Questions about a leak

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J

jstblush

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Jun 3, 2015
261
Pasco, WA
We have been losing too much water for the water loss to just be from evaporation. The temps here have been in the 100's for most of the summer, but it still seemed excessive. So I did the bucket test and it showed we are losing too much. So I went around investigating and found this leak around the bottom of the chlorinator. It is a constant leak and always wet all the way around. Do you think this could be the cause our excessive water loss? Or would that kind of a leak not amount to much?
Sherry
IMG_9715-001.jpg
 
I doubt it, unless it is really wet. How much water are you losing per day? Put the numbers in the poolmath volume calculator. Pool length, width and # inches depth lost. That will tell you about how many gallons you are losing. A 30x15 pool losing 2 inches would be 500 gallons of water. Is there a chance that the chlorinator is dropping 500 gallons of water there?
 
I tried putting in the numbers but it only lets me put in feet, not inches. But to help with the amount of loss I did the bucket test. The bucket lost about 1/4 inch and the pool actually lost about 1/2 an inch. So double the amount of evaporation only.
 
One more thing it would explain is why I'm losing CYA. We had to go through the drain and refill process to get our CYA down from 200 to around 40ish this summer. Then when I checked CYA again about a month later it was at about 30. Couldn't understand why the CYA was going down. So it's probably because we are adding more water than normal and using only bleach instead of the tabs we have always used before.
 
1/2" is .042 feet, 0.5÷12. Is your pool 15x30? 15x30x1/2" is 130 gallons

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A leak would cause a drop in CYA. I don't know if a 25% drop can be explained by a leak. You would have to leak out 25% of your water for that to happen.
 
My pool is 16x32. Very close to what you figured. ;) I figured that the addition of water every few days is what is bringing down the CYA. And to think we started with 200 CYA this summer! Better too low than too high though. Don't want to go through the draining again! I have a bucket of tabs in the garage if I need to add CYA. But have to figure out what is going on with the water loss first. :scratch:
 
Yes, I do need to fix that. Thank you. I have read that and that's why I was asking about the leak around the bottom of the chlorinator. We don't use it for tabs anymore since we are on the bleach wagon. :) But it is still leaking. I'm just not sure if it is leaking as much as we're losing. I wonder if we can do all the steps in the article to check out what is going on. Not sure I will understand it all. But will probably have to try.
 
pooldv said:
1/2" is .042 feet, 0.5÷12. Is your pool 15x30? 15x30x1/2" is 130 gallons

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A leak would cause a drop in CYA. I don't know if a 25% drop can be explained by a leak. You would have to leak out 25% of your water for that to happen.
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The one key piece of info missing here is the time. If it is loosing 130 gallons/day then after a short time it could add up to a 25% water loss. If it is over a weeks time or a months time...well something else may be going on
 

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jrguzmanr said:
22 leaks?! I would've gotten rid of the pool by then! i don't want to hijack the thread but what was the issue with the robot?
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My liner and the robot didn't like each other. I have a claim filed with the robot manufacturer. I am supposed to hear a final decision next week.

To the op... Follow your gut. If you think it is a leak it probably is. Everyone told me I was crazy and it was all evaporation and I wasn't doing the bucket test correctly.
 
Well, Bill went out this morning and found another leak on the pump. He sealed both leaks with something (PVC glue)??? Anyhow, turned the pump off and doing the bucket test again. Will see if it makes any difference. Then tomorrow we will do the test again with the pump running. But he wanted everything to be completely fry before turning the pump back on.

Divin Dave, we are not using the chlorinator but don't want to completely eliminate it either. It can be useful if we aren't home and need to use tabs while gone. And also to add CYA with tabs if we keep losing CYA. It's all trial and error. But we're learning ALOT!

Chrissykr, I agree that there is a leak somewhere. The bucket test don't lie. So still working on finding the leak or leaks.
Thanks everyone!
 
Hi guys. Checked our bucket test today. With the pump off we're not losing any water. Yeah! So the real test today is the bucket test with the pump running and the 2 leaks we found and sealed. Hopefully there will be no more leaking. Fingers crossed!!! Wish us luck.
Sherry....the Geek LOL
:geek:
 
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