Hey guys, I need some logical thinking because I am starting to go in circles. I have a 24k in ground liner pool about 25 years old. We have had a few leaks and I did the old fashioned dig it up and find it. This year, we pulled the cover off and discovered that the water had leaked down to the returns. We tried refilling it, thinking that we had left the pump in the wrong position when I winterized but we lost 3 to 4 inches a day back down to the returns. I had a pressure rig, closed all of the returns and we were going to start testing them but on the first one we tested, we started getting air being pumped between the liner and the walls, the air coming from the cleaner line. Now I have all of the returns blocked and the pool is not leaking. We are in Texas and it has rained about 10 days straight so there is no clue where the water is going in the yard, no idea where the leak is and no idea where to dig. We are out in the boonies and, usually, that means I have to figure it out for myself. I guess my next thought is to remove the plugs one by one until the pool starts leaking again but that does not tell me much. I would appreciate being pointed in the next direction. Thank you.
I have a MESS
- Thread starter acmaxey
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,890
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
That is confusing to me as well. If you did an air test and found air sneaking-in between the wall and vinyl, you might assume there's a leak in one of the return pipes or where it connects to the wall. But then if you have those returns all closed-off, and the pool is not losing water, how could water be getting to the pipes? Unless the water is getting to the pipe(s) from the pressurized side perhaps? Curious to see what opinions others may have to assist. Keep us posted please.
That kind of leak is difficult to track down. One common approach is to search for which part of the yard is wetter than everywhere else, but that won't work if you have gotten a lot of rain recently. A more drastic measure would be to dig up all the plumbing and see where water is coming out. Another more technical approach is to get a fiber optic plumbing camera and look inside each of the return pipes looking for the leak.