Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak - **Update - New Weird Leak**

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Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak

It's really straight thru the wall. We're talking 6-8 inches in from the pool, out the other side. The other side of the cut pipe comes from the south return and the pad.

I wonder if we should be trying to replace the pipe in the wall while things are open. Maybe it's cracked somewhere (can't imagine where, though) that's letting water into the inside of the pipe?

Once the water is down, I'll see what I can see. There's not much room out there for extra hands!

I really wonder about this pool. It does seem to be concrete walls all the way down. It's a vermiculite or sand botttom, so I don't think it was ever a concrete pool though. I don't see any evidence on the bottom that there ever was a main drain. And the plumbing is pretty simple, with no 'leftover' pipes, except for the heater we took out.
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak

Yup...I was going to try to post pics, but I'll get to them later.

We did it!

The guys worked until 10:50, racing the midwest storms (we're in KCMO). We never did figure out why water kept coming back THRU the return piping, even when plugged. We let things sit until Monday morning, when we fired up the pump. No more leaks! Whoo hoo!

Now we just have to tackle the liner leaks. I called the leak detector, and he said he'd charge $99 to patch them. My husband is a former water patrol officer, and has friends with scuba gear, so that's going to get tackled this week. If they can't find them, I guess $99 for someone else to patch them isn't too bad.

After we get the liner leaks fixed, we'll be on to renovating/remodeling decisions. We keep changing our minds about what we want to do next. I do know that our liner is definitely on its last legs, so that plays a big part in our plans. I just don't know how to plan the order of some of the things I want to tackle. That'll be Money Pit, Part 2!


Oh, and turns out the walls are concrete block, not solid concrete.

Thanks, everyone, for all your help!

Amy
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak **Update Question**

While we have the deck open to the back of the wall at the deep end, is there anything we can or should do to enhance our pool? Can we add lights to the pool? Anything else that would be useful, cool or nice?

(I realize we should have thought of this before we replumbed, but better now than after we fix the concrete!!!)

Amy
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak - **New, weird leak**

It's baaaaccckkk!

ok....it's cousin is back!

I looked in the hole the other night for no particular reason. The ground was wet. Even weirder, the wall to the right of the return was wet. I let the sun shine on the deck all day, to try to dry things out. As the sun came 'round to the west, I could actually see the water coming back thru the wall!

Yup...it's actually coming thru the concrete block wall, dripping down. This is several inches to the south of the return, and it appears that there is some type of patch in the wall. The patch appears much smaller than a return, and I can't feel anything on the liner side of the pool.

This is a liner pool! Where on earth is the water coming from? It only appears to leak when the pump is on.

One other tidbit, it appears that at one time there was a diving board and/or slide at this end of the pool. Could there some old tubing buried in the wall? Could that also explain the mystery water coming back thru the plugged return?

Amy


P.S. Could someone point me to instructions to update the original title, if that's possible to do? I couldn't find anything specific about doing that.
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak

A slide would almost always have a water feed pipe to keep the slide wet. Is there any sign of a smaller pipe leaving the equipment pad that isn't otherwise accounted for?
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak - **New, weird leak**

amylucintfp said:
P.S. Could someone point me to instructions to update the original title, if that's possible to do? I couldn't find anything specific about doing that.
Click to expand...

I believe if you edit the 1st post in the thread you can change the title there.

Edit: Looks like you already found it!
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak

There's nothing on the pad that I can see. In the prior pics in this thread, what you see is what you get. Of course, the age of this thing is probably 40 years, so old lines may have been capped off.

I am trying to get pics....very sunny today, and made taking pics in the hole difficult.

Farther south (to the right when facing) from the return and the weeping hole, up on the deck, are what I think are slide leg holes. I looked for a small hole up thru the deck for tubing that would have gone up to a slide, but don't see anything. The legs appear to be plugged, so I can't tell if tubing came up thru the leg holes.

Looking from the west:

( ) 0

where ( ) is the return, and 0 is the weeping hole in the concrete block. They are on the same plane. The return pipe comes out of the wall 6" , and makes a right-hand (south) turn, back over the weeping hole and then goes on past the slide legs.

Remember, this is the return that had water coming back thru it even when winter-plugged. Could there seriously be some time of piping inside the concrete block, connected to the pvc that goes thru the wall for the return?

I need to inspect the rest of the vinyl side between the weeping hole and the slide leg holes, to see if I feel anything. I only felt around the weeping hole.

I am very confused. I will try to get some good pictures and get them posted quickly. I have a 30-day warranty on my leak detection, so if I have more issues, I'd like to get them found.
 

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Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak - **Update - New Weird Leak

So to clarify, there was water coming out of the return pipe even though the return was plugged? And this pipe was not t-ing off - it was a straight shot through the wall? Any chance it's leaking around the pipe but appears tomb coming through it? Prob too late now but if you capped it would the leak stop? Just thinking maybe it's a leak in the return fitting's seal?

I'd be really surprised if it was looped through the wall but stranger things have been seen on this board.
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak - **Update - New Weird Leak

Yup...during the repair, water was coming at a pretty good clip back thru the return, from the pool, even though the winterizing plug was installed.

The return pipe comes straight thru the wall. If it has a tee off it, it's not obvious. I guess I could try poking my fingers in to see if I can feel a hole.

The water was definitely flowing out from the end of the pipe, not around the outside of the pipe where the pipe touches the walls. Should have snapped pics or gotten video, cuz it just doesn't make sense.

And, there's still no water coming around the outside edges of the pipe now, and that's not something the guys messed with, so there were no changes they made that would have stopped an 'outside edge' leak.

I'm not sure I understand 'capping it'. We put a winterizing plug in it, and they tried some automotive freeze plugs (rubber with a screw in them??). Nothing seemed to stop the water. That's when they gave up and drained down below the returns.

I know they did try to take the return piping out, in order to replace it. I know they weren't successful, but don't know the details. I'll see if I can find out.

Amy
 
Re: Money Pit, Part 1 - The Leak - **Update - New Weird Leak

By capping it I meant blocking off the pipe on the end outside of th epool and seeing if the water came out form around it, but you've already onfirmed it's not coming from around the pipe.
 
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