New to Washington from Florida, inherited 2 yr swamp

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I would not take any patch off just in case.

When we had a leak the water came out over here but the tiny hole was over there :rolleyes: Had to hire someone to use their machine that had a magnet and somehow found the leak. I asked questions but have forgotten the answers as it was a long time ago.

Kim:cat:
 
After failing to find a home plumbing leak myself once, I used a national leak detection company. It was a great experience, he used equipment, told me it was under the slab, made an X, asked if I wanted him to expose it (included in the price) which I had him do, he jackhammered and chiseled it out and sure enough there it was. He then put a temporary band patch on it that would hold until the full plumber came to fix it. Leak Detection was $400 I think in that context, but maybe pools are less. In any case, I seem to be in the clear, water loss seems to stop at the bottom of the skimmer basket housing. Will investigate.
 
It is possible the water loss has stopped. I have taken photos of where the water level is at now. I'm hoping there is no significant change by tonight or tomorrow morning, thus verifying it. In the mean time, I took a couple videos of how food coloring using a 10mL medicine syringe worked in terms of trying to identify a source of water loss in vinyl. Pump had been off for over a day, wind was minimal. Water was quite still. I'm curious to see what you all make of these videos. I learned that less food coloring is more useful. A drop really does show quite well. Sorry I used so much in these videos. After I finished I used the hose to disperse/dilute the red until I could no longer see any concentration anywhere. Unfortunately, it seems it was too late for the inside of the skimmer housing that seems to have been dyed red in a couple places. Oops! Moving on. Thank you to anyone who views/comments on these videos. You can download it using the bottom at the top if the buffering doesn't cooperate or it doesn't stream clearly.

Vid 1 - Skimmer basket housing, liner-side then inside, 1m33s
Vid 2 - looking down into skimmer, 42s
Vid 3 - Return eye, 13s
Vid 4 - Return eye again, 17s
Vid 5 Part 1 28s & Part 2 17s- close up of skimmer and eye, demonstrating how flimsy they are, wondering if that matters to leak
Vid 6 - unrelated to leak, just shaking my head at the lower ground wall installation
 
Added bleach using a hose to replicate the return eye, pointing it in different directions, then brushed. Then... Got in it for the first time to circulate more and search for holes. A tad chilly but tolerable. This joker needs a vacuum so bad. It is simply insane how much dirt the winds blow in here in this valley. Not to mention sunken tree debris. Anyway, no leak found yet. Marked water level to see if it does down overnight.
 
Burrrrrrrr but at least your fingers did not feel like they would snap off from the cold!

It is so hard to tell if there is a leak. BUT if the water goes down to the skimmer then stops......that does point to something about the skimmer as you well know.

Nothing has been easy with this pool for sure.

Kim:cat:
 
Found a pool store that carried the Boxer brand repair kit. Used Casey's strategy of one patch, then another larger one over that. Patched where owners said old leak was (patch there went missing) and also over a flapping one elsewhere. Added bleach with hose running and circulated manually. Adding water now, just hoping leaks are resolved. Also used Kim's method of 50/50 mix with broom to clean ladder, which worked great. Opened it up and let mixture site inside too. Got a close up look at the debris on the bottom and relieved to watch it disperse upon disturbance rather than poof, and color is dirt like gray, brown, and black. Seems good. Looking forward to vacuuming tomorrow and bringing ph down. Ordered them the TF50 so they have a full kit as opposed to my Frankenkit cardboard box of bottles that are running low anyway. I'll ship them refills as needed. Thanks again for all the help. Wil update tomorrow.
 

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Hi, just do the bucket test as fallow: 1-Fill a bucket with the pool water , no matter which size, place it near the pool, on a +- level ground. 2- MAKE SURE it receive he same amount of sun light as the pool does. 3- Mark the water level on the pool and on the bucket. 4- Next day, or 2 days, check both, pool and the bucket, if both went down the same amount, you have no leaks. If you do have leaks, try a food die on a small bottle, with a small hole on the cap, slowly walk around in the pool, and any suspicious spots go near it and let out the die and see if it goes towards the spot's. Moist or damp ground around the pool wall not always indicate leaks. I had it this year, due to wall condensation, also I lost water at the same week due to evaporation. But i'm in NY and we have a very mild winter, early spike temperatures, last couple weeks of April hit 70*s and 80*s, while the pool water was around 50*s. Good luck!
 
Are you using some dye to try to see if the spots leak? I read somewhere here recently that divers can quickly find leaks in vinyl pools by introducing a small electrical charge that will seek ground through the pinholes.
 
Leak remains, adding water daily. I'm back in Florida now, but they are using their new TF50 and hth ph to keep things in check. Water continues to clear and gain sparkle. The filter is just so undersized. It is nearly crystal clear now though. They are keeping it just under shock and running pump when supervised. They are very happy and thankful to us all.

Water temp fell with a cold front. Once it goes back up they are going to just patch everywhere and anywhere that is suspect. There is one place on the wall bottom curve that feels soft, so they'll start there. If their patching doesn't get it I'll have to get them a professional.

- - - Updated - - -

I did extensive hunting with the dye. I uploaded videos of the hunt. I couldn't find the source after several days. I put fresh Boxer patches over all old patches just in case, but that wasn't it. I likely damaged the liner while brushing. Accidents happen.
 
Probably February 2017 on the replaster.

Okay Yakima just called and they say their pump will not turn on. They already bought a new one. It is a Aqua Pro DV Flo model APDV10, 1.0HP 110/220v, 7.9/3.9amps, 1.00 service factor and they paid like $350... Website calls it an inground model and they have an above ground pool. I'm not even sure what to think about all this. Oh well...

They are curious what this part is:
link to two pictures from two angles
 
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