Hi all,
I've been trying to find this pesky leak for a few days now. On Saturday, I noticed the water level seemed to be dropping quickly. Sure enough, we were losing about 1.5" inches a day. It seems as though we are losing the same amount of water regardless of whether the pump is running or not. However, I haven't been able to confirm as I have not tested both for 24 hours each. I tested both for 12 hours each and both showed a loss of 3/4" over 12 hours. I have not noticed any air getting into the filter.
A couple of things. We only have 1 skimmer, 1 main drain, and 1 return line for the entire pool. Our pool is 43 years old and has black poly pipe in most places (except near the equipment pad). I've closed the multiport valve on my filter to isolate the suction side and pressure side. I've done dye test on the skimmer gasket and return line gasket with no results of the dye being pulled.
The water has dropped below the skimmer and water is still holding inside of the skimmer basket with the level still dropping. So that rules out the skimmer. I placed a plug in the return line and the water still dropped. So I don't believe it is the return line. I will say though, it's entirely possible that I did not plug it tight enough or correctly (I don't close my pool). I used a rubber plug and got it as tight as I could, but I still wouldn't necessarily rule it out. Although, I think it is unlikely.
So that leaves a tear in the liner somewhere or the main drain. The liner is only a year old, but the vermiculite bottom was never repaired correctly by our contractor, so it has some sharp spots and loose vermiculite on the bottom. I wouldn't rule out a tear even though the liner is only a year old. Last year, we did have a leak in the return line that caused us to lose about 1.5" a day. We would lose only about .5" when the pump was off, but 1.5" when it on. We also had a very small suction leak in the main drain near the equipment pad. That caused some air to get into the filter, but no noticeable water loss. That was all fixed last year. This time, I began to gently dig in the same area. I got about 18" below the surface and 6" lower than the previous leak when I hit some standing water.
I'm assuming this is from the leak, but I'm not sure how close I am to the source of it. I used a pump to get some of the water out. But it comes back really quickly. I tried digging a bit more, but it's in a difficult to reach spot and there is pea gravel everywhere. When they built the pool, they must have used pea gravel to backfill. Now when I'm trying to dig, pea gravel just caves in. I'm going to try and shore it up, but it has been difficult to make much progress.
Could the source of the leak be near in one of these pipes (presumably the main drain pipe)? Or is there no way to really tell? When we had the leak in the return line last year, the water level never rose past where the leak was. So I was hoping it could be the same in this case.
Lastly, it could be possible that this is just ground water, but I doubt it. It's not down hill from anywhere, but given that they backfilled with pea gravel, that could create a pretty large void for groundwater to sit. I read online one way to test if it is a pool leak or groundwater is to test the CYA. The CYA is 0, but 30 in the pool. It's been pretty dry though, so I still think groundwater is unlikely.
Could the source of the plumbing leak be near the water level in this hole? If it's a tear in the liner, what should I look for? Will it be the size of a quarter or a pinhole? We're losing roughly 1.5" which I believe would be about 400 gallons a day.
Sorry for the long post, but I always appreciate the help given here!
I've been trying to find this pesky leak for a few days now. On Saturday, I noticed the water level seemed to be dropping quickly. Sure enough, we were losing about 1.5" inches a day. It seems as though we are losing the same amount of water regardless of whether the pump is running or not. However, I haven't been able to confirm as I have not tested both for 24 hours each. I tested both for 12 hours each and both showed a loss of 3/4" over 12 hours. I have not noticed any air getting into the filter.
A couple of things. We only have 1 skimmer, 1 main drain, and 1 return line for the entire pool. Our pool is 43 years old and has black poly pipe in most places (except near the equipment pad). I've closed the multiport valve on my filter to isolate the suction side and pressure side. I've done dye test on the skimmer gasket and return line gasket with no results of the dye being pulled.
The water has dropped below the skimmer and water is still holding inside of the skimmer basket with the level still dropping. So that rules out the skimmer. I placed a plug in the return line and the water still dropped. So I don't believe it is the return line. I will say though, it's entirely possible that I did not plug it tight enough or correctly (I don't close my pool). I used a rubber plug and got it as tight as I could, but I still wouldn't necessarily rule it out. Although, I think it is unlikely.
So that leaves a tear in the liner somewhere or the main drain. The liner is only a year old, but the vermiculite bottom was never repaired correctly by our contractor, so it has some sharp spots and loose vermiculite on the bottom. I wouldn't rule out a tear even though the liner is only a year old. Last year, we did have a leak in the return line that caused us to lose about 1.5" a day. We would lose only about .5" when the pump was off, but 1.5" when it on. We also had a very small suction leak in the main drain near the equipment pad. That caused some air to get into the filter, but no noticeable water loss. That was all fixed last year. This time, I began to gently dig in the same area. I got about 18" below the surface and 6" lower than the previous leak when I hit some standing water.
I'm assuming this is from the leak, but I'm not sure how close I am to the source of it. I used a pump to get some of the water out. But it comes back really quickly. I tried digging a bit more, but it's in a difficult to reach spot and there is pea gravel everywhere. When they built the pool, they must have used pea gravel to backfill. Now when I'm trying to dig, pea gravel just caves in. I'm going to try and shore it up, but it has been difficult to make much progress.
Could the source of the leak be near in one of these pipes (presumably the main drain pipe)? Or is there no way to really tell? When we had the leak in the return line last year, the water level never rose past where the leak was. So I was hoping it could be the same in this case.
Lastly, it could be possible that this is just ground water, but I doubt it. It's not down hill from anywhere, but given that they backfilled with pea gravel, that could create a pretty large void for groundwater to sit. I read online one way to test if it is a pool leak or groundwater is to test the CYA. The CYA is 0, but 30 in the pool. It's been pretty dry though, so I still think groundwater is unlikely.
Could the source of the plumbing leak be near the water level in this hole? If it's a tear in the liner, what should I look for? Will it be the size of a quarter or a pinhole? We're losing roughly 1.5" which I believe would be about 400 gallons a day.
Sorry for the long post, but I always appreciate the help given here!