Rate of Evaporation?

[jonmar]

Is it normal to lose about an inch of water through evaporation over the course of a week, or a week and a half? It hasn't rained in 19 days and the solar blanket hasn't been on in well over a month. Some days have been quite hot, and some about have been comfortable. I have added water about 3 times in the last month. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Pretty normal here in SoCal, probably a little light for Phoenix! Really depends on where you live.

Try a bucket test if you think you have a leak. That should tell if you are experiencing normal evaporation or have a problem.

Bruce

 

[chem geek]

A map of annual water evaporation rates is here. In areas with a cold winter, most of the evaporation is during the summer so 50" per year is really more like over 6 months so that's nearly 2" per week. So you are doing really well with only 1" per week loss. As Bruce noted, a bucket test can tell you if you have a leak. Note that in Leak Detection you should put the bucket onto stairs in the pool so that the water in the bucket is at the same temperature as the pool. Evaporation rates are very dependent on temperature (and on wind).

 

[SBax]

Wind speed at the water surface also affects the evaporation rate.