Water Loss

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MyAZPool

MyAZPool

Gold Supporter
Jul 3, 2018
2,298
Arizona
Pool Size
20500
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Hi folks...
I am curious about the water loss in my pool. I never pondered it much because the auto pool leveler took care of it (out of sight, out of mind).

A few weeks ago, I shut the leveler valve off and decided to use my house soft water for evap compensation, because I am sick and tired of chasing that pesky Calcium Hardness. Our city water is 200ppm and my soft water is 25ppm.

Now I am using a hose (from the soft water bib in the back) to compensate for evaporation and I am a little concerned (possible leak somewhere?).

I know there are some folks on here that are "smarter than the average bear" when it comes to such things. So here is the information that might be required to help determine if I should be concerned with my water loss.

In 24 hours, the pool level dropped 5/16 of an inch.

The total area of the pool and spa is 678 square feet (36 x 18) and polygon spa with a radius of 3.1 feet .

It took 120 gallons to bring the level back to the original mark I made in the skimmer (24 - 5 gallon buckets).

The temperature in the Phoenix metro area is still a high of just over 100 degrees. No excessive wind in the last 24 hours.

Can anyone tell me if this seems like a normal evaporation rate given our prevailing high temperature and the surface area of my pool and spa?

Thanks very much...
r.
 
r,

My pool uses about 1/8" of water a day here in the DFW area.

I read in one of your other messages that you often have a case of OCD... If that is true, here is a bucket tester for those with OCD... :p


dbtgallery.php



Basically two floating bottles that measure the difference between the water level in the bucket and the pool..

Only works if you have OCD and too much time on your hands.. :p

Jim R.
 
mknauss said:
Sounds pretty normal for me here in Laughlin.

You can do a bucket test. See Pool School - Leak Detection

- - - Updated - - -

I see you have SWCG. If you have a leak, your salinity would be dropping. Is it?
Click to expand...

Ah, good point that I have not considered. Salinity is not decreasing.
Thanks
 
Jimrahbe said:
r,

My pool uses about 1/8" of water a day here in the DFW area.

I read in one of your other messages that you often have a case of OCD... If that is true, here is a bucket tester for those with OCD... :p


dbtgallery.php



Basically two floating bottles that measure the difference between the water level in the bucket and the pool..

Only works if you have OCD and too much time on your hands.. :p

Jim R.
Click to expand...

:laughblue::laughblue: Wow... I said OCD not "excessive" "beyond" OCD :D.. That is some serious stuff there.
Is that a contraption that someone who does leak detection uses?
Hmmm, it might come to that if the consensus here on this thread is that my water loss might be "out-of-line". But I already know that I lost 120 gallons in a 24 hour period.
Thanks Jim...
 
So would it be safe to assume that if my pool dropped 5/16" in a 24 hour period, that a bucket of water would also drop the same distance (given no leak in the pool) or am I off-base?
 
r,

If there is no leak, then the water in the bucket will evaporate at the same rate as the water in the pool. If you have a leak, the water in the pool will drop faster than the water in the bucket.

Note that the bucket has to be in the pool so that the water temperature is about the same..

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
r,

If there is no leak, then the water in the bucket will evaporate at the same rate as the water in the pool. If you have a leak, the water in the pool will drop faster than the water in the bucket.

Note that the bucket has to be in the pool so that the water temperature is about the same..

Jim R.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim. I will do the bucket test in the morning. I'll put enough water in the bucket to keep it on the step and mark the waterline in the bucket. Then I'll mark the waterline in the pool skimmer. Wait 24 hours and measure the diff in each. Hopefully both the same.

- - - Updated - - -

mknauss said:
I wish that was high. Not here in the desert.
Click to expand...

I don't wish that's high because that would mean a leak. :p

That's encouraging to know that you think that 5/16" might be in the ballpark given we're still over 100 degree highs during the day. Low's down a bit in the mid 70's here now. Is that about the same in Laughlin?
 

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Laughlin has been 105 days and high 70's in the early morning.

I peak at about 1" per day in June through August. Right now it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch per day.
 
mknauss said:
Laughlin has been 105 days and high 70's in the early morning.

I peak at about 1" per day in June through August. Right now it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch per day.
Click to expand...

Okay, great info. Especially given we are right about the same temp etc. Already a sigh of relief but I'll do the bucket test tomorrow just for my own satisfaction. Good info to know.

What really got me nervous, is when I realized that "concrete pond" of mine lost 120 gallons of H2O in one 24 hour period. Yikes... It just seems so unreal to me that 120 gallons would evaporate in just one day. Seriously?

3,600 gallons in a month in the summer?????? I can't get my arms around that.
 
Okay. I did the bucket test over a 48 hour period.

The good news. The water level decreased 3/8" from the mark on BOTH the outside of the bucket and the inside of the bucket. 3/16" per day average. So, no leak.

The not-so-good news because of my pool area:

I read that there is .62 gallons in a square foot x 1 inch.

So I did this. The total area of my pool and spa is 678 square feet. So here is how I calculated my water loss using this formula.

678x.62 = 420.36 gallons divided by 16 = 26.273 x 3 (3 16ths of an inch) = 78.819 gallons of water loss per day.

To confirm, I used a 5 gallon bucket to refill back to a mark I had made in the skimmer 48 hours ago. It took 155 gallons to bring the level back to the mark which equals 77 gallons per day.

So one method indicates 79 gallons per day and the other indicates 77 gallons per day. I'm pretty sure that is within an approximate margin of error.

I'm assuming I did all above correctly but certainly would welcome any corrections to my calculations and assumptions.

I want to try and find a quality 1/2" NPT water flow meter with odometer, so I can track the evaporation of my pool on a monthly basis. The problem is this. All of the water flow meters of this type that I have found so far, require a minimum flow rate of 0.25GPM. This would not work with a typical pool water auto leveler - float type valve as the water normally just trickles in.

Any suggestions would be awesome!
 
I am curious. Why? Evaporation is what it is. Only way to reduce it is to cover the pool. If you are concerned, get a solar bubble cover. It will reduce evaporation by a very significant amount. Be sure you take it off for a few hours every few days during the day to let CC burn off.
 
mknauss said:
I am curious. Why? Evaporation is what it is. Only way to reduce it is to cover the pool. If you are concerned, get a solar bubble cover. It will reduce evaporation by a very significant amount. Be sure you take it off for a few hours every few days during the day to let CC burn off.
Click to expand...

Right. The bucket test showed me that the water loss is due to evaporation. Now at least I know and thanks for suggesting it. That worked good and gave me "piece-of-mind" that there was no leak.

Why am I looking for a flow meter that I can connect to the autofill line? Like you "curiosity" and I have too much time on my hands :D.
I would like to plot my monthly pool water usage over a year (both evaporation and occasional back-washes) just for my own curiosity.

I have just recently thought about a pool cover, but I'm thinking that brings on additional headaches, additional cost, increased pool water temp etc. etc. I use my pool at least once everyday during our swim season and I know it will be quite the hassle to cover, uncover etc. A cover reel (auto or manual crank) will kind of be an eyesore to ME as well. I will look into my options on pool covers however.

This concern of mine all came about when I shut off the autofill valve (city water @ 200ppm hardness) and started using soft water (25ppm hardness).
That is when I realized just how much water the pool was consuming on a daily basis.

I will soon re-plumb the autofill valve to a house soft water line. That's MY solution to dealing with the ridiculously high calcium hardness levels that we have here in our part of the country.

r.
 
Great. I agree on the cover. We are planning to try one in the spring (April and May) next year to see if we can heat the pool enough to use it more those months. Want it above 80F.

I understand on the hard water. I do not have a water softener and it would be pretty tough to plumb one to my autofill. But then our water is so cheap it is far more economical to drain and refill every 16 months or so.
 

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