Liner Leak? - or Not

[RussH]

I am getting concerned that I have a liner leak. First, the weather here has been hot, dry and windy for the last month with cold fronts passing through bringing in dry air, which never happens in August. Through all of that my water loss has grown to about 1/2" a day. The heat has backed off a little in the last week, but I'm still at 1/2" a day.

I started the year around 1/8" to 3/16" loss daily and had about 1/4" to 5/16" loss last year at the worst, but it wasnt this hot for this long last year. The water temperature is around 90°F.

The liner is just over 1 year old and was installed by a local pool company. There are no plumbing or pump leaks. The pump and plumbing is all in one place and visible.

There is no visible dampness around pool. I do have a pool deck hiding ~1/4 of the pool perimeter.

There is not much splashout when people are in the pool.

I did a bucket test for the last two days and what I have found is that the pool looses about 1/4" overnight with the sun down while the bucket loses about 1/16". During the day with the sun up, the pool and bucket losses match at 1/4". Is there a good explanation why the pool could evaporate more than the bucket at night? More exposed surface area? I have the bucket filled to about 3" from the top of the bucket. The bucket has been sitting on the top pool step. The water level in the bucket is about 6" above the pool water level. The water in the bucket is a little warmer (5°F?) than the pool water.

At 3/16" "leaked" overnight, that should be 100 gallons lost. I should have visible evidence of that much water leaking, should I not? If not, I dont know how I will ever find the leak - if it is really leaking.

Here's the bucket on the steps:




Thanks,
Russ

 

[woodyp]

I seriously don't think you have a leak. I think you're looking at the difference in evaporation rates for the reasons you mentioned. I'd have to be looking at larger daily loses before I went chasing one down.

 

[RussH]

I seriously don't think you have a leak. I think you're looking at the difference in evaporation rates for the reasons you mentioned. I'd have to be looking at larger daily loses before I went chasing one down.

Thanks. I hope it's not a leak.

Russ

 

[Divin Dave]

I agree with Woody.

 

[RussH]

Sounds good. Two guys from Texas should know pools and heat.

 

[RussH]

To update this thread, the pool definitely has a major leak. It has been closed with a winter cover for a month and has lost half the water in the pool, about 24". At this rate it will be mostly empty soon. I have an area on the ground around the pool that is wet now. I don't know where the leak is, but it must be getting worse.

Any suggestions on how to proceed with this given the pool is closed and covered for the winter? I'm getting water buildup on the center of the cover with the water level low that is hard to access to siphon off. Is there risk with having a pool shell standing with liner, but little water in it. I would rather deal with it in the spring, but it will be empty for several months before spring at this rate.

This is ridiculous for a liner that's a year and a half old.

Russ

 

[duraleigh]

I would let it leak down until it stops. That'll tell you where the leak is and then you can patch it.

 

[swimcmp]

Get the cover off before it pulls the walls in

 

[RussH]

I got the cover back off and found the leaks. It's where the stairs have cut the wall part of the liner in about a dozen places. I think it's where the bottom of the stairs have bumped the liner pulling the stairs out for cleaning.

The picture is one section of them about 12" square. The cuts are about 1/2" long each. Some of the cuts are close together. Should I patch over as many as possible with one section of vinyl?

The water is 48°F and will probably drop from there as we have had a lot of warm weather recently with colder weather forecast in the future. Is there any risk of algae growth in cold water? How often should I test for FC levels?

Any recommendations for knee waders? This water is cold and about 18" deep.


Russ

 

[kimkats]

I would use as big a patch as you can BUT do NOT overlap them or try to get them to follow up if it goes from wall to bottom.

Good luck and burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Have a heated towel waiting for you.

Kim