Hello all!
This summer is my first time owning a pool. I purchased a home over the winter that has an inground 50k gallon gutter pool (50ft x 30ft).
My understanding is that my water level should be high enough so that water is constantly overflowing into the gutters in order to properly skim the pool, since I don't have any actual skimmers. Unfortunately, every time I fill my pool that high, I lose about 2 inches of water overnight (see the attached photo showing where the water level drops to). After that, no more water loss, so I know the "leak" is happening somewhere in those top 2 inches.
There is a plastic border that surrounds the entire pool and acts as the border between the pool and the gutters. There are tiny gaps in the border at the corners, and in a few places along the edges where 2 of the plastic pieces come together (see the attached photo that shows one of these gaps). I discovered that these gaps are actually allowing water to trickle through into the gutters before I get the water level over the edge, and water also seeps through the bottom of these plastic pieces between the plastic and the metal, which is a space that I would think is supposed to be water sealed. The height of these gaps is almost exactly the amount of water that I'm losing, so I think the gaps are related to my leak. The issue is, even with water seeping through these gaps, the water just trickles into my gutters, which leads to my surge tank and ultimately gets pumped back into the pool, so it is unclear where I'm actually losing the water. I'm thinking there must be a small gap between the pool and the gutter and some of the water that gets underneath the plastic is leaking out of the system that way, but I'm hoping I can get a more clear answer from you guys.
Also, I would really like to take off a piece of the plastic border to see what it looks like underneath between the pool and gutter, but I wanted to know if that is something that's okay to do or if I should leave it.
Lastly, when my pump is off there is usually standing water in the gutters. I've used leak detection dye to look for any water flow and have not found any movement in the water, so I'm fairly certain that I'm not losing the water anywhere in the gutter or the pipe leading from the gutter to the surge tank.
Please let me know if there is any other information/photos that I can provide to make answering this easier. Thanks!
This summer is my first time owning a pool. I purchased a home over the winter that has an inground 50k gallon gutter pool (50ft x 30ft).
My understanding is that my water level should be high enough so that water is constantly overflowing into the gutters in order to properly skim the pool, since I don't have any actual skimmers. Unfortunately, every time I fill my pool that high, I lose about 2 inches of water overnight (see the attached photo showing where the water level drops to). After that, no more water loss, so I know the "leak" is happening somewhere in those top 2 inches.
There is a plastic border that surrounds the entire pool and acts as the border between the pool and the gutters. There are tiny gaps in the border at the corners, and in a few places along the edges where 2 of the plastic pieces come together (see the attached photo that shows one of these gaps). I discovered that these gaps are actually allowing water to trickle through into the gutters before I get the water level over the edge, and water also seeps through the bottom of these plastic pieces between the plastic and the metal, which is a space that I would think is supposed to be water sealed. The height of these gaps is almost exactly the amount of water that I'm losing, so I think the gaps are related to my leak. The issue is, even with water seeping through these gaps, the water just trickles into my gutters, which leads to my surge tank and ultimately gets pumped back into the pool, so it is unclear where I'm actually losing the water. I'm thinking there must be a small gap between the pool and the gutter and some of the water that gets underneath the plastic is leaking out of the system that way, but I'm hoping I can get a more clear answer from you guys.
Also, I would really like to take off a piece of the plastic border to see what it looks like underneath between the pool and gutter, but I wanted to know if that is something that's okay to do or if I should leave it.
Lastly, when my pump is off there is usually standing water in the gutters. I've used leak detection dye to look for any water flow and have not found any movement in the water, so I'm fairly certain that I'm not losing the water anywhere in the gutter or the pipe leading from the gutter to the surge tank.
Please let me know if there is any other information/photos that I can provide to make answering this easier. Thanks!
