So my wife and I bought a house last year that has an in-ground, vinyl lined, salt water pool. Last summer we saw that the old liner was garbage so we bit the bullet and had it replaced at the end of the season. After opening the pool back up this season I couldn't help but notice we were still loosing a substantial amount of water on a daily basis, even with a solar cover on. After confirming with a bucket test, I had a leak detection company come out and sure enough, they said I have a skimmer line leaking and a return line leaking. The same company then said they can't accurately locate the leaks so they would just provide me a quote to fully replace all my underground leaking lines. Quote came out to just under $10,000 to tear apart my yard and fully replace the lines - heck no. Working on using Fix-a-Leak right now but doesn't seem to be working. Are there any other alternatives or companies I can use to fix these leaks? I'd rather not live with them for a long time but if my only choice is to spend that kind of money on it I might have to. I'm located in a suburb about 30 minutes west of Boston, MA.
Non-invasive underground pipe fixes?
- Thread starter Pbarozzi
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,802
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Welcome to TFP! 
I'll be the first to admit I'm no leak expert, but I've been researching the process long enough to know that many leaks can be ID'd to within 6 inches or so if done properly. One method is by closing the lines and adding water pressure followed by air. This causes a bubbling sound underground (like blowing bubbles through a straw) followed by listening with sensitive equipment like a deck-plate and other microphones. Now whether or not the entire plumbing infrastructure of your pool requires replacement is another scenario, but 10K sure seems like a lot and a bit suspicious to me.
I watched a video on Youtube from one company who showed a method to plug a small leak (1/8" drilled hole) by injecting a 2-part product, but that may have its limitations. Perhaps @jimmythegreek has additional comments to add to help give you more to go on.
I'll be the first to admit I'm no leak expert, but I've been researching the process long enough to know that many leaks can be ID'd to within 6 inches or so if done properly. One method is by closing the lines and adding water pressure followed by air. This causes a bubbling sound underground (like blowing bubbles through a straw) followed by listening with sensitive equipment like a deck-plate and other microphones. Now whether or not the entire plumbing infrastructure of your pool requires replacement is another scenario, but 10K sure seems like a lot and a bit suspicious to me.I watched a video on Youtube from one company who showed a method to plug a small leak (1/8" drilled hole) by injecting a 2-part product, but that may have its limitations. Perhaps @jimmythegreek has additional comments to add to help give you more to go on.
A good leak detection company can get very accurate results. Without seeing their equipment and procedure it's a guess. My guess is they just pressure treated lines amd found leaks in those 2 without actually doing any "listening". Pics of pool area would help. Repair depends on access and type of decking/layout
