Just bought house with pool---probably hasn't been opened in 3 years...

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Awesome! So nice to see you have gotten so far! Sounds like your leak is similar to ours yet we are not losing that much water and messing with our valves and skimmer/drain setup seems to have helped (can't understand that), but we will still be monitoring it.

:party:
 
Last night: FC=7.5, CC=0
This morning: FC=6.5, CC=0
Water is clear, but the kids must have loosened up a bit of the stains/gunk because we had to vac up some junk.

Here is the overnight water loss:

photo 1[1].jpg
photo 2[1].jpg

We did the dye test, didn't see any leaks around the skimmer boxes. Which makes sense...when we opened the pool, the water line was right at the bottom of the skimmer box, indicating something underground. I can't tell you how frustrating that is to find that out NOW, after so much work! Digging up the lines to find a leak is NOT in the budget. Adding water for 6 hours a day is going to eat up a lot of chemistry.

So....guess we will see if closing one skimmer helps? As for Chemistry...I am going to add more CYA to raise that up.
 
Has anyone ever tried this stuff? Any thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Fix-Leak-Pool-Sealer-32/dp/B003K1E99Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

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kimkats said:
Closing one skimmer is worth a try. That is a lot of water to lose each night.

I bet the kids had a blast "helping" clean the pool! LOL

Kim
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Kim---they actually stirred up quite a bit more stuff than just running the filter! We had 2x as much stuff to vac this morning! I sent them in with the scrubbing brushes, but they got bored with that in about 20 seconds. ;-)
 
I will just throw this out there for what it is worth. When I first opened my pool I was in a similar situation as you. I did not know anything about pool maintenance and had a swamp on my hands. Similarly, once I started to reach the end of the SLAM process I started losing water. In my situation, though, it did not stop at the skimmer and almost all of the water in the shallow end was gone before I stopped the leaking. Come to find out it was the way the pool was plumbed. I had moved one of the valves at the equipment pad which was allowing water to go out of the pool into another pipe which, to this day, I still have no idea where it goes. I just know now not to turn the valve to that pipe :D

Since your leaking is stopping at the skimmer that may not be the case, but I wanted to at least mention it. If you have moved any valves or changed anything at the equipment pad it may be worth looking at those again. You may have already eliminated this as a potential cause, but just in case :cool: - great job by the way!! :party:
 
I have not needed to try it but where does the stuff go that does not seal up the hole AND what does it do to the pool?

Any idea what it is made of? I wonder if it is like the stop leak for car radiators?

It sure would be nice if it worked but..................kind of scary if it did not.


20 whole seconds?? LOL kids got to love them! I would tell them they had to brush for 5 mins for every swim.

Kim

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SPKNout4CHRIST said:
In my situation, though, it did not stop at the skimmer and almost all of the water in the shallow end was gone before I stopped the leaking.
Click to expand...


I bet your heart about stopped when you saw it that low! :eek:

Kim
 
SPKNout4CHRIST said:
I will just throw this out there for what it is worth. When I first opened my pool I was in a similar situation as you. I did not know anything about pool maintenance and had a swamp on my hands. Similarly, once I started to reach the end of the SLAM process I started losing water. In my situation, though, it did not stop at the skimmer and almost all of the water in the shallow end was gone before I stopped the leaking. Come to find out it was the way the pool was plumbed. I had moved one of the valves at the equipment pad which was allowing water to go out of the pool into another pipe which, to this day, I still have no idea where it goes. I just know now not to turn the valve to that pipe :D

Since your leaking is stopping at the skimmer that may not be the case, but I wanted to at least mention it. If you have moved any valves or changed anything at the equipment pad it may be worth looking at those again. You may have already eliminated this as a potential cause, but just in case :cool: - great job by the way!! :party:
Click to expand...

OK...your response got me thinking (a dangerous place for me...) and we have some mystery pipes on my filter that I need to identify and label. You may be correct...I don't know because there are parts that I need help labeling. SOOO, if you all could help me figure this out, I would be most appreciative!!

First pic:
pool-parts.jpg

I know the one on left goes to waste. And, I am guessing that there may have been leaky pipes in the past that were just cut off (#5 & #6)?? But, not sure what the others do. Or, what position they should be in.

Second pic:
pool parts.jpg

This pipe comes out of the ground about 20 feet from the filter, and goes about 1 foot down in the deep end of the pool. So far, no water has come out of it that we can tell, and it doesn't appear to be drawing any water in. Honestly, I have no idea what it is there for.

One clue:: There is a second well on the property. It is not functioning right now. Maybe this is how they used to fill the pool? Or, maybe this was a fix for a pipe that is under the cement and they didn't want to dig it up?
 
I will chime in with what I see. Someone else may have additional input.

3 & 4 - These are coming from your pool. More than likely one of these is for the bottom drain and one for the skimmer(s). The pump is pulling the water from the pool using these pipes. The valves on these pipes allow you to adjust the suction for each one. For example, if you are using a manual vacuum you can reduce the suction on the bottom drain to give you more suction on your vacuum at the skimmer. If you close one at a time you should be able to tell which one is for the skimmer.

1 - The pump "pumps" the water from the pool through this pipe into the filter.

2 - This is the return. All filtered water goes through this pipe to the pool returns. How many returns do you have in the pool?

5 & 6 - It appears these may have been used at one point as the skimmer and bottom drain pipes, but were re-plumbed using 3 & 4 at some point. That could be completely wrong, but is what I would guess.

Mystery Pipe - I am not sure what the pipe in the deep end is for. Especially if you have not felt water coming out of it or being sucked into it. Maybe it is 3 or 4 and that valve is of.? Can you let us know how many skimmers you have and bottom drains? Maybe someone else will have another idea here.
 

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SPKNout4CHRIST said:
I will chime in with what I see. Someone else may have additional input.

3 & 4 - These are coming from your pool. More than likely one of these is for the bottom drain and one for the skimmer(s). The pump is pulling the water from the pool using these pipes. The valves on these pipes allow you to adjust the suction for each one. For example, if you are using a manual vacuum you can reduce the suction on the bottom drain to give you more suction on your vacuum at the skimmer. If you close one at a time you should be able to tell which one is for the skimmer.

1 - The pump "pumps" the water from the pool through this pipe into the filter.

2 - This is the return. All filtered water goes through this pipe to the pool returns. How many returns do you have in the pool?

5 & 6 - It appears these may have been used at one point as the skimmer and bottom drain pipes, but were re-plumbed using 3 & 4 at some point. That could be completely wrong, but is what I would guess.

Mystery Pipe - I am not sure what the pipe in the deep end is for. Especially if you have not felt water coming out of it or being sucked into it. Maybe it is 3 or 4 and that valve is of.? Can you let us know how many skimmers you have and bottom drains? Maybe someone else will have another idea here.
Click to expand...

We have 2 skimmers, 3 returns, and no bottom drain. What position should the red valves be in?
 
I would have to say fully open depending on if you wanted both skimmers sucking. You could experiment by closing one or the other and see which skimmer is sucking. I wouldn't shut both because you would end up running your pump dry. Or you could shut one and if you still have suction on both skimmers then you have another suction somewhere. Maybe that mystery pipe but I doubt it.
 
Just had another thought but it could be dangerous. The pipes that seem to be cut off and capped.
Be careful and prepared if you do this, but somehow open those up. See if there is water coming out of one of them.
When I say be prepared I am saying be ready to cap it back off if water is coming out.
If water does come out it could be an old pipe that is still connected somewhere. Or like SPKN said it may be old pipes for an old pump and it was repositioned and re plumbed.
Just spitballing here.
 
Just my thought on the leak. If the pool wasn't open for 3 years and when you open it and found that the pool still has water in it then the leak is probably not from any cracks. During the 3 year period the pool will empty itself with the leak. I think some valve malfunction or set up incorrectly and the water is being dumped to waste.
Also if you have a food die or something. Turn off all the equipment and poor some die into skimmer and see if the water keep flowing or not. This way you will find out if its going to waist after you turn off everything.
 
Leaks are a process of elimination. Good you are looking for signs at all the pipes and connections. I had one last year it turned out to be a pinched "o" ring in the backwash slide valve. The leak was not big but added up fast. It goes out the waste pipe down the hill and trickled so it was not noticeable unless you were right at the outlet end to see it.
 
I just wanted to tie up this thread, since we are done with the slamming. Still have staining and a leak, but we will tackle those as the summer goes on. THANK YOU to everyone who helped and offered such valuable advice! I appreciate all of you!!! :bowdown:

If you are ever in the Hull, Georgia, area...


at the beginning:
moved in.jpg


at the end:
day 16.jpg

hmmm not sure where the pics went, but they were some impressive before and after shots.
:swim:


day 16.jpg
 

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Hulligan said:
I just wanted to tie up this thread, since we are done with the slamming. Still have staining and a leak, but we will tackle those as the summer goes on. THANK YOU to everyone who helped and offered such valuable advice! I appreciate all of you!!! :bowdown:

If you are ever in the Hull, Georgia, area...


at the beginning:
View attachment 36808


at the end:
View attachment 36800

hmmm not sure where the pics went, but they were some impressive before and after shots.
Click to expand...
Yes, quite impressive. And now you have to stick around and share the how-to with someone else. This weekend there will probably be a whole bunch of green pool threads. Or next, after the three hundred dollars' worth of pool store potions failed to do anything and they start looking for some answers.
 

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