have a leak :(

[TXParrothead]

I have a above ground pool, that is partially in ground... It is a Doughboy 32x16x48". I put a new liner in it 2 years ago. We had a few bad storms which blew some stuff in the pool over the winter. I've patched 3 different holes, none of which seem to be still leaking. I got in the pool yesterday (it's been in the mid 80s here in TX ), looking around, but I cannot find another hole.

Anyone have any good ideas of how to find this mysterious hole? It's definitely near the bottom, I let it drain for awhile, so that I could see if the leak was on the sides, but it went all the way to the bottom..

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'd check the seam along the bottom real carefully all the way around.

 

[Ms Flo]

How can you check the seam? We also have an above ground pool with a leak. :-(

Our pool completely drained while we were out of town for the weekend. There was an obvious tear in the bottom of the liner near the wall. Quite a bit of sand was washed out. We pulled the liner away from the wall, added sand & leveled it. Then we patched the hole & started replacing the water. The liner seemed to go right back into place. (YAY!) Everything went fine for several hours. We calculated how quickly the water was rising & decided it would be okay to leave the water running overnight. We went to bed thinking that we had discovered the problem & fixed it quickly enough that we wouldn't have to buy a new liner. (YAY!!) The next morning, the pool was maybe half as full as we expected (less than 2 1/2' deep), but there were no signs of water standing around the pool. We turned off the water & watched. There is now water standing around the pool. :-( It looks like it is draining less than 1" per 24 hours. We don't see anything that indicates where the leak might be. I don't know what to do now. The thought of about 7,000 gallons of water slowly draining into the yard (on top of the approximately 15,000 gallons that apparently gushed out) is driving me crazy!! What can I do?! Help!!

...I don't remember what all info is in my signature. Our pool is also a Doughboy. It's 16'x32'x54". Everything will be 5 years old in July.

 

[Ms Flo]

Well the pool seems to have stopped draining, & the yard is drying up. (YAY!) I'd still appreciate tips on doing a dye test though. I've found some basic instructions. (Use food coloring or pH reagent. Stand very still.) So I can picture what to do if you only need to check one area, but I don't understand how you can test all the way around the pool & still have a clear view of what's happening. :?

Also, how concerned do I need to be about damaging the liner due to the pool only being half full? (It's been at least half empty for at least 4 days.) We've talked about putting the solar cover on so that wading around to do the dye test will be less miserable. (It is NOT in the mid 80s here!) I can't think of any problems that would be created by increasing the water temperature, but... I guess I'm just spooked at this point. Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[linen]

Well the pool seems to have stopped draining, & the yard is drying up.

Then you leak is likely at that level and testing with food coloring is not going to help. Look around at the current water level, are there any fittings there?

 

[Ms Flo]

No. The water is more than a foot below both the skimmer & the return. I think it has to be a tear in the liner.
If we put in enough water to make it leak again, will the dye test work? Do we have any other options? ...other than just eyeballing it.

 

[linen]

Yes, but before I did that, I would look closely at the liner all around the pool at that level first. Another possibility is the leak is in the plumbing somewhere at that level. Is you pump pad above that level of the pool?

 

[Ms Flo]

I think the pad is probably a little below the water level with the piping/tubing above the water level. But there's no way for water to get into the plumbing at this point. (Sorry, I should have been more specific.) We have an AGP with no bottom drain. The only openings in the pool liner are the skimmer & the return. The water never reached either of them when we tried to refill after the tear in the bottom of the liner emptied the entire pool.

I guess I'm going to have to wade in & give the liner a once-over. :-/ I wish I had a pair of hip waders!!

I'm still wondering about the "dangers" of having the pool half empty. I think we were very lucky to even attempt to salvage the liner. If it hadn't been for a friend loosing all of her pool water (& the liner as a result!), I wouldn't have known that it was imperative to get water back in the pool as soon as possible. Whew!

Thanks for your input, linen.