How can I prevent my pool liner from having discoloration, deterioration and “dry rot” above the water line?

We recently had a homeowner ask a question in response to our blog post, What are the causes of discoloration, deterioration and “dry rot” above the water line on a pool liner?

My pool is doing all three of these and it is only six years old. How can I prevent this from happening again?

As our blog article states:

There are three main contributors to this problem: chemical attack, high temperatures and UV rays.  However, the UV resistant characteristics of pool vinyl are excellent and the UV rays themselves do not present a significant problem.

Clean your pool often by taking a soft cloth and rinse the contaminates from the vinyl using the pool water.  Substances such as body oil, sun tan lotion, baby oil, etc., will collect at the water line.  These substances, when exposed to the sun and the high temperate that can be found just above the water lines, will oftentimes turn brown and can be very difficult to remove from the vinyl.

We should have added that chemical attack means high chlorine and/or a low ph.  The two things you can do here are to not over chlorinate and to keep your ph at 7.2 or higher.  These are the two most critical things you can do to prevent dry rot.

The other issue is high temperatures.  Your pool vinyl is not intended for use over 80 degrees.  On the hottest summer days, you can direct your return nozzles up so that the water shoots up out of the pool.  This will cool the water overnight.  If you have a heater, don’t set it too high.

I would also add that covering your pool during the off season can significantly increase the life of the liner since it’s out of the sun and without chlorine for much of the year.  I think this is why liners always last longer in NY than they do in Texas.

I would also add that this homeowner’s liner made it six years and the average life is seven.  It failed a little earlier than expected, but not by that much.

Hope this helps!