Hello - have a 36x18 liner pool with attached spill over spa. I am trying to figure out if my water loss is due to a leak or normal evaporation. I did a bucket test and over a 36 hour period my pool lost just about a 1/2 inch and my bucket lost 1/4 inch. I have a spill over spa and was told that i will lose more water due to the spill over but doubling my bucket loss seems high to me. If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated. I love in New England. Pool company is coming over today to check things out but wanted to get some additional information before they arrive. thanks in advance for any input!!

Was the spillover running during the bucket test? If so, how long?

yes the spill over runs all day from 5am-8am at high speed and 8am-8pm on low speed (we have a 2 speed pump) then it shuts off completely overnight until it turns back on at 5am. we don't have anyway to have the pump on and not have the sill over running...

I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't skew the test some. You'd get better results if you did the bucket test with the pump off the whole time.

i think that's the problem i'm in. i don't believe there's a leak in the liner but i'm afraid there's a leak in the pipes (i had a leak in the filter initially that the pool company had to fix). i'm not sure how to test so that i have the pump and pool plumbing working and not the spillover spa? i have to turn the filter off to turn the spa off. it just seems high that the spillover could cause 1/4 inch extra of evaporation.