Leaking Waterfall

[Melnic]

OK,
We have a Waterfall .
We purchased house a year ago and after we opened the pool (after closing) we noticed the waterfall leaks water.
It can drop an inch in a few hours of use.
I"m looking for tips on troubleshooting where its leaking. I'd like to first see if its leaking from:
A) Pipes
B) Mortar between rocks.

The valve will redirect the output from the pump system instead of going to the return ports, to the waterfall. The pipes have a slit at the top where the water comes out then onto the rocks. The Pipe is joined to the rocks with a foam type insulation material which in some areas I can already see have deteriorated.

After running the waterfall even for minutes, I can see water on the back side of the wall where it goes down hill. There is a drain port in the back and it is leaking upstream from the drain port.

Today, I ran the waterfall then stopped it after a few minutes. Inside the pipe slit, I can see the water slowly recede inside the pipe.

My first question, is if the receding water inside the pipe is normal? Is there a slow drain that brings water back into the pool maybe to keep the pipes clear so that if it freezes, there will be no or little standing water?

I have 3 skimmers and all 3 of them have 2 holes at the bottom. One has a small grate on it.
3 skimmers
2 main drains
1 waterfall
1 rock thing where water comes out and then back into a drain. The rock thing is about 10' from the pool along a barrier wall.

Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[Melnic]

Pics

 

[Melnic]

bump,

Any advice?
My first question would be does the pipe inside the waterfall supposed to slowly drain like I mention? Is that normal so that it drains into the pool (maybe to a skimmer?) and does not sit there being stagnent?

I want to try to isolate the leak to be in the pipes or in the stone.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Mel,

I doubt there is any special plumbing that is there to let it drain down, but you would think that when the pump was off it would drain down to the valve level on its own, unless there was a check valve to prevent it.

Unless you can find a place to get at the water fall pipe and cap it off, I can't see how you could test the integrity of the plumbing...

The only thing that I can think of would be to keep the waterfall pump off and then use a garden hose and flood different areas of the waterfall and see if you can duplicate the wet spot on the back side... My "guess" is that it is not the plumbing, it is the waterfall structure itself..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Melnic]

Jim,
I"m hoping that you are correct.
The output from my filter goes to a motorized jandy valve so will direct 100% of the output to either 2 return ports or the waterfall.
after the motorized valve to the waterfall, there is then jandy valve that you can shut.
Even with the motorized AND jandy valve, the watefall basin still drains.
So, are the Jandy valves not able to block 100% of the water flow? Or do they allow the water to be "sucked" back through to the return ports at the valves?

You are thinking the same thing as I was. I was actually thinking that the next time I need to top the water off, I'd stick the hose into slits in the waterfall basin output and fill up the waterfall basin slowly and see if water drains out the back. If it does then leak is in the pipes. If not, I"d then take the hose and start looking for the leaking spots. It might take alot of time and I may have to do it over several days or weeks.

I did order some of the green leak detection liquid. I could pour some in the waterfall basin and see where it comes out.

As far as leaks in the stone, there are plenty of visible gaps in the mortar plus the foam insulation they use from the pipe to the stone is very deteriorated.

Mel,

I doubt there is any special plumbing that is there to let it drain down, but you would think that when the pump was off it would drain down to the valve level on its own, unless there was a check valve to prevent it.

Unless you can find a place to get at the water fall pipe and cap it off, I can't see how you could test the integrity of the plumbing...

The only thing that I can think of would be to keep the waterfall pump off and then use a garden hose and flood different areas of the waterfall and see if you can duplicate the wet spot on the back side... My "guess" is that it is not the plumbing, it is the waterfall structure itself..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Melnic]

Well
I poured some green dye into the waterfall pipe. Then I turned on the waterfall enough to fill the pipe but not to overflow into the pool. Did this several times and looked for where the water was going. I figured something in a slimmer or pool return jet would ooze some green if it was normal to drop water. Well, nope. In the back of the water fall is the drain pipe to winterize the waterfall. There was the green dye coming out at the bottom. I am hoping I can dig out that back some and find the leak. If it’s deeper in there then it’s going to be a big dig to get at it. If that is the case I am going to get an estimate from the company that built it.

I’m wondering if they did not winterize it one year and a pipe cracked.