Hi all, we had plumbing and equipment set recently and our city doesn’t require a pluming inspection just a pressure test so they backfilled the same day. Unfortunately I believe we have a leak somewhere based on the pressure readings. The system was pressurized to 40 at 4pm yesterday and it was losing ~2 psi per hour until it settled at ~26 psi when I checked at 8am this morning. I checked again at 4pm and it lost another 4 psi and is at 22 currently. Should I be concerned about this or is this within reason ?
Pressure Test Failure
- Thread starter jkxpooldesign
- Start date
I would be concerned. The pressure should hold until you release it. I had 40 psi in my pipes for days till the electrician came and released the water to install the temperature gauge.
I let my PB know and he mentioned to let him know when pressure his 24 and it did and I sent him a text and haven't heard back yet. I wasn't sure if there is an acceptable range in which pressure can drop due to x y and z. When you did your pressure test was all of your equipment tied in or just the lines?
All the equipment was installed. The city here did an inspection the next day to verify the pressure held up. We had a leak before the plumber even left and he had to reglue this one pipe 2 times. It held the third time and it was left pressurized for days until the next guy came. No pressure losses. They normally leave it pressurized at each step to make sure the next person doesn't cause damage.
Make sense. I've seen photos in this forum with pressure tests where all the lines were tied together for it and then the equipment is set at a later date. My test has all the equipment set and they are using the pressure gauge on the filter. I notice that water never seems to dry under the heater which leads me to believe there could be a leak there and it got me thinking maybe the Heater is not designed to hold pressures that high?? There's also a very slow drip in the PVC coming from the pump to the filter at one of the joins (1 drip per 2/3 minutes) which I don't think should impact this test, however, will ask them to fix.
I see that you're from Orlando, I'm building in Winter Garden. When the city inspected the pressure test did they come by twice to verify over a period of x time the pressure held? Or did they just show up and verified the reading and were good with that?
Basically the plumber pressurizes it and they come the next day. So overnight if there is pressure loss they would fail it. It has to be at 35 psi when the inspector shows up.
Gotcha, so if technically, for my case... if plumber pressurized it to 50 in anticipation of an inspection the next day they could "pass" if it reads 35 when the inspector shows up. I won't accept plumbing that doesn't hold pressure for 24/48 hours so that won happen, but I just wanted to put a scenario out there that would "pass" inspection.
Just heard word from my PB and he mentioned that the loss of pressure I'm experiencing is typical. I stated to the builder that we are not comfortable with a 50% loss in pressure overnight. Waiting to hear back from him to see what he has to say.
I also proactively spoke with the City building inspector and he mentioned that a loss of pressure of that magnitude is not acceptable. However, for the city, all they need to see is 35lbs at inspection.
Here comes the headache of building a pool !!!!!
I also proactively spoke with the City building inspector and he mentioned that a loss of pressure of that magnitude is not acceptable. However, for the city, all they need to see is 35lbs at inspection.
Here comes the headache of building a pool !!!!!
sktn77a
Gold Supporter
Bull. The plumbing isn't holding pressure and will leak. He needs to fix it before going any further. It's his problem, not yours.
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Desert Dog
Silver Supporter
It should hold pressure, but do you have PVC pipes coming out of the skimmer tied/glued together? Or did they stick clear flexible pipe into threaded inserts into the skimmer holes? If they did the later, it probably can not hold that much pressure and is leaking down to a point that it can handle. Would check to see how they sealed the skimmer first before searching for a leak.
The pressure test did no have skimmer attached. the line for the skimmer was just stubbed out at that point. They finished tile and put in the skimmer today and I haven't pressured up the system yet.
I agree. Plumbing is either leaking or not there is no in-between. A plumbing pressure drop indicates a leak that needs to be addressed, especially of our magnitude (50% Loss in pressure in under 24hrs). I've already informed the PB that I'm withholding the next draw until we are satisfied with the plumbing. This part of the build is too critical to accept anything other than perfection IMO. I just want to make sure asking if asking for a pressure test to hold pressure being extra, but it doesn't seem so.
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Desert Dog
Silver Supporter
Now that the skimmer is in, Wait for them to pressure it back up. I would think they would not want a leak almost has much as you.
I hope so. They can scheme the city and overpressure the system and call for an inspection and hope it's at 35psi when the inspector arrives. The leak not fast enough where that is out of the realm of possibility. I am just annoyed that the PB would try to pass off that there is a loss tolerance for the pressure which is crazy IMO. That's like saying you're building a house and it's ok that there is a small leak somewhere, so what if your drywall will eventually fail and wood rot over time, it's acceptable.
PB has not said that they stand by the plumbing and that is up to industry standard. Does anyone on here know what the "standard" is?
Desert Dog
Silver Supporter
Have they re-pressurized the system? It is supper easy to do. Is it still leaking? Don't continue the build to a point where it would be difficult to correct. Make sure it holds before continuing.
Desert Dog
Silver Supporter
Just an after thought. Any water features that are hooked up and not capped off? Like a water fall and the pressure is leaking past the valve and coming out of the water feature?
I've isolated the problem to one line. I pressurized the system with all the valves open and then once at the pressure I closed off the values with the theory that after a period of time this should isolate the leak. After a few hours, I came back and opened the valves 1 by 1 and the only pipe that caused the pressure gauge to drop was the main drain.
Desert Dog
Silver Supporter