How much water loss is a leak

[Jimak]

I have a gunite pool that was installed in 1967, it is 15 x 36 kidney with an 8' deep end. About 5 years back I noticed that it was losing water at around 2" over a 3 or 4 day period, I installed a timer water valve to replenish the loss. This winter the city put us on meter so I have decided to fix the leak, I have determined that the leak is on the suction side, I plugged the return line at the skimmer and did the bucket test. It has lost 1/2" over a 3 day period, some must be from evaporation, it has been in the low 90s the last week. How much is normal? The old suction line has been rerouted and changed a few times over the years and the paving stone deck is sagged over it in a couple of spots. My plan is to reroute the suction line in a straight shot with 1 piece of PVC from the skimmer to the pump house to eliminate any danger of leaks from fittings.

Jim A.:grrrr:

 

[RobbieH]

To Pool School for you!
Pool School - Leak Detection

Read about "Bucket test"

Welcome to TFP!

 

[pooldv]

+1 on the bucket test to rule out evaporation to see if you have a leak. But, that isn't too bad. 1/8th"-1/4" a day is pretty normal.

 

[Silver_2000]

If you did the bucket test that eliminates the evaporation
If the water in the pool fell more than the water in the bucket then the difference is a leak

if you have sagging decking you may have found the leak

Mine leaks about 7000 -9000 gallons a month based on my water bill
which is about 233-300 gallons a day
If some of that is evaporation im still losing a couple hundred gallons a day ... And the city will not like me much once the sprinklers are needed for the grass

Im hoping the replaster will fix some of the leak. Ive already had a pro do the dye test and pressure test
found leaks in skimmers and addresses them but that didnt slow the water loss

good luck on yours

 

[JoyfulNoise]

On the bottom of page 17 of this PDF document -

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hdsc/PMP_related_studies/TR34.pdf

You'll find pan evaporation data for Merced, CA. It's old data, but it can give you a feel for how evaporation varies with the season. Based on that data, I think the loss you are seeing is definitely a leak.