Hello everyone, new to the forum and this is my first post. Settled on a PB, a design, excavation completed, rebar and initial plumb complete. The county inspector came early this morning and flagged our pool as failing due to inadequate plumb pressure. A little concerned as this is our first pool build and we have a 'negative' on our first inspection. Shotcrete was due to be installed tomorrow. Should I be concerned? Thanks for any advice, suggestions.
Failed 1st County Inspection
- Thread starter Kahunawahoo
- Start date
You should be concerned, but maybe your PB didn't put enough pressure into your pipes to start with. If you're seeing pressure drop then you have a leak someplace and you should find it and fix it before you pour cement. There should be a pressure gauge on one of the pipes where your pool equipment is going. Since there is going to be air in the pipes too pressure can rise and fall with temperature fluctuations over a day... but the variance should be about the same each day. If it's just falling you have a leak.
My system was pressurized with water and air. They filled the pipes with water and then used air to bring up the pressure to whatever they needed. It held pressure during the entire build (almost 3 months).
If your system is losing pressure over a short period of time, there must be a leak.
If you are lucky they just didn't put enough pressure in the system for the inspector.
You should have something that looks like this (my pool had 3 of them; 1 for the pool and 2 for the gas lines). It is a hose bib (to add water), a valve that looks like it is for a car tire (to add air) and a pressure guage.
If your system is losing pressure over a short period of time, there must be a leak.
If you are lucky they just didn't put enough pressure in the system for the inspector.
You should have something that looks like this (my pool had 3 of them; 1 for the pool and 2 for the gas lines). It is a hose bib (to add water), a valve that looks like it is for a car tire (to add air) and a pressure guage.
Attachments
Thanks for the replies, after two days the plumbing doesn't hold the required 35psi, even for 30 minutes. Not finding any water at the main drain or 90* bend. They are going to try new gauge, with another inspection due tomorrow morning.
It could also be one of the isolation valves on the suction side of the pump leaking by. It might be worth opening and closing these valves a few times in case a piece of dirt got in the seats. make sure they are closed off tight as the suction end of your lines are open ended. Assuming the pipes are already tied into the pump and they are pressuring up on the discharge side of the pump and relying on the isolation valves to hold pressure...
After failing for the 2nd time, the PB came out early the next morning before the 3rd inspection and pumped the pressure back up to 40psi (it had fallen to 20 overnight from 46). The PB assures me that the loss of pressure is coming from the plugs in the channel drain and that I shouldn't be worried. The inspection passed and the shooting of the pool is set to begin early Monday morning. My question is whether to allow work to proceed knowing how the inspection process was handled. We did do a lot of research with PB's, and this company has been in business for over 30 years and they have a good reputation. Please help with your thoughts.
You need to be really worried about this. Your PB may be right, but if he isn't this will really be a big and expensive problem. Have him show you the leak. With that type of pressure loss you should see water where he is describing the location of the leak. If it isn't wet in the area apply soapy water to the plumbing joints and you should see air bubbles. When they pressurize the lines with water there is still a bunch of air that remains trapped.
If he can't show you the leak then he doesn't know where it is. And if he CAN show you the leak then he CAN fix it... and he should fix it to ensure there are no other leaks. There is a reason inspectors look specifically at this aspect of a pool build. Whatever you do don't pour concrete over any of the trenches used to run your pipe.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night in this situation, but I'm not a pool builder and I don't have your guy's years of experience.
If he can't show you the leak then he doesn't know where it is. And if he CAN show you the leak then he CAN fix it... and he should fix it to ensure there are no other leaks. There is a reason inspectors look specifically at this aspect of a pool build. Whatever you do don't pour concrete over any of the trenches used to run your pipe.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night in this situation, but I'm not a pool builder and I don't have your guy's years of experience.
Just talked to the inspector who has been supervising this project. He says the code is 35 psi for 15 minutes. Based on his observation, he passed our pool. Meanwhile the pressure last night at 8pm was 30 and this morning at 7am it had dropped to 25.5.
- Mar 14, 2011
- 151
I know you want to trust your PB but it is fine for you to be concerned and ask questions. I do agree that it is probably a leaking threaded plug, and that would be easy for him to to rectify. So why wouldn't he?
Believe me, I chased a few leaks and they were mostly plug leaks, but one was a return threaded connection that would have been buried and concreted over.
Personally, I would tell the PB you need the peace of mind to know you don't have any plumbing leaks. This is not too much to ask.
Best of luck, John.
Believe me, I chased a few leaks and they were mostly plug leaks, but one was a return threaded connection that would have been buried and concreted over.
Personally, I would tell the PB you need the peace of mind to know you don't have any plumbing leaks. This is not too much to ask.
Best of luck, John.
I second melt in the sun. It's so easy to fix plumbing now and it's amazing that the PB would tell you where the leak is but not fix it. That alone would worry me. Sepaking from many experiences with building my pool, they are just in a hurry and not concerned about problems. They'll quickly ignore you when you provide them that last check. Get it done correctly before they concrete it in. As much as you want to be in that pool swimming, it will be much better waiting than frustrated when it's still leaking when it's full.
Fix the leak. The pb is not doing his job. Any plumber can find and fix a leak Dang quick, so if he's not calling the plumber sub back out he is either lazy, an idiot, or there is some other non-legitimate reason for doing so. How much of your money are you willing to risk so a plumber doesn't have to come back out? He is not risking any, only you.
