PLEASE HELP! Leak trouble shooting driving me mad.

[shamm1987]

So I have been fighting my pool since I opened it about 3 weeks ago. Everything worked fine for about 3 days. Then massive problems. I'm losing 2-3" in a 24 hour period when the pool is at its normal full level. The water level drops whether or not the pump is running. Along with the water loss I'm getting massive liner floating so much that I can pump water out from behind the liner for 4 to 6 hours at a time. I was winning the battle against algae for about a week but do to the leak and work I have now lost and the pool is green and is starting to smell like a swamp. The water loss seems to slow once water gets below the skimmers but I hear a gurgling noise coming from the both skimmers and I can no longer see water in them. The skimmer are currently isolated at the pump skid with the ball valve (I have separate isolations for each suction source, bottom drain, vacuum port, and one for each skimmer). I did get in the pool when I was winning the algae battle and did a dye test on all fittings and skimmers with no results. I'm seriously baffled how is that much water getting behind my liner without rain and with no very obvious hole.

PLEASE HELP
Sincerely,
the most frustrated pool owner ever

 

[cowboycasey]

Welcome to TFP

The pool will always stop at the leak, just above the waterline will be where your leak is.. The hard part is (as you have seen) finding the leak. with that much water leaking out it is not a small leak.. How far down does the water stop leaking at or have you just been filling it as it goes down.. the leak could be in the bottom somewhere and you just can not see it.

I hope this helps

 

[shamm1987]

I'm still allowing it to sit to make sure level is no longer dropping. Do you recommend still attempting to clean the pool if level stops at safe spot to operate the pump even if I can't use the skimmers?

 

[ship of fools]

Welcome to TFP

The pool will always stop at the leak, just above the waterline will be where your leak is.. The hard part is (as you have seen) finding the leak. with that much water leaking out it is not a small leak.. How far down does the water stop leaking at or have you just been filling it as it goes down.. the leak could be in the bottom somewhere and you just can not see it.

I hope this helps

That is not necessarily true if there is a high water table... and with a floating liner the water table is most likely very high.

Hire a diver. I fought a leak for a full year and finally sucked it up and hired someone. They put a small electric charge in the pool and that charge will seek ground and the only way to ground is a hole in the liner. My guy identified 3 or 4 large holes and a number of smaller ones and then patched / caulked everything and it hasn't leaked since!

 

[shamm1987]

Just thought I'd give an update. So I did end up finding a very large 4" diameter tear in the bottom corner of my liner (no idea how I missed it). Did a massive patch job using a patching kit and some extra liner I had lying around. So far water has held about 12 hours into placing the patch. Although I still suspect a leak somewhere else so my skimmers are currently plugged so I can test them one at a time. Otherwise chemicals are all right on and just waiting for the filter to remove all of the dead algae that has accumulated.