EDIT: Fixed the leak, now what?

[guamguy]

Here's a little background on my situation: About a month ago, I thought I had a leak in my pool. I did the bucket test and all was good, no leaks, I thought. Last week I discovered the bucket had a hole in it, after getting my water bill for 50,000 gallons!!! :grrrr: Yes, that bill included the initial fill of the pool when we moved in to the new house, but the pool and spa only hold 12,600. I decided to shock the pool last week as I had a pool party the weekend before, and a lot of um, beverages, were spilled and the water had taken on a greenish tint. When I was shocking, I was running the pump 24/7, and I had shut off water to the auto-fill for some piping modifications. The next morning, the water level was normal, and by the next evening, I was finished shocking, CC's were 0 no chlorine loss overnight, and the water is the best looking I've ever seen it . So I shut down the pump, and every night since the pool looses an inch (or more)overnight :x I believe this points to a leak on the suction side of the pump. The leak can't be too severe, because with the pump running, there are no visible air bubbles in the pump strainer basket, and I can't hear any cavitation. My skimmers (2) and main drain are seperatly plumbed and each has it's own valve.

My plan of action is to plug one of the skimmers suction port and see if the water level drops overnight with the pump off, and if the water level stays up, then I've found the leak. If not, then I'll continue with the other skimmer, then the main drain. When I find the leak, does anyone see a problem in abandoning the problem skimmer or the main drain? I like having 2 skimmers and a main drain, BUT, tearing up an re-doing the tile decking are not a $$$ option right now, and if it turns out to be the main drain, well, it's just gonna stay plugged up for good.
Does anyone have anything else I should think about while searching for or fixing this leak?
Sorry about the long post, I'm just a bit ****** about that water bill I just paid and wasn't expecting

 

[rastoma]

Re: Chasing a leak (again)!

I don't have any suggestions for the leak but regarding the water bill, did you ask the water company do they offer discounts for filling pools?

In my town, our city sewer charge is equal to the water usage. But they credit the sewer fee if the water usage was for filling a pool. We just have to fill out a small form and tell them how many gallons was for the pool. Saved me about $75 last summer when our AGP was installed.

 

[waste]

Re: Chasing a leak (again)!

Sounds like a good plan!

Problems like yours are why I tend to about MDs plumbed through skimmers or the skimmers sharing a common line - it's bad enough to loose one of the lines, but you can't run the pool without major water loss if they are common lines! (if it is a leaking suction line, which it certainly does).

 

[guamguy]

Re: Chasing a leak (again)!

Here's an update, I think I found where the leak is. I plugged the shallow end skimmer and closed it's respective valve last night after I shut the pump off. The pool did not loose any water last night or today before the pump started up at 2 p.m. But, to add insult to injury, as I went to check the mail this afternoon, I discovered that my water main had broken and now is spewing water down my driveway :grrrr: I guess I should just change my screen name to "leakguy".... If I fix a leak in the pool, another one pops up somewhere else.
I can't win

 

[guamguy]

Now that I've found the leak in one of my skimmers, plugged the skimmer and closed it's valve, I've lost some flow at the shallow end. I have a skimmer in the shallow end and another in the deep end plus the main drain. The shallow end skimmer is the one with the leak that's plugged. The pool has 2 returns, the one in the shallow end is the common eyeball return, but the deep end return is a fixed return that's pointed straight out. I tried aiming the shallow end return away from the deep end, but the water doesn't move much in the middle of the pool, but if I aim it at the deep end skimmer, there is a large area in the shallow end that doesn't seem to get much circulation. What do you guys think would be the best compromise? :?