Pool leak driving me crazy, but do I have it narrowed down now?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
F

FixItPete

0
Apr 7, 2012
152
Ok! Going to take my time and explain this the best I can! (Mods: Not sure which sub-forum... so I'm putting here...)

Inground pool. Flunked the bucket test badly. Losing almost an inch overnight (pump off) and getting worse. Loses when pump on at same rate.

Dove the pool with gear. Rit Dye and syringe. Pump remained off for several hours before dive.
Dye is not drawn anywhere near light (with light installed and with light removed (inside light well).
Dye is not drawn anywhere around tile line (and will drain below tile line).
Dye is not drawn around skimmer (more on this later) - and the part that makes me wonder why isn't the dye drawn here (more below)
Dye is not drawn around outlet
Dye is not drawn around bottom drain.

Inside the skimmer, there are two holes, one is suction (goes to pump) (which is what we plug the pool vac into). The other hole leads to the bottom drain. They are not connected via the fitting that I have seen some use.

With all equipment off, if I place dye in the suction side of those two holes, the dye settles on the bottom and stays there.
...if I place dye in the hole that leads to the bottom drain it does *not* settle and is gone quickly. (5 seconds or less).

Now... I have never, not once, had a use for that non-suction side hole, and I have never, not once, had use for the bottom drain.

Question:
Does it sound like the leak is between the non-suction side hole in skimmer and the bottom drain? Seeing how I have no use for either, I have purchased two winter pool plugs to close those two openings and reevaluate. These are what I am going to try:

and/or

The main objective, for now, is to just stop the leak - our plan is to redo the patio, and we can solve these issues permanently.

Let me have it!

Thanks,
Pete
 
Pete,

I have used the dye and syringe test, and have never had it work well for me...

In theory, you should let the water in the pool drop on its own until it stops. This somewhat tells you where the leak is.. But this is kind of a bad time to do that test as you want to swim and don't want to get algae..

I see nothing wrong with your idea of plugging the main drain and the skimmer. Thousands and thousands of pools do not have an operating main drain and work just fine.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I think you have a good plan...if your skimmer/main drain is threaded like most are...the plugs like mike posted a link to above will be a better choice.

I did not even put main drains in my pool that I installed last year. So many people have problems with them and they are in a impossible to get to location to fix.
 
Wow! You guys made my day. I thought for sure I wasn't thinking things through.

My skimmer does not appear to be threaded (I will check more closely today)... but I did get the rubber style plugs.

I can't seem to remember what the bottom drain has. I had the plate off of it a while back... but memory doesn't serve me.

Once I'm down there I'll post back.

As a "follow up plan":

If this works, I post here and say "Yay!"
If this doesn't work, my intention is going to be to plug the outlet from the pump and the suction from the skimmer. At that point I will have totally isolated any pipes. If the leak continues... then I will clearly either need to learn how to get better with the dye, or cry in my soup and hire someone to find it. Which is what I am trying HARD to avoid.

Thank you for this site, and thank you for all the replies! :) Pete
 
Understood. There are no bubbles at all. Which is what leads me to think if this mission fails, it has to be on the outlet (return) side. Which We will find out on Mission 2 (LOL) when/if I plug that.
 
Fun night! Got the two plugs in... cleaned some spots with the wire brush (figured I'd do lots while I have the dive gear out LOL).

Filling pool to a certain point.

I STILL can't tell, for certain, if it's not leaking through the outlet side or not. I tried a thin piece of plastic to see if there was "suction" (this is with all eqpt off)... and I don't know if my mind was playing with me or if it was being drawn inward? I tried the dye and made restricted part of the outlet, but seems like the dye wasn't going in unless I held the needle a certain way... Tough call. I guess the next step is to buy the thinner plugs and plug that one if this doesn't work.

I'm certain I'll be updating. Either with joy or with "ugh".

Thanks again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: duckcmmndr
Here's my update. Not certain it's much of an update... Maybe you guys have some suggestions.

1) I plugged the bottom drain
2) I plugged the bottom drain skimmer opening (located at the bottom of the skimmer that ties to the bottom drain)

Result: The leak appears to have slowed - however I will be conducting a bucket test to make sure.

I bought cheap Depstech borescope... that told me nothing. Except I *THINK* I can see bubbles running away from the outlet pipe opening deeper down the pipe. So that might be a problem. (?)

I have a small deep plug on the way. Worse case I'll plug every friggin' pipe until I find the leak.

What a pain in the arse. LOL.

If anyone has any suggestions... or even a "better" scope suggestion... I'm all ears.

I know... I know... I could call a leak detection place. But I'm a big believer in trying to figure it out. I'm not saying I'm not able to tuck-tail and call someone, but I usually figure it out. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply