Hi everyone.
I’ve been recently given responsibility for the care and feeding of my Mother-in-law’s 20x40 (w/ 8.5ft deep end) vinyl-lined, inground pool in Pittsburgh, PA. Maybe taken by default since I’m the engineer, hence the username.
We had a new liner put in last year in October and closed it right after. Upon opening, there was only about 1ft of water in the shallow end. At the time, the installer said that this wasn’t evidence of anything they did wrong - citing it could have been leaking from the plumbing. The water was 18” or so below the plumbing - apparently water runs uphill where they’re from. So we went back and forth for a while but got sick of the excuses and disrespectful treatment and just got on with the summer - filling the pool an absurd amount regularly.
I got irritated at having to add that much water while I was pool-sitting during MIL’s vacation and had a diver over who specializes in this stuff and came recommended by the local shop. He scouted the liner by hand and dye tested anything that looked fishy and dye tested the lines and seals around the stairs - found nothing.
He helped me setup a bucket test. I decided to go a little further and isolate the lines also. The test showed 7/8” drop over 16 hrs with no loss from evaporation (overcast and a little chilly overnight - first three pics of the attached). That works out to about 650 gals a day (or 0.5 gpm).
Diver came back over, checked the whole thing over again on his dime and only found a small leak (trickle really) in the silicone caulking around the stairs only when he pushed on it a little. He repaired the entire side and bottom corner of the stair flange with two part epoxy.
I thought I was home free but I ran a bucket test again. The pool is still leaking about the same amount.
The facts just don’t add up to me. Both the diver and I have separately dye tested the stair seams, the whole brand new liner has been checked (twice). It’s not the lines.
The only things I can think of are that there are a bunch of individually untraceable holes in the liner or the 30 yr old fiberglass stairs are porous. Both seem unlikely but you all have seen more than I have, so I’m reaching out.
I re-reached out to the pool company with “compelling evidence.” My only other thought is to get a sonar leak person in (like American leak detection). A similar person came for and old liner but only could say that the leak was “behind the stairs somewhere”
Any thoughts/ ideas?
Btw- you all are lifesavers on here. Chemistry, pool upkeep, the app, the whole bit. Thank you
I’ve been recently given responsibility for the care and feeding of my Mother-in-law’s 20x40 (w/ 8.5ft deep end) vinyl-lined, inground pool in Pittsburgh, PA. Maybe taken by default since I’m the engineer, hence the username.
We had a new liner put in last year in October and closed it right after. Upon opening, there was only about 1ft of water in the shallow end. At the time, the installer said that this wasn’t evidence of anything they did wrong - citing it could have been leaking from the plumbing. The water was 18” or so below the plumbing - apparently water runs uphill where they’re from. So we went back and forth for a while but got sick of the excuses and disrespectful treatment and just got on with the summer - filling the pool an absurd amount regularly.
I got irritated at having to add that much water while I was pool-sitting during MIL’s vacation and had a diver over who specializes in this stuff and came recommended by the local shop. He scouted the liner by hand and dye tested anything that looked fishy and dye tested the lines and seals around the stairs - found nothing.
He helped me setup a bucket test. I decided to go a little further and isolate the lines also. The test showed 7/8” drop over 16 hrs with no loss from evaporation (overcast and a little chilly overnight - first three pics of the attached). That works out to about 650 gals a day (or 0.5 gpm).
Diver came back over, checked the whole thing over again on his dime and only found a small leak (trickle really) in the silicone caulking around the stairs only when he pushed on it a little. He repaired the entire side and bottom corner of the stair flange with two part epoxy.
I thought I was home free but I ran a bucket test again. The pool is still leaking about the same amount.
The facts just don’t add up to me. Both the diver and I have separately dye tested the stair seams, the whole brand new liner has been checked (twice). It’s not the lines.
The only things I can think of are that there are a bunch of individually untraceable holes in the liner or the 30 yr old fiberglass stairs are porous. Both seem unlikely but you all have seen more than I have, so I’m reaching out.
I re-reached out to the pool company with “compelling evidence.” My only other thought is to get a sonar leak person in (like American leak detection). A similar person came for and old liner but only could say that the leak was “behind the stairs somewhere”
Any thoughts/ ideas?
Btw- you all are lifesavers on here. Chemistry, pool upkeep, the app, the whole bit. Thank you
