Auto-fill Leak? Not sure where to start

[dlee360]

So my water bill skyrocketed last month and finally discovered it has something to do with my autofill. I did replace the float and when the float is pulled all the way up, I can still hear water flowing. So there's a hole next to the float and I noticed water coming out of it (not a full flow, but not a trickle either)..anyway, I put my finger in it and I definitely feel water coming out. Is that normal? My neighbor said it wasn't and I'm not even sure to begin how to even diagnose. Any ideas?

Thanks!
David
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lrequlg9wkohfm5/2013-06-27 11.06.25.jpg

 

[jblizzle]

You should have a valve before the auto-fill that you can turn off to stop the water (often on a backflow prevention valve). It is certainly not normal for the water to keep flowing. The fix depends on where the leak is.

I can not view Dropbox, so can not look at your pictures.

 

[dlee360]

Thanks for the quick reply. Out of curiosity, did you click the link? That should be a public link and you shouldn't need dropbox. If you get an error message, let me know and I'll repost. But back to the pool, yes, there's a valve to turn off the water and right now it's turned off. So..when I turn it on, if I put my finger in the hole (you can see it in the picture next to the float)..about an inch and a half, I can feel water pressure..so I feel..if there's a link, it would be right there? I guess I just don't understand what that hole is that I am blindly putting my finger in :S

 

[jblizzle]

Dropbox is blocked by my firewall ... likely it would work at home.

 

[dlee360]

ahh.. Here you go. Thanks!!!

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Looks like mine...I don't nkow what the hole is for either. Still, water shouldn't run when you pull that float all the way up. Now that you've got it turned off, how fast is the level in the pool going down? It's possible there's a leak somewhere else in the pool or plumbing, and the autofill was just doing it's job keeping up with it.

 

[Hawk]

That hole next to the filler/float is for overflow. When you're pool is overfilling it will allow water to flow out into a drain.

I have the same thing in my pool and that hole is piped into my underground pvc pipe run that carries excess water off my property.

 

[jblizzle]

I agree the hole is an overflow. Mine is just capped off .. which is good because they installed the bucket too low. Very odd that water would be coming out of that hole ... and only when the water is turned on?

Wondering if you have a leak in the water supply line that is saturating the ground near the bucket and the "groundwater" is flowing back into the bucket?

 

[dlee360]

So..I don't think I have a leak in the pool as I haven't noticed too much evaporation (it's pretty hot here in AZ right now). Yes, water leaks out of that hole only when the pool valve is turned on, but again..it's not a huge leak..more than a trickle..I suspect there may be a leak right behind the bucket and water is squirting? in the overflow hole which is causing it to leak..I can feel some plastic sheathing? or something when I feel behind the hole..I don't know..I'm trying to figure out how to even fix it..grr...

 

[Melt In The Sun]

So, back to the first thing...if that valve doesn't shut off when you pull it up, you need a new one. They're cheap; I just replaced mine early this summer and they were in the swamp cooler parts at Lowe's. If you get a valve that works, and you set it low enough that the water is below the hole, and it still leaks, then we start thinking about more serious things.

 

[dlee360]

Yep. It's serious things. So the leak is at the bib, behind the valve. I replaced the valve for fun, but I can feel the leak behind the bib. I've been shaking my head all morning..so right now, my thoughts are to just manually fill the pool with a hose and down the road, budget to get it fixed. Essentially, I would need to dig to gain access to the pvc and essentially figure out how to disconnect it to the basket..I'm guessing it's glued..so depending on where the break is..I may have to replace the bib..if I'm lucky and it's back from the bib a couple inches, I can probably use a coupler..but this whole point is rather mute since I'm not digging in 117 degree weather and I'm not paying upwards of $500 to fix this...ugh..