Concrete inground Pool leak advice

[hotrod1]

Hi everyone,

I've recently moved into a place that has a inground concrete pool which has a leak. Water leaks from all around the coping mastic (rubber movement joint) when the pump is on. Water usually appears about 1 hour after the pump has been turned on. the Pool has a single suction skimmer box to pump, then via cartridge filter to Chlorinator the pipe splits into 3, (fountain, Polaris via extra booster inline pump line, and a single return line which splits into two return outlet pipes somewhere and goes into the side of the pool and returns water to the pool.

So far I've blocked off one of the return lines and this increased the water leaking out of the ground around the pool. I've isolated the Polaris line as I have a three way valve and also the fountain line as well. This leaves only the return lines or the suction skimmer line back to pump as possible leaking pipes.

I've hired a pool leak specialist who has asked me to run leak tests before he attends. Pump on, pump off, evaporation and also blocking off return lines etc.

So what I'm concerned about is the leak specialist uses sonar and he stated the test is 90% accurate in finding the leak through the ground. He also does pressure testing of the lines. My issue is if it's leaking after the Y in the return lines where they split into two and there is multiple leaks he will only be able to find 1 at a time. I've since found out other leak detection people use a mix of sonar and inspection cameras. Can anyone give me advice on which one is better and more accurate?

Also can anyone suggest to me what I can also do to try and narrow down where the leak is coming from. In the picture you can see the water from the mastic seeping through.

If and when the leak is found I've been told it will require a replacement to the leaking part of the pipe which requires removal of tiles and digging up the ground to expose the pipes. I've also found out there is companies that do pipe lining with a epoxy resin. Is this suitable to avoid having the ground dug up?

 

[Dirk]

Sounds like it's in the return line. A suction side leak (from the skimmer) would likely show up as air in the pump basket.

Are you getting the water all along that whole side, or just in one spot?

I've never had to fix a leak, but I have shared this with others here:

Home - PipeFuze

Their website is all I know about it. It sounds very expensive for what it is, but I take it they're preying on folks like you that don't want to dig (and I don't blame you)! I'm not sure it's even available down under.

Others here have addressed this question, claiming the "miracle cure" glues don't last, siting if the pipe torqued enough to break in the first place, it will again and defeat the "glue," and that the only permanent fix is to dig.

Did you retain any extra tiles? Can you still purchase any? It might not be so bad.

The only other hair-brained ideas I can offer... Were you able to isolate the other return line? Can you? Is the "split" you reference above or below ground? Does isolating the other return line stop the leak? Some pools can function with only one return. It's not ideal, but if it works it works. If your pool can stay clean enough with one return, then you could consider just abandoning the bad line. Alternately, I had my pressure-side line converted to a suction-side line. It might be possible to convert your suction line to pressure, as either a second return, or to run a pressure-side vac. A pressure-side vac would in essence be a roving return. Neither idea ideal, but possibly cheaper than replacing decking.

 

[hotrod1]

Thanks for the reply.

the water is appearing all along the mastic line then seeps onto the tiles and the coping tiles. It appears to start in a particular section but spreads quickly to other parts of the mastic. Possibly the water is following the groove in the cement under the mastic.

Pipefuze is not available in australia. The closest we have is relining pipes with epoxy resin which hardens in place once set into the damaged pipes. We have some extra tiles depending on how big the repair area is. The worst thing of all is we renovated the whole area only 6 months ago and theres Concrete, cement and glued tiles to get through. What a waste.

The split is in relation to the return pipe going from one pipe to two return pipes before it enters the pool (all under ground). So the one return line from the chlorinator becomes three, (fountain, return line towards pool and a extra line for the polaris which also has a extra booster pump inline which is also leaking at the moment but has nothing to do with pool side leaking)

I'm guessing the leak maybe near the Y join where the return line pipe becomes two return lines near the pool wall. However without the specialist equipment who knows. I could keep the polaris line on as it's the same thickness as the return line and attempt to block off the return lines as a short term effort to stop the leak damaging the concrete etc.

 

[Dirk]

With a tile surface, and extra tiles to boot, that certainly makes digging a lot less of an issue. That virtually eliminates new seams and color matching issues in the deck. Here's hoping it's just one leak, and one that can be located accurately.