Tried in vain to fix the swimming pool leak, it's kaput

As I discovered last week, our Gite swimming pool has sprung a leak, not a major leak, but still I didn't want to keep on having to fill it up with very expensive French water.

After a couple of days of the kids playing in the pool and stiring up the water I found that I now couldn't see the hole that Toby had found in the bottom of the pool and as the water level had dropped down with the kids splashing around and the water leaking out, the water level was now below the pool pump inlet.

Nothing for it but to have to fill the pool up again so I could then turn the pump on and clear the water to find the hole again.

A few cubic metres of water later and having left the pump on overnight, the water was all sparkly and clear again and the hole was soon found on the bottom again.

We'd bought some patches that were supposed to work underwater so Toby donned his swimming goggles and dived down to try to apply the patch which of course didn't stick properly.

Neither did the second, third or fourth patches so there was nothing for it but to drain the pool, dry the bottom of the pool, and then try again.

I laid a hosepipe in the pool and ran it out to the drainage ditch opposite to siphon the water out of the pool and left it draining out overnight. It wasn't until the next afternoon that the pool was emptied, we could lift the pool up and find the little hole.

Or rather I should say, find the holes:

Our swimming pool was bought (second hand) in February 2007 and installed when we were over at half-term in June 2007 so it's been sitting outside the Gite come rain and shine for the past 5 years. Over time the plastic on the bottom of the pool has suffered from damage from ultra-violet radiation and has now gone wrinkled, hard and brittle.

Basically it's worn out and it was some of these wrinkles on the bottom of the pool that have now cracked. There was no way I could stick a patch on the bottom over the (multiple) holes, and even if I could, and it did seal the leak, I think it'd only be a temporary fix as the plastic would be sure to break again pretty soon.

Nothing for it but to buy a new pool so next stop the French supermarkets to see what they have in stock ...