leak info

[ToniMarie]

Hi everyone,

So it's that time of year in New England (Boston) where the pool is getting ready for closing. This has been my first full year of pool maintenance on my own. I must say, it was a bumpy road. This site has been extremely helpful. June was wild getting the pool balanced, clear and blue. However, July was fantastic! Come August, I have dealt with evaporation. This was my first time experiencing it so of course I went into panic mode when I went from not having to top the pool off at all to having to top it off 1 1/2 inches a week starting in mid-August. My in-ground pool has no heater and is exposed to direct sunlight from 7am-7pm. Plus, I live by the ocean so lots of breezes/wind - especially at night. My backyard temps range from about 100 during the day to about 60 at night. My pool water with this wacky weather has been about 74-78 degrees. I did a bucket test earlier this month and all seems to be okay. I also did a dye test around the fittings and skimmer. Again, all seemed okay. Pump is great. No air in my jets, vacuum sucks amazing (my big toe nearly got sucked in) and my filter PSI is perfect. No Algae this summer either! I guess I'm just a paranoid pool owner. My question is chemically based. If you lose water from a leak rather than evaporation, does it mess up your chemicals? I tested daily and all summer have had the same readings, including these wacky August weather days. if someone did have a leak, could you notice it by chemical imbalances such as FC or CYA? Again, mine have remained the same throughout the summer due to me steadily testing, but I guess I am just looking for information should any issues like this arise in the future. Even though the pool will be closed by then end of this week, I am eager to still come on here and learn all I can so that I will be ready to go next year!

Thank you!!
Toni

 

[ajw22]

When you lose water due to a leak you also lose CYA and salt.

When you lose water due to evaporation the CYA and salt stay in the pool.

So when you add water to top off the pool water your CYA and salt level will not change with evaporation and will go down if water loss is due to a leak.

Once the summer weather changes to cooler nights you get more evaporation when the pool water is greater then the night time air temps. And the winds picking up as Fall approaches adds to evaporation.

Evaporation of Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ToniMarie]

When you lose water due to a leak you also lose CYA and salt.

When you lose water due to evaporation the CYA and salt stay in the pool.

So when you add water to top off the pool water your CYA and salt level will not change with evaporation and will go down if water loss is due to a leak.

Once the summer weather changes to cooler nights you get more evaporation when the pool water is greater then the night time air temps. And the winds picking up as Fall approaches adds to evaporation.

Evaporation of Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

All good to know. My CYA never moved since early summer. I don't have salt, I use chlorine. I am still shocked at how drastic evaporation can be on certain days and my house is about 2 houses away from the ocean so between the temps and the breeze at night, August has been unreal. I'm actually ready for the pool to be closed and to take a break from it! I use that calculator that I found on this site and it's crazy how spot on it can be. Some nights it shows a .5 loss and other nights a .1 or .2 depending on wind/humidity. It's a lot to take in for first timers.