The mysterious leak

[Poolbie]

All,

I'm getting nearer and nearer to doing something I hate to do, paying someone to work on my pool! So, this is my last ditch effort before I use the nuclear option.

The situation: when I opened my pool this year, the water level was approximately 6 inches too high (rain). So I first drained a bunch of water and then fixed some cracks around one of the skimmers with some EZ patch. This all went fine. So, next I filled the pool and began my slam treatment. As the pump was running 24hrs it seemed to lose water until the pump nearly lost prime. So I put some more water in and the same thing happened. There must be a leak!
So I shut down the pump and start investigating.
The investigation: so in no particular order here is what I have found:
-it only leaks when the pump is on
-there are no bubbles in the pump basket or coming out of the returns
-none of the usual places of the shell are leaking (skimmer/plaster joint or return line/plaster junction)
-there are no visible cracks in the gunnite shell/or grout
-I don't see any water around any of the pump/filter assembly
Other things I tried:
-I bought a cheap endoscope on amazon and scoped the return lines with nothing seen
-I tried to pressure test the return lines but I couldn't get one of the plugs to hold without leaking air

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Poolbie

- - - Updated - - -

One more thing: I don't have an underwater light, so that's not an issue.

 

[kimkats]

I found several threads about this-water leak only with pump on-here is one of them:

Pool Losing Water Only When Pump Is Running

Notice the second post. I think that might be your problem.

Please do more searches using the white box at the top, right of this page to see if you can penpoint your fix. Good luck!

Kim

 

[Jimrahbe]

Poolbie,

If it only leaks when the pump is running then it has to be somewhere on the pressure side.

Since you don't see any visible leaks, that means it has to be one of your underground return lines going back to your pool.

Again that assumes the pool does not leak when the pump is off.

How much does the pool go down when the pump has run for say, 24 hours?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Poolbie]

How much does the pool go down when the pump has run for say, 24 hours?

Approximately 2-4 inches (guessing this is probably 500 gallons or so)

 

[Jimrahbe]

Poolbie,

Yes, an obvious leak.

Do you have more than one place your return water goes.. In my case, I have the pool eyeballs and a waterfall. I can select either, so if I had the problem I could route all the water to the waterfall and see if the leak slowed or stopped.

If you only have one pipe leaving the filter, I'm not sure what the next step would be.

Is there grass between your equipment pad and the pool, or is it all deck?

Jim R.

 

[Poolbie]

Poolbie,

Yes, an obvious leak.

Do you have more than one place your return water goes.. In my case, I have the pool eyeballs and a waterfall. I can select either, so if I had the problem I could route all the water to the waterfall and see if the leak slowed or stopped.

If you only have one pipe leaving the filter, I'm not sure what the next step would be.

Is there grass between your equipment pad and the pool, or is it all deck?

Jim R.

I just have the two eye balls. Scoping the line it's a single from the pad into a t that then runs parallel to the pool wall.

There is a fair amount of grass between the pad and the pool but it seems to be pretty dry.

 

[Flying Tivo]

The easiest would be to trace the pipe at least where there is grass/dirt. If you find it there its an easy fix, if not, then you know where the leak is.

Felipe

 

[kevreh]

Poolbie....hi neighbor! Do you have solar panels? Do you have a drain hose or pipe hooked up to your outlet for backwashing?

 

[Poolbie]

The easiest would be to trace the pipe at least where there is grass/dirt. If you find it there its an easy fix, if not, then you know where the leak is.

Felipe

Thanks, I think that's the next step....

- - - Updated - - -

Poolbie....hi neighbor! Do you have solar panels? Do you have a drain hose or pipe hooked up to your outlet for backwashing?

Neighbor! Thanks for the questions; I really need to get some solar panels but I don't have any at the moment and as for the hose, it's only installed when I'm back washing.

On another note, do you have a pool contractor you trust in the area?

 

[kevreh]

I don't know of any pool contractors, haven't used one in a long time. Sorry.

 

[cjones3393]

Hello Poolbie, did you ever figure out where your leak is coming from. I am having a similar problem.

 

[Patrick_B]

Hello Poolbie, did you ever figure out where your leak is coming from. I am having a similar problem.

Hi cjones!

Please start a new thread and tell us about your pool and what's going on. We would like to help you but can't answer your questipns in Poolbie's thread here.