Evaporation rates

[Jleek0151]

I have been noticing some random water levels drops throughout this summer. Being new to the pool thing I was just wondering how much evaporation is considered normal. Some days I can loose almost an inch or more. Other days I could loose less than an 1/8 of and inch. So far this week I have had to run my hose for 45mins twice a day to barely keep up. It’s has been 80-88 through the day and getting down to the high 60s at night.
Thanks

 

[Teald024]

Evap rates can vary widely. It depends on pool surface area, pool temp, air temp, humidity, wind, sunny/cloudy. Dry, windy days with water warmer than air will give the fastest rates. Normal can be around 1/4 inch per day on average.
You can do a "bucket test" where you place a 5 gallon bucket of water, almost full and measure how it compares to water loss in the pool. Both should loose the same amount in theory. Unless you have a lot of splashout in the pool or your dog drinks from the bucket, lol.
Put some masking tape right at water level. wait 24-48 hours and check the levels of both. They should have both dropped by the same amount. If the pool is lower, then you have a leak somewhere.

 

[Jleek0151]

10-4 I have tried that with mixed results. Sometimes the pool looses more and some times the bucket seems to. It rained hard enough a couple weeks ago to fill the pool up to the top of the skimmer. It was cloudy and cooler for 3 days and it showed no sign of water loss. Within 2 days of sunshine and warmer weather it dropped below half way. To me that seems like a crazy amount for evaporation, but doesn’t make since with the 3 days it didn’t show water loss. I’m kinda up in the air with it. All I have to say I’m scared to see next months water bill.

 

[Jleek0151]

I should note that I know my skimmer has a slight leak. When I mean slight I am talking about a drip every 10-30 sec. I feel like that doesn’t add up to almost 500-600 gallons a day of water loss.

 

[aboykin2269]

Wow that sounds like a lot. Especially if you say you losing 500-600 gallons/day. If you are consider the hottest heat of the day being what 6 hours? That's over 80 gallons an hour.
Have you noticed any spots of excessive moisture around the pool?

 

[Jleek0151]

Not that I’m aware of. Now the 500-600 might of been a slight exaggeration ?. I think I figured it one day that 2 inches in our pool is about 600 gallons. That would be over a couple days if I would not fill pool. Our pool is surrounded by a deck and rock so it is hard to tell. I feel like I would notice something if I had a considerable leak. Im going to recheck this morning. Water was down far enough now the pump loss prime.

 

[Teald024]

1-2” in a couple of days is excessive in your climate.

When I was in Columbus Ohio, I lost less than 1/4” a day on average. I covered my pool at night to lessen evaporation.

 

[Jleek0151]

I plan on redoing a bucket test and just letting the water drop till the water loss slows down.

 

[aboykin2269]

Sorry you are having this issue. I've been lucky (although I do have to put up with a lot of leaves) but we get plenty of shade on the pool, so evaporation hasn't been that much of an issue. We've only had 2 significant rains since the beginning of June and I have only had to add water twice all Summer.
Good luck.

 

[Jleek0151]

After a long weekend of patching the liner I might have the leak either stopped or slowed way down. I’m down to losing about an 1/8 during the day and a 1/4 at night. Haven’t had time to do the bucket test because of a busy weekend. Hopefully it’s just evaporation now. Plan on contacting a pool place to have the liner replaced next spring.