Has anyone had to replace buried pvc due to a leak?

[kevreh]

So my pools been leaking for a while now. Did the bucket test, checked the pad many times, etc.... I finally bought some dye and was able to tell that the water was being drawn IN to the pressure line (with pump off). At that point, I wanted to get a pool repair company out to do a more thorough test. They found that indeed the pressure line was leaking, as well as the two return lines. The good news is that the pressure line leak was worse (they monitored the loss of air in a pressurized line). This is fine in my mind since I use a robot now. I put a plug in the pressure return line and my water loss has decreased a lot. While the pool used to lose @4" a week, now its less than 1".

IF it still leaks too much, I will likely have to jackhammer a few sections of the concrete pad to get at the pipe. Which sucks because new concrete won't match the exposed aggregate I have now. Is that the only way to do it, or should I tunnel under the pad if possible? The pad on the side of the pool is @ 36" wide. The return lines are @24" deep. I can get them to come back with a listening device to hear where the leak is, which would get me close.

Anyone else been through this? How much did it end up costing?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[jblizzle]

1 inch in a week seems fairly typical of evaporative losses.

 

[sd122]

I had to dig up concrete and replace a leaking section. They were charging me $800. I did it myself for $20 in parts and a chipping hammer. Have a reciprocating saw handy. May have to cut through rebar. Aggregate won't match but see if you get someone out to do a spot match.

1" a week is totally normal.