Pool water loss

[Cabrera1016]

Hello,

We've had to add water to the pool 3 times so far this summer. We filled it and seem to have lost 1/4" overnight. Does anyone know what type of leak could cause that? There is very slow drip and moisture underneath the connection hose from the heater to the pool - but that wouldn't cause that amount of water loss, would it?

We just had our pool installed almost exactly a year ago - can't possibly imagine there being a hole in the liner or something like that.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[mknauss]

Evaporation? Depends on how much rain you get.

I lose up to 1" of water in our pool each day during the summer. But I live in the desert.

Pool School - Leak Detection

 

[woodyp]

I'm losing a half inch a day in Texas. (on the low side!) It's been HOT.

 

[Cabrera1016]

Well, we live in IL and we've had some hot days but recently it hasn't been THAT hot. See the month of july temperatures attached - for both 2018 and 2017. We haven't had much rain so far this month....as you can see from the snapshot I attached. The thing is though...that we didn't add water to our pool AT ALL last year when we got it in July and I think the average temps weren't drastically different.

How is that possible unless we have a leak?

 

[mknauss]

A leak on an Above Ground pool is normally pretty obvious. Look for wet areas around the pool that do not dry up.

If none, I would not stress over it. Enjoy the pool. Swim.

 

[cowboycasey]

I can lose an inch every 3 to 4 days, at 110 last week I was losing 3/4 inch a day...

 

[Cabrera1016]

Thanks for your quick replies! Hmmm. ok. We have looked around the pool and don't see any obvious wetness. But, we do have decorative pebbles that border the entire length of the pool so could there be a leak that we don't immediately see that is under the rocks? Plus, the entire length of the front of our pool is buried - about 9" or so.

I'm honestly stressing about the fact that we have to fill up the pool so much so far this year...(money-wise) -- we just filled it up a week ago Weds for an hour, then this past Thursday for an hour - and then yesterday for 45 minutes. Also concerned because we are going away for 2 weeks in mid-August...and so i'm going to worry about the water levels when we have our pump going (on a timer) if it drops too low.

- - - Updated - - -

I can lose an inch every 3 to 4 days, at 110 last week I was losing 3/4 inch a day...

wow that is insane water loss! but looking at your temps, i'm not surprised either! Ours don't get anywhere close to that.

 

[mknauss]

You are not adding all that much water. A hose runs at ~5gpm at best. So 200 or 300 hundred gallons at a time. Not that much.

Do you have a neighbor able to add some water if necessary? It appears you are chlorinating with Trichlor and minerals. Do realize that is not sustainable.

Do a complete visual of all possible areas for leaks. Seams, skimmer cut outs, pipe connections, etc.

 

[Cabrera1016]

Gotcha. Ok. I'll try to relax a bit about that. Yes - my sister will be around to fill up if need be....just will have to fill it near the top of the skimmer the day we leave as she won't be around for another 3 days from her trip. Hopefully it will be ok - observing until then we can always ask one of the neighbors to fill it if need be.

We actually use the liquid chlorine daily - but when we go on vacation, we're going to install the Z-pack chlorine cartridge to use while we are gone, then go back to the liquid chlorine when we get back. It's not in my signature...but we also do have an electric heater we use on the pool. There is moisture underneath one of the fittings, but that is a very slow leak which wouldn't justify losing the water we are losing.

 

[Pv2]

I would check that hose connection - both ends of it. A slow drip can add up but worse, it can turn into something bigger.

 

[Monkeypool]

Do a bucket test. Easy and simple.

 

[chayne]

i lose about a 1/4" a day here in Texas. it has been very hot. i thought the same thing that i was losing water. did the bucket test and it was evaporation.

 

[DarrelB]

Pretty sure just evaporation, I lose about 1" per week and its only been around 84*F here.

 

[Perpetual summer]

If you have a solar cover, keep it on. It will stop evaporation. Splash out will drain water also. If you don’t use a solar cover, cool nights will also evaporate more from the sun warmed water.

 

[Zrock]

Looking at your weather down their i would say 1/2 is probably evap and 1/2 is due to the drip you have from your connection hose. I had a small drip from my jet hose at teh first of the year and was loosing 2 1/2 inches a week of water. Leak was small enough i did not see it teh first several times around the pool.

 

[Cabrera1016]

Thanks again for all your replies! The leak is SO minute...I can't believe that would cause any substantial water loss....as it's not even a drip or a steady one. I just put my finger under it and there is moisture. Regardless..either way we need to fix the leak by the valve before we leave for vacation as we obviously can't keep capturing it in the bucket and dumping it back in when we are gone. so we meed to fix that one and the very slow leak. I will do the bucket evaporation test too but even that I can't imagine would result in a water loss since it's not hot here...but interesting that you lost 2.5" per week. We've had to add water every couple days the last week and it was HOTTER earlier in the summer (June) and we didn't have to add water....but it also rained more that month too.

 

[Zrock]

Ya my water leak was so small I shrugged it off when I found it and kept looking. But I guess it adds up

 

[Cabrera1016]

So you did the bucket test and the bucket and the pool lost the same amount of water? My husband and I just plugged up the skimmer and the water return, marked the bucket and the pool so we'll see how it is overnight. Or did you guys do it during the day for a more accurate reading? It's just that we have more time now since home from work.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah doesn't look like we have a leak now at the one hose connection. the only other leak we have in the plumbing is right near the pump. Only....our bucket collects that and we dump it back into the pool the next morning and when we get home from work, so that leak is a moot point.

 

[Cabrera1016]

Update: So we finally found the source of the problem. I did the bucket test and discovered that the pool lost about .5" in a day where the bucket was fine. We looked around the perimeter and I told my husband that it seems greener on the one side but he claimed it was because he watered there. So we kept keeping tabs as we kept having to refill the pool every other day for an hour - and there was very tall grass on that same side I had told him about the green grass so we looked for leaks. Unable to find it, we finally DID find it by chance in that area. Turns out, the ladder that we had moved from the one side of the pool to the other, where the grass was greener not only had a small rip in the liner, but THREE small tears. All from the stupid ladder that we had put in that side -that stupid part that is on the back of the steps on the inside of the pool is sharp and tore little holes as it made it's way down. VERY poor design. At any rate, we patched up the holes and voila - no more losing water!!

Wanted to thank you all for trying to help us out - I really appreciate the time you all took to reply!

Now that our pool season is about over - we find the leak. LOL