lost water over winter

[arbernet]

my 27' pool was installed last spring. drained it to skimmer level and covered it in fall. regular winter here in Georgia.
I lost most of the water. I foolishly started re-filling then realized my error there. I have lost 5 inches in a month . Pool is now at 19".
Can anyone recommend a patch kit that works under water? would hate to lose the last 19".
any tips on finding a leak?
the loss is not consistent. Can lose 1/2" a day but there are days with no loss. I pump the cover before measuring.
Science guys, if I get heavy rain and ground is saturated will loss slow?


appreciate any advice.

 

[wireform]

You may have evaporation and not a leak. Do the Bucket test

 

[Newdude]

Science guys, if I get heavy rain and ground is saturated will loss slow?

No. Gravity levels the two so you may have a 3 inch deep puddle and 3 inches in the pool, but as soon as the puddle soaks into the ground, more leaves the pool.

I pump the cover before measuring.

You have likely pumped the pool through the cover, which is why it stays for days and is lower when you check. Either the cover deteriorated and is letting water pass through it, or.falling sticks (etc) punched some holes in it.

 

[arbernet]

You may have evaporation and not a leak. Do the Bucket test

would i have evaporation with the cover on?

 

[arbernet]

No. Gravity levels the two so you may have a 3 inch deep puddle and 3 inches in the pool, but as soon as the puddle soaks into the ground, more leaves the pool.



You have likely pumped the pool through the cover, which is why it stays for days and is lower when you check. Either the cover deteriorated and is letting water pass through it, or.falling sticks (etc) punched some holes in it.

pool cover was empty for a week and I still had loss

 

[Newdude]

would i have evaporation with the cover on?

Likely not, unless the top water was evaporating and replacing itself with bottom water.

pool cover was empty for a week and I still had loss

OK then we are back to a likely leak if the cover was floating on the water and not suspended over the water.

 

[arbernet]

i pulled he cover off, i will start inspecting. Any recommendations for repair kits?

 

[Newdude]

Let's see what @Casey likes for patches.

 

[Casey]

Boxer glue from Amazon and vinyl patches.

 

[arbernet]

pulled the cover off and water (1/3 left) was nice and clear. my numbers below.
Curiously have not had any loss since removing the cover (cool and cloudy weather) all though there were time with cover on when no loss occurred.
I know a possibility is I pulled water from the pool when pumping the cover but I only ran the pump for 5 or 10 minutes at a time until cover was empty. i lost about more than 10K over winter


there are 2 areas where there is a rock or root underneath that the installers missed.
I am getting no help from them as you can imagine. (I did report this to them last year)

So i have 2 choices and could use advice.
1. drain the remaining 6K gallons. pull liner and remove rock/root.

2. cut a slit over the rock/root, remove and patch. rock would be easy to remove, root could be a whole different problem.

I am using this repair kit.

Pool Liner Repair 408517Boxer - 4 oz Vinyl Swimming Kit​

Free Chlorine 3
Combined Chlorine 0
pH 7.5
Alkalinity 60
Cyanuric Acid 50
phosphates 300
borate 80