Leak in Light Screw Hole

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SeanH

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LifeTime Supporter
May 31, 2008
71
South Jersey
Pool Size
26000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Looking for some advice. I had a problem last summer with a leak. I had a leak detection company come out in March before I opened the pool. He found the leak in one of the screw holes for the light. It’s a wet niche light. He tried to patch it but told me it probably wouldn’t work because it was so cold. It didn’t fix the leak. I’ve been trying to get a pool company out to look at it but no one seems interested to come out.

Does anyone know of a good process to patch or seal a screw hole?

Sean
 
SeanH said:
The patch the leak guy attempted is next to it
Click to expand...
I see. I assumed it was somehow related to the actual screw hole itself, but that doesn't appear to be the case huh? More in the general vicinity? Adjacent to the retaining ring or perhaps slightly behind the ring?
 
Leak guy told me it was the actual screw hole that was leaking. I’m pretty sure that patch is going behind the ring.

This was from his report..

“An electronic leak detection was performed on the pool. A scan of the vinyl liner revealed a tear in the screw holes under the pool light. A patch was applied. No other issues with the liner were found.”

Sean
 
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Did he actually remove the light from the niche & investigate further?
Doing so would help determine if its the gasket between the ring & the niche that needs replaced or perhaps a crack in the niche etc.
here’s an indepth video that shows various types of leaks

Also, the patch in the picture doesn’t look to be completely affixed anymore.
 
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He made it sound like it was the screw hole that was leaking. He said that was the only leak he found. He told me that the patch he put on probably wouldn't work since the water was so cold at the time. This was in March in New Jersey and it was still pretty cold out.

Thanks for the video. Lots of good information in there. He didn't address it directly, but he did show a shot of a liner patch on two screw holes in a similar light. I guess that would be the way to handle it if that's where the leak is.

I think my next step is some dye testing to verify.

Sean
 
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Quick update...

I tried to dye test for the leak around the light and could not find it so I called the leak detection company back.

He found another tear in the liner at the light. This time he got in and applied patches to it and it's no longer leaking. He tested the entire liner and found no other leaks.

I let the pool sit for 12 hours not running and didn't lose any water which I would have before getting the liner patched. After I started running the pool, I was still losing water. I suspected I had more than one leak given the amount I have been losing so I was not surprised.

I built a water pressure test rig and found that one of my two skimmers leaks pretty bad. It lost pressure (15lb) after less than a minute. The other one only lost 2lbs after 10 minutes which could also be a small leak, but it seems pretty insignificant. I plugged the bad skimmer and ran it for about 12 hours without noticeable water loss.

So now I'm going to get the leak guy back out to try to pinpoint the skimmer line leak underground. It's a straight shot from the skimmer to the equipment pad so I'm hoping it's underground and not under the concrete.

Hindsight being 20/20 I now wish I had done the pressure test before I had him come out to patch the liner so I could have had him try to locate the skimmer leak then. Live and learn.
 
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It's been 4 days and I've had almost no noticeable water loss. We've had all hot sunny days so I'm sure a little has evaporated but I have not had to add any water.

I had the leak detection company out today. They plugged the skimmer and tested with air from the line at the valve. It held 20lbs of pressure. He could not detect any leaks at the skimmer or underground. While he believed me that I hadn't lost any water since I pulgged the skimmer there wasn't anything else he could do. Watching what he did I would be convinced it wasn't leaking if plugging the skimmer had not stopped my water loss.

There is one difference in the testing methodology aside from air vs. water pressure. I am plugging the top of the skimmer with a threaded fitting while the leak test company plugged it down at bottom fitting with a rubber expansion plug. I guess it's possible that the leak is between the top of the threaded port on the skimmer and the pipe below it.

I just plugged it back up for now so I can at least save a little on my water bill for the rest of the season.

Sean
 
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