At our wits end with this pool. Need advice please - severe leak issues

[Newdude]

Do what you can to rule out what you can, on your own

Especially for free !!! They will confirm a leak on either side of your water meter. On their side, they will fix it. On your side you then know it's worth it to explore further or hire a plumber. If neither of you has a leak then look to environmental reasons, drainage or storm sewers.

 

[ocpoolgirl]

Certainly true that hunting down a leak can be expensive, but so might the consequences be of one left to its own devices. Depending on the location and severity of the leak, running water can undermine your decking or your home's foundation. It's not a given that ignoring a constantly wet area of your property will cause no problems, even if you attempt to pump it dry regularly. Plenty of structures are subjected to rising and falling ground water with no problems. Plenty of others are compromised or destroyed by underground water movement.

Well points might work, but it was my understanding that process is used for controlling naturally occurring ground water, not for controlling a leak. I don't know much about it. I wouldn't guess installing such a system would be cheap.

Do what you can to rule out what you can, on your own. Call the water company to see what they are willing to do. Those are two things that won't cost you anything but time.

I mean based on all the leak detection we’ve done I really don’t think we have any leaks. Is it possible that there’s just water trapped since it’s under concrete and it’s just slowly trickling out? I’ll check with my neighbors and I’ll call the water company. Would my water bill be higher if the main line was leaking?

 

[Newdude]

Would my water bill be higher if the main line was leaking?

No.

Thank you - the leak detection company that came out to test our irrigation last week did this with our water meter and confirmed no leaks. I can definitely ask my neighbors to check again.

I think more is needed to check irrigation. It only leaks when being used if they leak. You can't pressure test it like they did with the pool plumbing without removing all the heads and capping them. (After running the system to find them all). Then pressure testing and reinstalling all the heads. It's alot more involved than looking at the meter. The neighbors would have to have similar their people do the same.

 

[Dirk]

Would my water bill be higher if the main line was leaking?

No. A leak in the city main, or the smaller branch that feeds your meter, would not affect your bill. If you meant your main, the line that runs between your meter and your house, then yes, if that's leaking it would affect your bill, and you'd see the little flow indicator spinning when everything else in your house and yard are off.

 

[Dirk]

Troubleshooting 101, Section 2, Part C:

As you progress down the troubleshooting paths without results, you have to get more critical, more aggressive and sometimes repeat things. Examples:

- saying "We have new plumbing, so it can't be that," is not necessarily true. In fact, new plumbing can be just as problematic as old: maybe the plumber was a bit careless, or installed a faulty part, etc. Assume nothing.

- saying "The irrigation guys did that." may not be the end of that path either. Maybe they missed something, were lazy, or an intermittent condition that exacerbates the leak might not have been present while they were testing, etc. Assume nothing.

- neighbors saying "I don't have a leak." You get the idea. If the quick and easy doesn't reveal the problem you're troubleshooting, you have to go back and try again, be more thorough, more critical, whatever it takes.

And Newdude points out another possibility. Maybe the leak only occurs when something is on, which really punches a hole in some of the typical troubleshooting techniques (like the spinning flow indicator, which wouldn't be helpful if something is leaking only while on)...