SLAM IS ALMOST FINISHED, NOW WHAT? ??'s on HOW TO LEVEL AND THEN MAINTAIN AFTER SLAM

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Look at that pretty pool! I am so glad you found a way to post pics! THAT sure tells the story of the hard work you did!

The brown stuff is dead algae! NEAT huh?? Keep up the SLAM until that is gone.

For your times away from the pool you CAN use pucks. Just make sure you use pool math and your testing to KNOW what will and has been added.

Kim
 
Thank you Kim. You have been one who has been here for me helping to answer some of my gazillion questions since day one. I thank you again for you helping to teach me the ropes, lol although I've about hung myself with that rope a few times along the way, you and so many others untied the noose, and put me on the right track again. As you can see all the hard work you all put in has also paid off. I couldn't have done it at all without the TFP site, The TFP method, and the help of so many wonderful, knowledgeable, people teaching me what to do along the way.

If it's not as cloudy today I'll try to post a full pic of what the pool looks like now. Thanks again Kim for everything. Your help was so appreciated. Have A Wonderful Day :).
 
Hello All,

I went on a Leak hunt today without any luck. The water was cold because it's rained the past couple days, and has on been in the 70's through the day and has been dropping down in the 60's at night making sticking my head under the water looking for, and patching possible leaks tough, and cold. (lol jaduck warned about the temperature thing on page 1. Now I truly understand).

I used food coloring, and saw a couple of possible suspicious areas, but never actually seen any food coloring being pulled directly into a hole, tear, etc. I did go ahead and patch them, but the leak continues.

I can see the water coming out on the outside of the pool now that I moved the pea gravel back, but can not find where it could be coming from on the inside. I even took the shop vac and removed all the water in that area only to sit and watch water coming back out from under the vertical support again. It didn't take it long for the water to be back there again.

It appears to be coming out from under the corner of a vertical support. I'm now wondering if I need to remove more pea gravel further around the pool because perhaps the leak is not at that vertical support at all, and is actually running downhill, and out there? The pool has never been 100% level, and with settling throughout the years etc. one side appears to have about 2"s less water in it than the other side. Would that be possible?

It's really hard to tell where the leak is at because everything seems wet and soggy right now anyway because of all the rain we've been having. Even though it's rained fairly heavy at times, the water level because I've not added any water for 2 days is about 1" away from the bottom of the skimmer. (So I suspect it's down about 4-6")? I think I'm going to let it go ahead, and drop below the skimmer, and see if it stops leaking or not.

I put food coloring around the skimmer, but didn't notice it being drawn into it. I'm not exactly sure how to check for leaks at the skimmer, or where exactly to put the food coloring. I just gave it a good healthy dose around the edges and in the center, and then watched to see where it went.

I did also see 2 areas, one or both which May be the culprit?

One was when I added food coloring at the wall section, the food coloring just stayed in that one place while the drops around it continued to dissipate. There was also an area on the bottom where the food color remained dark and was there for quite some time. The area in the center did have a crescent moon shape that was mentioned in another post that I read on here. (when all the debris was being removed prior to SLAM it was all done with a leaf rake, and I suppose it could be possible that a hole was torn in the liner during that time, but locating it is like looking for a needle in a hay stake. (LOL a very cold hay stack).

Investigating that area where the food coloring remained in a crescent moon shape long after the rest had dissipated, didn't reveal anything either, but then again it was almost too cold to remain under the water for too long searching.

It's suppose to warm back up in the 80s by the end of the weekend so I should be able to search the liner again. If there is anyone who has any other suggestions on things that I can try to be able to locate the leak (s) please let me know.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day.
 
Help please any suggestions appreciated. I checked the water level this morning, and it's down about another inch since last night, which equals to it being right at the bottom of the skimmer line now :(. So, UGGGG, it looks like I'll be out there again today attempting to locate the leak. I think the only bright side to today's search is that I now have an inch less COLD water in the pool to stick my head under in order to try to find it lol, plus it's suppose to be a warmer, and non rainy day, thank goodness.

I am planning on starting on the outside of the pool, and moving the pea gravel out of the way to see if I can determine where the leak starts at.

I really am more inclined to think it starts on the opposite side of the pool, and is running down hill from where the water is standing because as I walk around the pool I can see hit, and miss wet areas in the pea gravel where the water is running down, which covers one 1/2 side of the pool. (not that the 2 day rain helped that one bit). The other side of the pool appears completely dry.

I also noticed yesterday where the water is coming out from under the vertical support that it would wash smaller pieces of pea gravel, dirt etc. out from somewhere with the water, so it seems to have a pretty good flow going to it. I also put soap on the outside area yesterday to see if it would bubble, but the flow of water just quickly pushed the soap on along with it?

All and all the liner looks to be in really good shape, except the center is kind of bubbled because of the years of throwing dry chemicals out there which I didn't know I wasn't suppose to be doing :oops:. (Thanks to TFP I now know better :).

All I really know is I have got to find this leak (s), or I'm kinda of stuck on moving forward from here. Any suggestions on locating this leak would be appreciated. Thank you all for the help you've given me so far, and have a wonderful day.
 
When we had a leak the wet area was at 9 o'clock and the tiny hole was at 12 o'clock! We could NOT find it and had to call out a company that had a neat machine that found the leak. I put on my swim mask and was able to find it when they said "THERE". It was a tiny hole not bigger than a pin prick really.

I found them by calling every pool store and installer in our area. They were the only ones that had the machine. I THINK it cost $150 but we were NOT have any luck so............

Kim
 
Thanks Kim. Plus my stupid legs and feet are causing me so much problem. I couldn't hardly even get up the ladder to get in the pool yesterday because they are so swollen that my ankles and toes won't even bend. So crazy. For the 1st week or so it was just one now it's both of the stupid things. I had them elevated all day the other day and they still didn't go down. LOL perhaps I need a new liner, new legs, and new feet. Have a Nice day :).
 
Hello All,

Well I did manage to find a very significant hole pouring water on the outside, but had a lot of trouble finding it on the inside. I placed vinyl in the hole on the outside, and used a rock to hold it in place which slowed the leak down a lot. I placed a piece of duct tape on the pool railing above where the hole was outside to give me a general area once I was inside the pool. Squirting food coloring in the area lead me nowhere, but I did have pretty rainbow colored water by the time I was finished considered I ended up using 3 different colors.


So I cut a patch, placed the adhesive on it, and stuck it in the approximate area LOL. (My 1st pool patch experience was not a pretty site (in more ways than one, but the patch is on there, kind of lol). The patched seemed to slow the leak a lot, but still didn't completely stop it.

I allowed the 1st patch to sit on there for awhile then headed back in to place patch #2, which I made significantly bigger this time. I put patch 2, over top of patch #1, and extended it further down the side of the pool lengthwise, and placed more of it on the bottom of the pool too because the hole appears to be right in the groove, or just above it somewhere.

When I checked the area outside I saw no water coming out, whereas there was still a trickle earlier even with the vinyl and rock in place. I left the vinyl and rock blocking the outside hole in place, and will remove them tomorrow to see if the leak has completely stopped, or if patch 3 is going to have to be placed.


Actually it's really not hard to place the patches at all. My biggest issue was keeping the wrinkles out of them under the water. It would have been kind of fun placing them if the water wasn't so cold, but if I never have to place another one that will be just fine too, but at least I now know how should I have to.

Keep your fingers crossed that patch 2 stops the leak, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

I did check my FC levels too because I still don't want another algae bloom during this leak issue and it was still at
FC 8, ( so I let it ride, and hopefully tomorrow I can start adding the water and chlorine, and get the pump restarted. I'll probably end up having to add some more Stabilizer tomorrow too because I'm sure once I add all that water again, my CYA is going to be low, again).

Thank you all for your help, and Have a Nice Night!!!
 
Hello all you fine and knowledgeable TFP folks, and Good Morning, :wave:

Well it's back to searching Again this morning, I still lost about 1/2 inch of water overnight. I guess that's better than the 1-2" I've been losing, but I'm sure the vinyl stuffed in the hole on the outside, and the rock holding the vinyl in the hole is what has slowed the leak down. Seriously, I need to locate the hole(s) already, but so far it's been like looking for a needle in a hay stake.

I'm almost tempted to put something into the hole from the outside just so I can find it on the inside, but with my luck the water will be coming out there from somewhere else, and I'll make another hole instead lol. I may, however, try to squirt some food coloring into the hole with a syringe (no needle) to see if it can be seen coming in on the inside, but most likely the water pressure will just probably wash it all right back out?

Does anyone have any other ideas because if you do I'd really appreciate hearing them.

I really can't afford to get a (LOL I'm going to say it)- "Pool Store" person to come find the leak for me, and should be able to find this one on my own- (LOL well the thought sounded good in my head anyway).

I think today while searching, considering I can't see what's going on outside the pool while I'm on the inside of the pool, I'm also going to place a full length mirror outside in front of the hole to be able to watch the leak while I place vinyl without the glue over different areas to see when it stops.

LOL if nothing else, perhaps a plane passing overhead will see the mirror, think it's a SOS, and send someone to come rescue me cause this is making me crazy (ier). :crazy: :brickwall: :drown: :hammer:

Well it's back to the underwater searches I go, whooo hooo->(sarcasm),:snorkle:

LOL, wish me luck, and have a wonderful day.
 

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LUCK and a lot of it! We looked for over a week. I used my snorkeling mask so I could see under the water. I looked into renting or even buying a dive tank and mouth piece LOL. It ended up being cheaper to hire the leak finder!

Kim
 
LOL pabeader I know right. It's pretty pathetic the only time I've been able to get in since Slamming is to search for leaks. I want to get on a float, and do Nothing in there already, but lol once the water is tapped back off, IF the leak is ever found, it's going to be way too cold to even get in it again. LOL it will be time to shut in down in about 3 weeks, I have to have surgery sometime between now, and the 1st of September (I'm still not sure of the date yet), so if I'm actually going to "Swim" at all this year I better hurry up. LOL I'm starting to think better luck next year. I had this beautiful crystal clear water that was leveled perfectly chemically, thanks to TFP, and all the help I received, and now I'm just watching it all run out on the ground :(.

Kim, Thank you for the Luck, I need all the help I can get at this point. LOL I understand what you're saying about the lengths taken to locate the leak yourself.
Unfortunately,it may come to where I have no choice but to hire someone to find it for me too, but I really don't want to have to do that if I can keep from it. I've been using goggles to go underwater, and look for the leak. But lol the goggles I have can be horrible. They have silicone eye pieces so they have a lot of suction to them, and if they're not on just right they squish, and suck my eyes all up, and make everything look like I'm looking at it cross eyed lol.

LOL Then there's the issue with my hair even though it's pulled back in a ponytail, for some reason it still somehow manages to completely cover my eyes, and my goggles while I'm trying to search. I think now I'm going to have to invest in one of those funky vinyl bathing cap things just to be able to see underwater LOL.

Never a dull moment. I hope you both have a wonderful day.
 
Guess what!!!!
I THINK I found the leak, and got it fixed. :). Keeping my fingers crossed.

Using that full length mirror on the outside of the pool and being able to see when it did, or didn't stop from the inside, helped sooo much.

I was about 6" off my mark from where I patched yesterday. I was looking for one big hole or tear because of the large amount of water that was coming out, but instead found 3 tiny holes about the size of a pencil lead instead. Once I placed a piece of vinyl without the glue over them the leak immediately stopped. I raised up the vinyl, and the leak started again. I did this several times in sheer disbelief that holes that tiny could be what had caused me to lose so much water.

The holes actually looked like little black tiny dots on the bottom that didn't brush away when I ran across them with my foot. I was actually able to locate them standing up in the pool, instead of searching underwater for them. After I patched those I went around the perimeter of the pool, and found a couple more tiny dots that also received a patch too, so if they were leaking, hopefully they aren't now. I didn't check the center yet because there is too much debris that's been tracked in during the leak search, so it will have to be brushed and vacuumed before I'd be able to locate any leaks out there.

But the area that I saw leaking no longer has even a drop coming from it, and all that water that was there has already soaked into the ground.
I'm now waiting to make sure All the wet areas all the way around the pool soak into the ground too, to make sure there's not another leak on the other side that I've missed.


Thank you TFP members for all your help, and suggestions. You might make a decent pool owner out of me yet :). Have a wonderful day.

Oh and pabeader, 3 hair barrettes ending up solving the hair issue.
 
Thank you Kim. You telling me that about yours is what made me start searching for something a lot, lot, smaller than I was expecting. I watched a video on Youtube that had an underwater camera, and the guy doing the video said, "See all those little black dots, they are leaks." So I thought, what the heck, I'll start looking for little black dots, instead of big holes or tears, and sure enough they were the problem.

The hole on the outside of the frame is close to the size of a dime, so I thought the leak(s) on the inside would have been much bigger. I suspect they have been going on for awhile, but at a much slower pace, and either another hole came in it recently, or something caused it to start leaking more (about 1-2" per day more).

I just went out and checked it again, and that area is completely dry now, but I did see some standing water on the opposite side of the pool (where I was searching at the 1st day). I'm now waiting to see if it dries up because I think there could also be a leak over there too that I've missed. I know the one I patched earlier was the worst one if there is even another leak at all.

If it's not a leak, I suspect it could be that the ground is just so saturated by the amount of water lost from the other side, and all the rain we've been getting, that it is flowing to the lowest point, and stopping there? I took the shop vac, and sucked all the water up, but it didn't take long for it to return again. I don't want to add anymore water back to the pool until I'm sure I've got all the leaks fixed. AND, on top of everything, while I'm trying to watch for the ground to dry up to see if I do or don't have another leak, as usual this Summer, it looks like it's going to rain, Again.

I know a lot of places are having droughts, and are under water bans right now, so I wish I could send them about half the water we've gotten from the rain this Summer because it would sure come in handy for them, and we've had enough already. I am almost to the bottom of the skimmer now so on the plus side if it does drop that low I'll probably go ahead, and put on the Ball valves I bought the other day for it :). Thanks for your help, and have a nice day.
 
Hello All,

Well it rained again last night, so I still can't be sure whether the ground is wet from the rain, or from a missed leak? The water level appear to be remaining a lot more stable now, so that's a plus. Hopefully, tomorrow with it suppose to be bright, and sunny it will dry all that up ,and I'll know if all the leaks are stopped or not. I'm debating with my up and coming surgery in a couple of weeks, and just a few weeks before swim season will be ending whether I should refill the lost water, or just go ahead and winterize it? What are your thoughts on this? Thank you all for all your help, and have a wonderful night!!
 
The rain added about an inch to the pool last night, and all the surrounding areas are now officially dry. So I think, I hope, that all the leaks are stopped. I did decide to go ahead and add the water, instead of closing it down early. I'm unsure if I'll be able to swim in it even once before surgery, or any after surgery, due to the 6 week healing of my incision post op.

Between the pool being in such terrible condition to start, then having to replace the MPV, the sand, my feet/legs swelling so badly I could hardly walk to check the levels, then having to try to locate the leaks d/t losing too much water to maintain the level, then the rain, the rain, the rain, causing the temperatures to drop into the low 60's at night, etc., etc. I will do my very best to try to find a way to swim in my beautiful completely clean, and clear pool at least once before having to shut it down for the season. LOL I feel I have earned that 1 swim, and I shall have it if at all possible.

I am so grateful that I found this site, and again thank you ALL so much for your suggestions, and encouragement along the way. As soon as I get the water back in I'll be sure to post an after SLAM picture for you all to see. Have a wonderful night!!!
 

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