order to be able to replace the liner. This means you can change a $3000 to $5000 liner job into a $25,000 to $35,000 pool renovation job with one roll of duct tape and a little bit of time. In addition to the coping concerns having the liner out of the track will result in waves and water splashing up behind the liner where it will corrode the wall at an advanced rate as well as deteriorating the floor over time, both of which will require additional repairs before you can have the new liner installed. Worst of all taping up the open corners of your vinyl pool with duct tape makes a spider sanctuary the like of which your nightmares can scarcely imagine.
Replacing tiles that fall off
It is very common to find questions from swimming pool owners online asking about which "glue" to use to stick tiles back in place that have fallen off. Tiles however are not installed with glue, they are installed with a modified mortar product called thin set. When a pool owner sees a tile or two that has fallen off it is pretty normal to think about trying to put it back in place. What they might fail to realize is that tiles really are not supposed to fall off. Glue is not the product to use but if you want to stick a tile on you can definitely do this...but it is important to recognize that the tile falling off in the first place is a pretty bad sign. Tiles usually only fall off when they were installed incorrectly or there is a fairly major deficiency like a crack in the wall under the tiles. Both of these would be classified as serious problems as cracks in your pool or tiles which are installed incorrectly are both situations that can cost you an appreciable amount of money to repair properly. I like to use cars as a comparison to help pool owners better understand the technical nature of how pools work. Having tiles falling off in your pool might be compared to occasionally finding one of the lug nuts from your tire sitting on the ground next to the car. I mean yes you can just put it back on but that is not supposed to happen in the first place. And putting your tile back on with two part repair epoxy is about the same as fixing your loose lug nuts with a hammer. Use thin set for installing tiles and a tire iron for tightening lug nuts.
Using non-stainless hardware
There is no attempted repair more surely to fail on a swimming pool than choosing the wrong hardware and using something other than stainless steel in your pool. Chlorinated swimming pool water is so hard on metals that even stainless steel can etch, rust and discolor in pools. If you use a steel bolt, nut or screw under the water then it is an absolute certainty that rust is going to eat that hardware until there is nothing left but an orange cloud in the water when you touch it. Even galvanized steel hardware is not good enough for using under the water. Some galvanized hardware is used near to pools but anything at or under the water must be stainless steel. Further to this it is better to use marine grade (316L) stainless steel where possible to further limit the potential for corrosion pitting or damage. If you are not sure how to tell what kind of hardware you are looking at then the first thing is that wood screws and some galvanized screws are bright and shiny metal. Stainless steel is a dull and hazy metal by comparison but more importantly stainless will not stick to a magnet. Aluminum hardware will also not stick to a magnet but it should be noticeably lighter than stainless steel. It is also worth noting that the proximity of dissimilar metals can promote corrosion as well so if you are mixing and matching hardware you can induce a problem by using the wrong materials. Note that while plastic tie-wraps (zap straps) have very little chance of developing corrosion they have an equally small likelihood of lasting as a replacement for stainless steel hardware.
When it comes to swimming pool repairs sometimes the right move is to call a local expert to come in and help you. It is a great idea to save money where possible but if the risk is that you might break something expensive then you should leave it for more experienced hands. Technical work is often like this. People who work on cars definitely know this as inexperienced hands can often cause damage especially during highly technical repairs. Quite often there can be a window where a skilled repair technician could make a repair or temporary improvement but once someone else has tried that hope is gone. Repair epoxy is one of these items that pool owners often try to use to resolve problems like leaks from a pump threaded connection. Unfortunately in some cases using the epoxy actually prevents the proper repair from being made so in addition to not fixing the problem you have in effect made the problem unfixable and cost yourself a new pump wet-end if not a new pump and motor entirely.
If you want a professional opinion about your pool from Steve you can always just Ask Steve
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool and spa specialist from Ontario Canada. With over 10,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the 2018 Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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