Sprung a leak

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H

hyder710

0
May 15, 2012
18
CDA, ID
I am still in my first week of pool ownership and so far it has not been a blast.

I began noticing this morning that I had lost 1 1/2"s over 48 to 72 hours. I refilled the pool and lost a 1/2" over 6 hours. My pool has approximately 1000sq ft of surface area. My pump has a slight leak but no where near enough to have leaked that much out. After placing a Tupperware container under it for a hour I only got a cup. When I look in the strainer cap I think I see small air bubbles which from my reading would indicate a suction side leak.

My questions are:

1) since my pump runs 24/7 if it was a suction side leak wouldn't the leak only be present if the pump or strainer was turned off?

2). I do not see air bubbles coming out of the returns which I also believe would be indicative of a suction side issue?

3). How do I diagnose a pressure side leak?

4). Does the can of fix-a-leak stuff actually work?


As additional information the pool was winterized 2 years ago and not reopened until this week. The house we bought is a repo so we don't know a ton about it. The pool was full of water all winter due to rain and snow melt which leads me to believe that it is not an issue with the pool liner, but the plumbing. I also understand that it is possible that a leak in the liner has developed in the last few days.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance
 
So I have turned off my pump for the night to see if the pool continues to leak. I have turned off all of the valves at my pad. If it continues to leak i plan on plugging my skimmers to ensure that they aren't the culprits. Again that's only if it continues to leak. After that I will leave them plugged (just cause) and plug my returns.

Does this sound right?
 
So It leaked last night with the pump turned off and nothing plugged. I just plugged my skimmers and have them both turned off at my pad. I am only running the main drains at the moment. I'm going o check in 6 hours and see if it has leaked. If it has then I will plug the returns as well isolating everything but the main drains which will be turned off at the pad (as well as the pump).

If it leaks when everything is plugged then that means time for dye? Right?
 
So yesterday afternoon I checked the water level and it leaked, plugged the skimmers and it leaked. Plugged the returns and skimmers and still leaked.

I'm thinking it's my vinyl liner now. Any advice on locating the leak? I have food coloring and am going to try looking for it sometime this morning. It's leaking close to 60 gallons an hour some figure the food coloring should get sucked into it when I get close. Can anybody think of any indications that might speed up the process? My water is below 60 degrees

My pool sat all winter and held water fine. I'm pretty bummed that as soon as we open it for the first time it started leaking!

Thanks in advance.
 
The answer, unfortunately, is to get in the pool and look :shock:

Have you tried plugging your skimmers/returns to make sure the leak is in the liner? Just use your winterizing plugs and leave the pump off overnight and see if it is still leaking.
 
Yeah. I have done that. It's in the liner. I think I found a few holes in the liner today. When I used the food coloring only stream would appear to get sucked/stick the rest would drift away. Does that sound about right?
 
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