Hi All,
About 2 weeks ago I was concerned that I might have a leak. Even with the solar cover on, my pool was losing some water. Air temp dropped considerably those few days (around mid to upper 50's at night) and my water temp was pretty warm (high 80's).
I did the bucket test (24 hours with pump and 24 hours without the pump) and there was no difference in the water levels between the bucket and pool in both cases.
I put the solar cover back on and just to be certain, I checked the level in the pool again after 12 and 24 hours. Water level dropped again 1/16 in 12 hours (during the day 6am-6pm) and another 1/8 overnight (6pm-6am) - a 3/16 total in 24 hours.
Can I assume this is evaporation? I just did the bucket test and it showed no difference in water levels. Now I've read few things searching around that says I should have almost zero loss with cover on and also some saying that it's possible to still lose that much water if you do not have full coverage.
What's considered full coverage? A tight seal all around? My cover isn't a tight seal but he only parts of my pool not covered are the steps, a small area around the ladder, and also the far edge of the pool by the diving board where there is about a 4-5 inch gap between the pool wall and the edge of my solar cover. I also noticed that it looks like some water gets on top of the cover at the ends and travels along the two seams that run the length of the cover (not sure if this is continuos or not). I posted some pics.
[attachment=2:2rqsyat1]steps.JPG[/attachment:2rqsyat1]
[attachment=1:2rqsyat1]far-edge.JPG[/attachment:2rqsyat1]
[attachment=0:2rqsyat1]ladder.JPG[/attachment:2rqsyat1]
Can not having these areas covered allow for that much evaporation when the conditions are right? There's no shade over my pool so it gets the brunt of the sun all day and the only thing around the pool is our vinyl fence. Last check before this pool temp was at 80 and yesterday was pretty cool day around upper 60's at high point of the day, about 55-60% humidty and winds around 9-10mph. At night the temp dropped to about 55-56, humidity around 48% and winds around 12-14mph.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
About 2 weeks ago I was concerned that I might have a leak. Even with the solar cover on, my pool was losing some water. Air temp dropped considerably those few days (around mid to upper 50's at night) and my water temp was pretty warm (high 80's).
I did the bucket test (24 hours with pump and 24 hours without the pump) and there was no difference in the water levels between the bucket and pool in both cases.
I put the solar cover back on and just to be certain, I checked the level in the pool again after 12 and 24 hours. Water level dropped again 1/16 in 12 hours (during the day 6am-6pm) and another 1/8 overnight (6pm-6am) - a 3/16 total in 24 hours.
Can I assume this is evaporation? I just did the bucket test and it showed no difference in water levels. Now I've read few things searching around that says I should have almost zero loss with cover on and also some saying that it's possible to still lose that much water if you do not have full coverage.
What's considered full coverage? A tight seal all around? My cover isn't a tight seal but he only parts of my pool not covered are the steps, a small area around the ladder, and also the far edge of the pool by the diving board where there is about a 4-5 inch gap between the pool wall and the edge of my solar cover. I also noticed that it looks like some water gets on top of the cover at the ends and travels along the two seams that run the length of the cover (not sure if this is continuos or not). I posted some pics.
[attachment=2:2rqsyat1]steps.JPG[/attachment:2rqsyat1]
[attachment=1:2rqsyat1]far-edge.JPG[/attachment:2rqsyat1]
[attachment=0:2rqsyat1]ladder.JPG[/attachment:2rqsyat1]
Can not having these areas covered allow for that much evaporation when the conditions are right? There's no shade over my pool so it gets the brunt of the sun all day and the only thing around the pool is our vinyl fence. Last check before this pool temp was at 80 and yesterday was pretty cool day around upper 60's at high point of the day, about 55-60% humidty and winds around 9-10mph. At night the temp dropped to about 55-56, humidity around 48% and winds around 12-14mph.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.