G'Day from Australia!
Pool is FINALLY complete!
My gosh, what a drama filled effort that was!
Pool was filled and then emptied , then party re-filled about 6 times and now finally full!
After all that effort, I was let down by the advice (and workmanship) of others and....we had a major leak...leaks actually!
We were losing about 2000L per day...all of it ending up under our house
Grab some popcorn or a beer (or both)...because this is going to be long!
We have an expansion joint half way along the pool due to its length.
Was recommended that we use a rear water stop during the build
A rear water stop is a formed seal that sits on the outside of the shell and the concrete is blasted into it (leaving a centre section empty for the actual expansion joint) that should form a watertight seal but still allowing each side of the pool to expand and contract.
The concrete was not correctly shot into the seal leaving me with voids through which the water could escape.
Then I was advised to use an expanding cork as a backing for the actual silicon seal
Because the shotcrete was done poorly, the joint was not even and the cork wasn't totally tight in a couple of spots. Strike two
Applied a special epoxy primer for the silicon, only to realise it was out of date after I applied it.
This was three days before Christmas last year and everything was already closed and the Mrs was adamant the pool had to be full for Christmas as we had family coming over (we were lucky like that in Australia, Covid didn't disrupt us much at all)
So I risked it and applied the silicon and started filling the pool the next day
Filled the pool and by the time it was full it was leaking like a sieve
My only saving grace is that because of the way my house is built, I had a fair idea where the water was coming from.
Swum on Christmas Day and Boxing day and then emptied the pool
While emptying I check every penetration with dye to look for leaks. Didnt find anything
Cut open the expansion joint and it was soaked all behind so I thought I had found the issue and was good to go.
This time I used a specific seal designed for swimming pool expansion joints
Was advised by the distributor that I only needed one layer, so I used two along with a layer of bentonite clay between the two seals, and then silicon on top of all that.
I did not want to repeat this repair again!
Started filling the pool, leak starts again...Dang it....but at least it was only minor, but still enough that it could not be left
Emptied again, scratched my head for a few days and decided that it could be the main drain as I had replaced the original main drain due to getting damaged while building the house and I couldn't remember if I had glued the bung for the hydrostatic valve or not (I dont need a hydrostatic valve as the pool is actually above ground and as you can tell by the leaks, any water underneath can escape without trying to lift the shell)
When I removed the old broken main drain I had to use a die grinder to clean out the last of the drain which was glued to a coupling and I thought that I had possibly ground slightly too much somewhere which allowed water to escape once the pressure was high enough.
So I cleaned out the pipe and used an epoxy putty to seal a slight gap between the drain and the pipe. Let it dry, and partially refilled and let sit for a few days.
No leaks so continued filling....and then it started to leak again. FML!
Drop the water level so I can reach the drain and then pressure test that pipe along with any other pipe that was under the waterline.
All held pressure perfectly fine so I thought I was golden...except that also meant that I didnt have another suspect and had no idea where it might be leaking from. Bummer
Started filling again, got past three pipes that flow out for the inflow cleaning and the Dang thing starts leaking again.
Wife has been nagging me the past two months that she thinks that its leaking around one of those pipes are the render was 100% perfect around it.
I preceded to tell her how she had no idea what she was talking about (that always goes down well!) and that it was impossible as all penetrations had been sealed with an expanding silicon that would self seal if it was leaking, but what the heck, I had nothing to lose and would test anyway, just to make her happy.
Im still not sure what emotions I felt when I checked with the dye and it was leaking ( a lot!) right where she said it was
I was excited to find the leak, but not excited to know that for the next few weeks (and possibly months) I would hear her retell the story of how she was right and I was wrong.
So , sealed that with an epoxy putty (and long with any other penetration that looked suspect) and filled the Dang thing again, hoping for the best, but somehow still expecting the worst
To say I was a broken man was a major understatement. I just dont think I could have handled another leak very well
But Im happy to say, all is well apart from one issue I never envisaged.
The beach entry forms perfect waves when you swim past and water crashes out of the pool there!
Not the biggest deal, but it does lead to some water loss and another leak due to me not yet finishing the expansion joint in the surrounding concrete deck.
At least I know what the issue is, so its not so bad