In ground vinyl liner pool in Virginia Beach, VA, 3rd year with it. Age of the liner is unknown, though when we bought the house 3 years ago, it looked fairly newish.
Past two winters we've had basically no water loss. This winter we've lost approx 2 1/2 feet. I've filled the pool back up for several hours on two days only to have it leak down again. I stopped as I figured I was throwing money away.
So, the only two things we've done differently or are new this year:
1. We have a mesh safety cover. Colleague at work has a similar setup and tosses in tons of plastic bottles to hold up the cover to help water roll off the cover when it rains, reducing the amount of contaminants that make it into the pool. We attempted something similar but didn't have nearly enough bottles so the cover was only partially held up for a few weeks before the water level lowered too much.
2. We had a tree removed out back and after they finished I noticed a fist-sized hole in the mesh cover where I suspect they dropped a branch through (would have to be large and heavy enough to punch a hole in the safety cover). I can't tie the water level drop to the tree guys and I have no idea if there is a branch in the pool, but it's suspicious.
Questions:
1. Given the above items, could either/both be responsible for the greater water loss? Hoping somehow the bottles increased evaporation to such a degree that it dropped the water level far more than previous winters.
2. If it's most likely a leak, should I open the pool now, clean it, and then have it fixed? Or should I just wait? I don't like the idea of running the filter for the next couple months without being able to swim - seems like a big waste of electricity.
As always, you guys rock!
Past two winters we've had basically no water loss. This winter we've lost approx 2 1/2 feet. I've filled the pool back up for several hours on two days only to have it leak down again. I stopped as I figured I was throwing money away.
So, the only two things we've done differently or are new this year:
1. We have a mesh safety cover. Colleague at work has a similar setup and tosses in tons of plastic bottles to hold up the cover to help water roll off the cover when it rains, reducing the amount of contaminants that make it into the pool. We attempted something similar but didn't have nearly enough bottles so the cover was only partially held up for a few weeks before the water level lowered too much.
2. We had a tree removed out back and after they finished I noticed a fist-sized hole in the mesh cover where I suspect they dropped a branch through (would have to be large and heavy enough to punch a hole in the safety cover). I can't tie the water level drop to the tree guys and I have no idea if there is a branch in the pool, but it's suspicious.
Questions:
1. Given the above items, could either/both be responsible for the greater water loss? Hoping somehow the bottles increased evaporation to such a degree that it dropped the water level far more than previous winters.
2. If it's most likely a leak, should I open the pool now, clean it, and then have it fixed? Or should I just wait? I don't like the idea of running the filter for the next couple months without being able to swim - seems like a big waste of electricity.
As always, you guys rock!