I am relatively new to owning a pool. We purchased our home 1 1/2 yrs. ago. We have an inground pool with a liner (steps are liner, not hard plastic). We immediately replaced the 16 yr. old liner and had no problems all of last year. We do not close our pool in the winter, just maintain. I thought in Jan that we may be losing water slowly, but decided it was just wind and evaporation. In Feb had a couple of visible leaks around the plumbing near the pump. Had a pool guy come fix it.....no more probs there. In April decided to get the pool ready, clean, etc. I spent the day vacuuming, made sure all of the chemicals were great and went to bed beaming that my pool looked so pretty! (While vacuuming, the vacuum kept getting stuck to the bottom of the pool where the deep end started. I also noticed several wrinkles in the bottom that weren't there last year. A friend later informed me that the vacuum stuck due to water under the liner!) The next evening I decided to backwash since the pump ran all night and day and the rest of the dirt had a chance to filter. I backwashed, returned to filter, left it running and went to bed. The next morning...............water was down at least 12 inches UUuGgGhHhH! It appeared dirt had sprayed out the second jet from the steps Double UUuUgGgHhHh!!! I added water, ran the pump for a bit, water drained quickly. So I called the pool repairman back out. While waiting a couple of days on him I noticed the water level always returned to the same level...... I added water several times to be sure.....it always stopped about 1 inch above the first step. Pool guy came......The spider valve needed fixed. (apparently I didn't wait long enough after turning off the pump before I turned the valve!). He left and I thought all was great. I had to wait 24 hrs before turning the pump on.........water level dropped again to 1 inch above step. Triple UUuGgGhhhHhhh!!!!! After 24 hrs I turned on pump to see what would happen. Now every time the pump is on, water fills under the liner at the steps and the liner lifts up off of the steps. This happens within a matter of minutes. I have to keep two water hoses runningow hike the pump is on so the pool doesn't lose water below the skimmer. With the pump off the water slowly drains to 1 inch above first step again. (I have a jet that shoots over the steps, on the wall by the steps, but this is not the one that had dirt in front of it. The dirt one was the next jet.) Any ideas or help would be GREATLY appreciated. Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to provide as many details as I can remember to help with advice. One more thing, I live in Oklahoma and we actually had earthquakes (first time in my life) in November and December ( just used to tornadoes!) .......not sure if that had something to do with it. I feel a ridge under the liner in the wall near the suspect jet; but that could have always been there. I'm not sure. And no more dirt out of any jets since the first time. Thanks for any advice!!!!
Please Help! LEAK!!
- Thread starter Poolrookies
- Start date
Sounds like you have a return leak behind the steps. Most likely a return line broke loose.
Dave, Thank you for the reply!! So does this mean it's time to get my shovel or can I just pull back the liner and see it? The liner is coming out of the corner of the steps and when the pump is running, I can see water filling behind the liner. Can I just pull it away from the wall?
Maybe. But it's most likely behind the wall and pulling the liner back isn't going to reveal much but the wall. I'd give it a try though.
Thanks again for your help Dave! Am I correct to assume that the water level stops dropping at the same level as the leak in the pipe? Also, if the leak was actually behind the next jet from the steps where the dirt came out instead of the jet by the steps, would the water still fill behind the steps?
