Mystery leak?

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dizydizy

0
May 13, 2015
23
New Jersey
Hi,

Earlier this summer I thought I had a leak, went through the motions, and actually found one in the light conduit using dye test. I patched it up using epoxy putty. Now while the water doesn't drop as fast, I still see a loss of maybe 1/8" a day in comparison to what's in the bucket. I'm testing with equipment off, and all lines closed with expansion plugs. I did this over the course of a week or so, and did multiple rounds all in all. I re-tested everything using dye testing and I can't see any leaks strong enough for the dye test at least. I'm testing while water is still, with scuba (hookah actually), so I don't think its my dye test. I used glue style epoxy to do a secondary coat around the conduit just for safe measures, but still having same issue. I'm now at a loss, pun intended. 1/8 doesn't sound like a lot, but that's ~100 gallons in my case if I'm not mistaken.

While reading some articles on bucket testing, some of them mention that after 24 hours or so the test is no longer valid, which made me wonder that maybe I'm overlooking some other natural reasons for water levels dropping at different rates.

Any thoughts?

TIA!
 
1/8” to 1/4” water loss per day is just normal water evaporation. You fixed the leak and it’s not leaking anymore.
 
dizydizy said:
1/8" difference between pool and bucket. So within a week I see about 1" more water in the bucket.
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JoyfulNoise said:
Yes. That’s a normal evaporation rate of water from a pool surface, 1/8” to 1/4” per day.
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That doesn't seem right. If it was evaporation only, shouldn't the water in the pool and the bucket evaporate at the same rate, meaning no difference btwn pool and bucket?
 
SemperFly said:
That doesn't seem right. If it was evaporation only, shouldn't the water in the pool and the bucket evaporate at the same rate, meaning no difference btwn pool and bucket?
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At 1/8" per day, you are are right at the limit of what a bucket test can detect. Let's be realistic, a bucket test is only good for a gross leak. Evaporation rates are affected by water temperature differences with air, relative humidity and wind speed over the water's surface. If the water level inside the bucket is well below the edge of the bucket, then there will be a difference in wind speed that could cause evaporation rates to differ.

Adding 1" of water per week to a pool is not at all unreasonable. Evaporation rates tend to pick up in the fall because the pool water is often A LOT warmer than night time air temps and so evaporation rates go up until the water has cooled off sufficiently.
 
I always am surprised as my pool seems to have more evaporation at this time of year in GA than earlier in the summer. It seems like the very dry hot Indian summer type weather causes more than I'm normally used to.

Perhaps you are experiencing the same?

Maddie :flower:
 
Joyfullnoise is absolutely correct. 1/8 inch daily loss is simply to small to fret about and the precision of the bucket test is not intended for that.

TFP's general guideline is that 1/4 daily can be attributed to evaporation.....depending on temp, humidity, wind, etc.

1/8 loss on a pool your size I think calcs out to about 100 gallons. At most water rates, that's about 80 cents daily (all of which could easily be evaporation) ....so, if you are leaking at all, you are leaking pennies. I would leave it alone.

Y/S is correct, also. A DRY day at 80 degrees will often evaporate more water than a humid day at 92 degrees.
 
Another indicator (not necessarily definitive) of a leak vs evaporation is CYA. Since CYA doesn't evaporate, if you're leaking water to the tune of an inch or more a week, you should see CYA falling over time more than 10 per month I'd guess, but this is impacted by splash out and backwash loss as well. If you CYA loss has been 10 per month or so, I'm guessing evaporation.

I understand your pool loss compared to bucket loss, thank you for doing the bucket test! Have you actually measured how much the water is dropping compared to where it starts the day within the pool? Painters tape might work well if you dry the tile first. Maybe a sticky note. You could measure loss during daylight hours and during night hours and compare if you wish to see if loss is evenly distributed over 24 hours or much more overnight (further suggestive of evaporation). Here in Florida, certain times of the year it sometimes feels like someone is draining the pool down behind our backs. I've known some pool owners put on covers or use chemicals to battle it, but unless your water cost is high, those may cost more than just topping off once a week or so and adjusting the PH if your fill water is problematic.
 

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Thanks for all the thoughts. Seeing an inch a week difference between pool and bucket just didn't feel right. There must also be something about the simple act of asking, because I decided to give it one more go at a dye test, and this time something clicked to take off the skimmer doors. BAM, a 1/4" hole between the front of the skimmer and tile, which was covered by the door. Dye test confirmed its sucking up water pretty fast, so I think I finally found it!
 
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