The builder hooked up and pressurized all my equipment about 3 weeks ago. We started with 10 lbs of pressure, which it held for a period of time (days, maybe a week?), but it has since slowly dropped to about 8 lbs. Is it normal to slowly lose pressure over an extended time, or is this indicative of a small leak?
Plumbing pressure on new build
- Thread starter Terry
- Start date
What type of filter do you have? We need more information on your pool, equipment, etc., but I would say in general if you had a leak that caused a 2 psi drop in back pressure you would likely be seeing lots of water loss (pool level going down, water everywhere, etc.)
Pentair Quad DE 100, Intelliflo VS. It is a new build, though, and not yet plastered so no water, and no return fittings (returns still capped off) I don't think there's enough water in the system to notice a leak that would be small enough to drop the pressure from 10 to 8 over a couple weeks.
Ah, so this is a pressurization test, this confuses matters a bit more, if you will recall your basic high school physics courses and the gas pressure laws gases expand when temperature goes up and contract when it goes down, given the late season cool snap we had in the region last week, a drop in pressure seen then might be partly explained by the major drop in temperature. You also likely have some very slow leaks going on around the pump seals, etc.
Yes, I recall something, don't know if it was Physics or not, but I was thinking that it was normal that you would lose a bit of pressure over time. Of course, I'm not certain that is accurate, hence the post. The gas line, however, has had a pressure test on it for a bit longer, and it has not lost any pressure at all.
- May 3, 2007
- 16,840
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
They should be testing at much higher than 10 PSI. Minimum it should be 35 PSI and preferably at 45 PSI.
hmmm. Would you set it that high if you were going to leave it for an extended time? They tested once, when installed, then came back and released the pressure due to freezing temps. I don't know what pressure they tested at, at that time. I asked them to re-pressurize after it warmed up so I'd know if anything broke while work was being done around the pool.
- May 3, 2007
- 16,840
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
You definitely want to test at the higher pressure for as long as possible to show any weaknesses in the plumbing. The pressure will cycle some due to temperature but it should the read the same pressure at the same temperature over time.