We have a set of 4' plastic inground steps. The steps are showing bubbles in the plastic. There are lots of them, and they are fairly small. They appear to be flexible (can be pushed in, etc.).

We just had our liner replaced 2 years ago at great expense. I'm being told that once the bubbles get brittle and start leaking it is a major expense (again) to replace the steps, and the liner will need replaced at that time as well.

Is there anything we can do to stop / slow down the process? The dealer's thought was it was due to the water chemistry. Outside of over winter, we do not let the PH drop below 7.2, and we use borax to keep it higher. Normally it is in the 7.4 range.

This just makes us sick considering the $4,000 we spent replacing an 8 year old liner two years ago.

The pool is IG, 27.5k gallons, Hayward offline chlorinator, navigator pump, and starite heater.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Joe