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Corrina621

Corrina621

Member
May 20, 2022
9
Phoenix
Pool Size
40000
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hi everyone! I just joined the forum this morning, hoping y’all can help us with our current quandary. We have a forty thousand gallon in-ground pool. Yesterday we noticed some standing water at the edge of our driveway out front. We’re in Phoenix’s west valley so any standing water is noticeable and/or unusual. The water is coming from a non-pressurized pvc drain line buried just a couple of inches down at the edge of our property. It appears to angle under our driveway. My husband assumes it is the overflow drain line from the pool and immediately suspected a problem with our autofill. We temporarily wedged a shim in the float basket to prevent the float from sensing a drop in water level. 14 hours later the pipe out front is still flowing. If the autofill were the culprit, wouldn’t the pool just overflow?? Any ideas??? We also have a sprinkler system but I don’t see why a sprinkler system would need a drain line but I admittedly know nothing about sprinklers. Regardless, something is leaking/draining. Thanks in advance for your help!!
 
Corrina621 said:
My husband assumes it is the overflow drain line from the pool and immediately suspected a problem with our autofill.
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Where is the pool water level relative to the overflow?

If the autofill is turned off, the water level in the pool would drop if the water is from the pool.

Go look at your water meter to see if water is moving while everything in the house is off.

 
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By the way, your pool auto fill line should be hooked up somewhere on your property to a backflow preventer with a 1/4-turn shutoff valve. Typically auto fill source lines are tee’d off of an outdoor spigot nearest the pool. So there’s no need to wedge anything into the float, just turn off the auto fill supply line.
 
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JamesW said:
Where is the pool water level relative to the overflow?

If the autofill is turned off, the water level in the pool would drop if the water is from the pool.

Go look at your water meter to see if water is moving while everything in the house is off.

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I will definitely check this shortly. Thank you!
 
JoyfulNoise said:
By the way, your pool auto fill line should be hooked up somewhere on your property to a backflow preventer with a 1/4-turn shutoff valve. Typically auto fill source lines are tee’d off of an outdoor spigot nearest the pool. So there’s no need to wedge anything into the float, just turn off the auto fill supply line.
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I haven’t been able to find it yet but I will continue to look! Thank you!
 
Corrina621 said:
So if I shut off the sprinkler system it should stop? I’m pretty sure this is a stupid question but are new to the desert!
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Hey, just saw you’re in Phoenix. Yes, turn off the irrigation system at the main. Like your auto fill, it should be fed by an anti-siphon/backflow prevention loop at your water main to the house or close to it. They usually have a shutoff valve that will let you cut off water to the entire irrigation system. Start there and turn it off.
 

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JoyfulNoise said:
Hey, just saw you’re in Phoenix. Yes, turn off the irrigation system at the main. Like your auto fill, it should be fed by an anti-siphon/backflow prevention loop at your water main to the house or close to it. They usually have a shutoff valve that will let you cut off water to the entire irrigation system. Start there and turn it off.
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You’re so helpful. Thank you!! Let’s see if I can figure this out….
 
I DID IT! It’s the irrigation system. I turned off what i thought was the irrigation PVB but the water was still leaking from the drain pipe. Turns out I’d actually turned off the pool’s PVB. Once I figured that out, I turned off the other PVB and the leak stopped almost immediately. I think I’m glad, right? A sprinkler problem seems less catastrophic than an underground pool leak, right?

Thank you, everyone!!
 
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Corrina621 said:
I DID IT! It’s the irrigation system. I turned off what i thought was the irrigation PVB but the water was still leaking from the drain pipe. Turns out I’d actually turned off the pool’s PVB. Once I figured that out, I turned off the other PVB and the leak stopped almost immediately. I think I’m glad, right? A sprinkler problem seems less catastrophic than an underground pool leak, right?

Thank you, everyone!!
Click to expand...

Depends on how long it’s been leaking … you may want to be sitting down when you get your next water bill.

I don’t know your back story but I grew up on the east coast. When we moved to the west (first California then Arizona), the cost of water every month nearly made me cry. I spend more on water that I do on my cellphone and internet combined. I got rid of my irrigation system precisely because of that. It hasn’t been turned on (nor would I turn it on as my dog has chewed up every line there is) in 2 years. Anything landscape-wise that isn’t drought-tolerant and native to the southwest has died long ago and will not be replanted. My entire lot is rocked, no grass anywhere except for fake turf. I water plants that are potted by hand, no irrigation. We are unfortunate in that Tucson Water never ran any of the purple water lines (reclaimed water) out here so everything is potable water. I will not waste expensive drinking water on landscaping.
 
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Corrina621 said:
I DID IT! It’s the irrigation system. I turned off what i thought was the irrigation PVB but the water was still leaking from the drain pipe. Turns out I’d actually turned off the pool’s PVB. Once I figured that out, I turned off the other PVB and the leak stopped almost immediately. I think I’m glad, right? A sprinkler problem seems less catastrophic than an underground pool leak, right?

Thank you, everyone!!
Click to expand...
Great!!! We had a neighbor that had a kid's party the other day and the next morning there was a large water bubble under the turf and little house pressure. The crew that set up the inflatable slide and play thingy had driven a stakedown for it through their sprinkler main.
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
JoyfulNoise said:
Depends on how long it’s been leaking … you may want to be sitting down when you get your next water bill.

I don’t know your back story but I grew up on the east coast. When we moved to the west (first California then Arizona), the cost of water every month nearly made me cry. I spend more on water that I do on my cellphone and internet combined. I got rid of my irrigation system precisely because of that. It hasn’t been turned on (nor would I turn it on as my dog has chewed up every line there is) in 2 years. Anything landscape-wise that isn’t drought-tolerant and native to the southwest has died long ago and will not be replanted. My entire lot is rocked, no grass anywhere except for fake turf. I water plants that are potted by hand, no irrigation. We are unfortunate in that Tucson Water never ran any of the purple water lines (reclaimed water) out here so everything is potable water. I will not waste expensive drinking water on landscaping.
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We moved here from the Midwest via Houston. The water in Houston is wildly more expensive than here in the valley. We have been *stunned* by how cheap water is here. Makes zero sense to us. It cost me less than two hundred bucks to completely refill our 40k+ gallon pool! I don’t think the irrigation system has been leaking for more than about 24 hours, based on the fact that it instantly stopped flowing when I shut off the PVB but we’ll see when the bill arrives! Thankfully we installed a full solar array as soon as we bought the house so our electricity bill is roughly $30 this time of year.
JoyfulNoise said:
Depends on how long it’s been leaking … you may want to be sitting down when you get your next water bill.

I don’t know your back story but I grew up on the east coast. When we moved to the west (first California then Arizona), the cost of water every month nearly made me cry. I spend more on water that I do on my cellphone and internet combined. I got rid of my irrigation system precisely because of that. It hasn’t been turned on (nor would I turn it on as my dog has chewed up every line there is) in 2 years. Anything landscape-wise that isn’t drought-tolerant and native to the southwest has died long ago and will not be replanted. My entire lot is rocked, no grass anywhere except for fake turf. I water plants that are potted by hand, no irrigation. We are unfortunate in that Tucson Water never ran any of the purple water lines (reclaimed water) out here so everything is potable water. I will not waste expensive drinking water on landscaping.
Click to expand...
 
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