How to find leak (seems to be on the newly built in-ground spillway spa side)

[venexiano]

I got my in ground spa installed in march. Everything was going wonder, looks beautiful. It is in acrylic from Spillway Spa. Since two weeks I noticed drastic drop of water in the pool. I added a bucket fully filled with water (you see it at top right of one of the below pics) and did the following tests:

1) Left overnight in pool mode only. Level in pool barely changed. Level bucket barely changed. Spa level drops 5 cm.
2) Left 3 days in spillway mode. Level in the pool drops 4 cm. In the bucket 8 mm (no rain).

This definitely points to a leak in the spa side. Cannot be the check valve otherwise I wont have drop in the pool in spillway mode. I am losing water from the system. How to see if the leak is in the pad plumbing or in the ground plumbing, or in the jets? I could:

a) turn clockwise the handle on the jets to close them, and if level doesnt drop it means the leak is between the jet inlet and the check valve right? And if does empty that means the leak is on the acrylic spa ,(maybe the jets holes were not sealed properly) or between the drain and the check valve on the drain side?

b) I could turn off heater bypass and see if in pool mode spa empties or not. If it doesnt, leak is on the heater

Other suggestion to identify leak? My spa installer is barely responding, asked to come and said he is busy. He suggested to buy LeakShot and pour it in the spa, remove cartridge, turn on spa mode and let it recirculate. I would first like to see if I can identify the leak, and use Leakshot as a last resort, since digging all out is gonna be a pain and $$$. Suggestion?

 

[Texas Splash]

Not sure if you made any progress since Weds, but I'll tag @Jimrahbe for some help if your still need it.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Ven,

What happens when you are in the Spa mode?? Just to be clear, in the spa mode, the spillway would be off and no water should go back to the pool at all.

Why is it wet all around the heater??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[venexiano]

Water on heater pad hopefully was because it just rained.
Ok so I just left it overnight in SPA mode (as defined by Jimrahbe, with water going through the heater). Water level in the spa dropped only 4-5 mm (see picture), which is much less than those 5 cm of drop I had when left it overnight in pool mode (stagnant water in the spa). Probably drop is even less than that, when you shut down spillway and jet turns on (medium speed 1725 rpm) there are a few waves bouncing back and forth in the spillway so initial level was maybe 1-2 mm below the edge spillway (note edge is also not exactly level, I measured those 4-5 mm on the right side on the pic). Tonight I am going to rerun the pool mode only again to double check. How is it possible that (1) I lose water in the pool in spillway mode; (2) no water loss in spa in spa mode (3) Water loss in spa and no loss in pool if in pool mode.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Ven,

I need to see three new pics of your equipment pad showing your two automated valves..

Pic 1.. Show me the system in the Pool mode with the spillover working.
Pic 2.. Show me the system in the Pool mode with the spillover off.
Pic 3.. Show me the system in the Spa mode (Obviously, with the spillover off..)

Are you having to add a lot of water to your pool, or is the problem that the Spa drains down??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[venexiano]

Here are the pics, in the order you requested (filename also says it). Spa is right piping, pool left piping (see also the whole pad on the first picture above).

I need to add water, I am losing water. I did:

1) Left overnight in pool mode only (no spillway). Level in pool barely changed. Level bucket barely changed. Spa level drops 5 cm.
2) Left 3 days in spillway mode. Level in the pool drops 4 cm. In the bucket 8 mm (no rain).

Any suggestion?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Ven,

Sorry for the extra work, I just wanted to make sure that both valves were moving correctly.

When you say you "Left overnight in pool mode only (no spillover)" Is this with the pump running? or off? I assume the pump is running 24/7 for this test.

It is almost impossible to troubleshoot two or more issue, even if they are related. So, let's just pick one issue and work on that one.

Let's look at just the Pool mode, no spillover and see what we can find.

In theory, when in the Pool mode with no spillover, all the water should get sucked from the pool and all the water should get returned only to the pool. In the perfect world, the spa water level would never change. But, we know that the spa drains down about 5 cm. So, where can the water go?

1. A leak through the shell.. (Does not leak in the spa mode_
2. A leak back into the Spa jet line.. (Does not leak in the spa mode)
3. A leak around a light into the ground. (Does not leak in the spa mode)
4. A leak into the main drain. This would be my guess.. I suspect that the automated Intake valve is allow some spa water to get sucked out of the spa drain and then sent back to the pool.

I say this because when in the Spa mode, the spa does not drain down..

The standard way to locate this leak is to just let it leak down until it stops.. It will stop just below the leak.

If you have the ability, you could plug the spa drains and see if the leak stopped.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[venexiano]

Thank you a lot for helping out. Yes all tests I am running is always with the pump on, jus the mode is different. I do not understand point 4. I am losing water in the pool in spillway mode. I run my pool 24/7 in spillway mode since spa install was finalized at the end of marsh in march. I never lost water for 1-2 months, but now I am losing it, see the first pictures above, how low the level is below the tile line. You see it better in the picture below. If drain leaks back to the pool, I would not lose water, but I do. Can you explain that?