Possible pool leak

[jmdsurf45]

I had a pool built 3 years ago and never had to add water as much as I have recently. I have read a lot of post, tried all the suggestions mentioned. The bucket test did not suggest a leak. The weather here in Houston Texas this year has been abnormally cool and drier due to a lot of north winds. Could this account for increased water evaporation. We planted palms around the back side of our pool within 3 feet of the beam. I know there was plumbing in that area. The palms have grown big. Could the roots possibly of damaged that plumbing? Not sure what to do now!!! Call a pool company?
On top of that, a lot of my flagstone coping has come loose so I also need to deal with that!!!

 

[Pool Tool]

What kind of water additions are you talking; inch per week, per day?? Windy and dry conditions will definitely increase the evaporation rate. In fact they are the two most important factors. As long as your bucket water loss was consistent with the pool loss I would consider it no leak.

Roots will invariably find and follow the plumbing since water runs easier along the outside of the pipe then through the soil. That doesn't mean the roots have caused damage though. You could try a cheap solar cover. That would significantly cut down on evaporation and may solve your water loss issue.

 

[borjis]

There was someone else recently in Texas that thought they had a leak too...the bucket test indicated not.

 

[Texas Splash]

It's a bit tough to really answer your water loss question as there are some variables we just don't have available (pool info, amount of water loss, etc). But I will say that I too have also been experiencing lots of wind the past few days. Unseasonably dry as well. I had to add quite a bit of water yesterday. So the wind can definitely increase water loss with evaporation. How much depends on water surface exposure, surface size of your pool, speed of the wind, temps, and probably some other "rocket scientist" stuff I'm leaving out. The big thing is that if the bucket test showed no indication of a leak, you probably don't have one. If you did, there would be some other signs like damp areas in the yard, air bubbles in the system perhaps, etc. As for the palms, I have no idea how aggressive the root system is for the particular palms you planted, but I suppose you could call a nursery or check on-line to confirm any suspicions you may have about their growth pattern. I kind of doubt they are an issue now, but it might be good to know.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

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