Crack in PVC return pipe

[gosselin.peter]

Hello all,

First time posting in this community so any help would be appreciated. I recently bought a house and inherited the very nice in ground pool along with it. I was able to open the pool fine and getting everything up and running. After about 24-36 hours of running the pump I noticed the water level had decreased a bit and there was a soggy spot of ground in the yard which had started to bubble up. As I dug down it became clear that there was a leak. In this area there are a small nest of pipe, a total 5 pipes that I could see. You can see the small crack in the second picture below, it is in the lower black pvc pipe almost in the middle of the picture. The pipes are buried about 24-30 inches below ground and of course the leak is in the middle section of pipe. It is about another 10 feet to where the pipes run up and connect to the filter system. What would be the best way to stop and fix this leak? I really don't want to have to dig up ground all the way back to the filter system. Any ideas??

I have a video of the leak as well if anyone needs to take a look at that.

Thanks!

 

[mgmoore7]

You can cut out the section that has the crack get a replacement pipe, 2 unions and some primer and glue and that should repair it

 

[gosselin.peter]

You can cut out the section that has the crack get a replacement pipe, 2 unions and some primer and glue and that should repair it

Matt, thank you for the reply. I'm not sure this will work, but maybe I am overlooking something. Will there be enough clearance to get a rigid section of pipe along with the unions in place between the section of cracked pipe I cut out?

 

[mgmoore7]

It may not be really easy but I would clear enough dirt from both sides so that you can lift up the pipe so because they are a little flexible and then you'll be able to lift them up get some clearance and then press them together and then you need to twist the pipe to set it. . If you've never done PVC repair before this may not be the first one you want to do but it is a straightforward fix assuming you can get the clearance

 

[gosselin.peter]

Though I haven't done a ton of PVC repair I would like to think I am handy enough to get this done, though I guess we will see in the next couple of days. Would a few 90 elbows and some nipple pieces work as well or is it a bad idea to put so many 90 degree turns in such a small area?

 

[CJadamec]

The white line is flexable PVC, are you sure the black lines are pvc and not Poly pipe? The repair is the same to cut the broken section and put new pipe in (A 1 foot splice should give you enough room to work with). The fittings for the repair are very different though.

 

[gosselin.peter]

The white line is flexable PVC, are you sure the black lines are pvc and not Poly pipe? The repair is the same to cut the broken section and put new pipe in (A 1 foot splice should give you enough room to work with). The fittings for the repair are very different though.

They very well might be poly pipe, but I am not sure to be honest. The white line is definitely more flexible, the black piping seems to be pretty rigid so I had assumed PVC, maybe incorrectly.

 

[CJadamec]

Black poly in that size all nested together like that will feel very ridged. you may want to make you hole a lil bit bigger so you have more room to work. Either way you have to cut a section out so you will know for sure what it is when you do that.

 

[gosselin.peter]

Thank you for the information, very useful. Before I cut a section of pipe out is there any solution that can work to patch or cover the crack in the existing pipe? Maybe some high grade epoxy, a rubber coupling/boot and some hose clamps?? Or is this solution just not practical and cutting and replacing a pipe section is the only way to go?

I appreciate all the support here!

 

[mgmoore7]

I like to dig underneath the pipe some as well to collect water and give more room to work.

 

[mgmoore7]

I would not want to try to "repair" the crack. Once you cover it back up, you don't want to have this leaking again if that crack expands or the patch fails. The cost for the parts and the time likely would not be that different. The "magic patch" options seem to cost more than the parts to fix. I would only do that if there was no other choice.

 

[CJadamec]

I agree unless you really like digging holes make a proper repair with a new section of pipe. All patching will do is waste your money and make it harder to repair the right way down the road.

 

[gosselin.peter]

Agreed, I definitely need to do a bit more digging to get a good work space around this area. Before physically cutting the pipe I wanted to make sure there was no other good solution to fixing the crack which seems to be the case.

Of course yesterday and today have been nothing but rain so I haven't had a chance to really get all the water out of there away from the pipes to do any work. Hopefully the next couple of days clear up for me to work.

Ill make sure to follow up once I have complete the replacement section, hopefully this was the only leak.

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I agree unless you really like digging holes make a proper repair with a new section of pipe. All patching will do is waste your money and make it harder to repair the right way down the road.

Surprisingly digging holes is not a pleasurable task to me especially with these pipes buried so deep and there being another 10 feet or so until the filter system. Doing a proper repair with a whole new section of pipe is last resort.

Appreciate all the support.

 

[CJadamec]

What I meant by section of pipe is a 1 foot piece spliced in where the crack is. There is no reason to replace the entire run of pipe back to the filter.

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I too am not a fan of digging holes yet I seem to do it frequently....