STRUCTURE AND SURFACE
Looking after a pool liner — and what never to do
A liner lasts longest when both the water level and the water chemistry stay steady, and the fastest way to ruin one is to drain the pool.
A well-kept PVC liner runs for years with very little special attention. It only has three enemies: chlorine that sits too concentrated in one spot, a pH left low for a long time, and anything sharp or heavy dropped into the pool.
The habits that matter
Always dissolve granular chlorine in a bucket first. Never scatter it into the pool dry.
Pour it around the pool with the pump running. Granules left lying on the floor bleach a permanent white ring into the liner overnight.
Keep pH between 7.2 and 7.6. Left under 7.0 for weeks, the liner goes brittle and bleached, and that does not reverse.
Keep the water at the middle of the skimmer mouth. Below it the pump draws air, and the top band of liner sits in direct sun.
Brush the walls with soft nylon only.
Check the robot's brushes for trapped grit or shell before you put it in, every time.
Do not stand aluminium ladders, chairs or planters anywhere they can topple into the pool.
Keep dogs out of the pool. A single set of claws can open a liner.
If the liner wrinkles or slips out of the track
Ripples across the floor usually mean water has got underneath — a rising water table in the rainy season, or a leak somewhere.
A small patch of wrinkling near a wall is usually a long spell of low pH stretching the material.
The top bead pulling out of its track usually follows several days with the level below the skimmer.
In every one of these cases, do not pull or work the liner yourself. Tugging it while water sits underneath just moves the fold, and risks tearing a welded seam.
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