We recently purchased our home that has an in ground pool. Fortunately we know the previous-previous owner, so he has been helpful with what and when was done to the pool up until he sold the home 5 years ago. Roughly 6 years ago the pool's deep end was filled in to a depth of 4' and the entire pool was redone at this point in time. We opened the pool last weekend and are losing roughly 4" of water every 16 hours the pump is running. I originally thought it was the two skimmers so I plugged them back off and bypassed them at the pump. (This resulted in no change). I have left them bypassed and was running only the drain in the deep end. I ran the pump for 4 hours this morning and noticed a water level loss of 1-2". We Have three return jets on the south side of the pool and one on the north side in between the two skimmer baskets. I have plugged the three jets on the south side in the pool and closed them off at the pump pad. I will check in the morning and see if I'm losing water without running the pump. I did finally see all of the water that we're losing has made its way about 40 feet from the pool out in our yard where it is sloped downhill. My question is, I fear we have a leak at the main drain in the bottom, because when the pump running I'm not seeing any bubbles in the return jets, but I am seeing a small amount of air bubbles in the pump basket. how bad is it to repair and what is a ballpark cost to fix it? Are there other things I should be looking for first before we shell out some money to have some find the leak?
Help!!!! Losing water way faster than evaporation
- Thread starter bigcow94
- Start date
Not quite sure I understand everything, but that might be the Thirsty Thursday kicking in. Is your pump off now, or just the three jets? I would be more interested to see the results with the pump totally off.
Sorry my post is all over the place. The pump has been off since 8 am Thursday morning. I plan on keeping the pump off to see in the morning where I stand. I am trying to isolate various components one by one to find where my leak is.
Usually if the pool leaks more with pump on than off the leak is on the return/pressure side, between pump and returns. If there is a suction leak the pump will lose prime or slowly fill with air or shoot air bubbles out the returns and leak when the pump is off. Sounds like you are on the right track trying to track it down.
Have you seen these articles?
Pool School - Leak Detection
Pool School - Suction Side Air Leaks
Thirsty Thursday! LOL, leads to Typo Thursday!
Have you seen these articles?
Pool School - Leak Detection
Pool School - Suction Side Air Leaks
Thirsty Thursday! LOL, leads to Typo Thursday!
So I checked the water level this morning. I've lost 1/4" of water over night. I didn't do a bucket test to check for evaporation, as my leak has been obviously more than evaporation. I'm going to run the pump for 2 hours and check water loss over my lunch hour today. Tonight I'm going to switch from the main drain over to only the skimmers. What is the best way to repair a main drain leak? I still feel like that is where I'm losing myour water.
I just read both articles. I have tiny air bubbles in the pump basket but not a lot. I have ordered a pump rebuild kit which should be here today. The pump has never lost its prime or starved itself on its own.
A small amount of air bubbles is fine. With a suction side leak it will get worse and worse. It does not sound like you have a suction side leak. No air in basket and low/no water loss with pump off points to pressure side leak between pump and returns.
I have no idea how to fix a drain leak, I would call a pro. But, it doesn't sound like yours is leaking anyway.
I have no idea how to fix a drain leak, I would call a pro. But, it doesn't sound like yours is leaking anyway.