Saturated Ground at Equipment Pad

[matthanna]

As I was looking at a spot of completely saturated dirt with standing water on top of it in front of my equipment pad, it occurred to me that it hasn’t rained in about two weeks here in Atlanta, and so this water at which I’m blankly staring is probably A Bad Thing.

I’m the proud owner of this pool/house for about two weeks now, so I’m new to this game. What would you do if you were relatively DIY inclined? Start digging at the wet spot, presumably delicately so I don’t hit / break a PVC pipe? Just call the pool builder?

Unfortunately, nothing above the surface seems to be leaking; that suspiciously close main drain on the filter is bone dry.

 

[ajw22]

You can dig or you can pay someone to dig.

Time to do some gentle archeological digging and see what you uncover.

 

[HermanTX]

I would dig down 2 ft - you should see the pipe as it turns horizontal.

 

[matthanna]

Thanks for the replies. Would you just use a hand trowel so that you don’t slice a pipe by jumping on top of a spade tip shovel or something?

 

[ajw22]

I would start with hand tools and see how hard the ground is.

 

[Newdude]

I use the claw side of my framing hammer as a scraper. It does really well to loosen packed dirt for small areas.

Also, if it's coming from below, it'll be easy digging and wet. If it's coming from above, you'll find dry dirt a few inches down.

I'd run the system at full RPM and see what happens. It may not be leaking at lower speeds. Maybe it's squirting out from 5 ft away and landing there. Maybe it starts bubbling from the ground.

Do you have non pool plumbing in the area such as sprinklers or a line to a hose bib somewhere ?

 

[Lake Placid]

The wet spot is suspiciously close to the drain plug on the filter. It could be coincidence but the edge of the pad looks a touch wet there. I’d confirm no drips at that point if you haven’t. EDIT- Re-read your post. Seems you covered this already. Ignore lol

 

[Bperry]

The wet spot is suspiciously close to the drain plug on the filter. It could be coincidence but the edge of the looks a touch wet there. I’d confirm no drips at that point if you haven’t. EDIT- Re-read your post. Seems you covered this already. Ignore lol

Id still run my hand under the filter drain or use a paper towel to wipe under it and see if theres any moisture. A slow drip can make a big puddle.

 

[matthanna]

Culprit: the connection between the water supply hose and the pvc piping for the autofill. The leak is a drip from the green-circled connection, where the threads on the black 90-degree elbow go into the white PVC.

But how to address it?

My first thought is to remove it, apply thread tape, and reinsert it. But I can't unscrew it from the PVC without first disconnecting it from the hose, and I can't get it off the hose, even after removing the hose clamp. The hose is quite rigid.

I suspect the black elbow is this 55 cent barbed irrigation elbow I see on Home Depot's website. I could always just cut the elbow in half, separately persuade each side free (the barbs are threaded, so once the elbow is cut, I should be able to back it out of the house), screw the new one into the PVC, and then hope I'm strong enough to press its barbed end into the quite rigid hose.

Anyone have a more graceful solution or any experience with this little devil?

 

[HermanTX]

My first thought is to remove it, apply thread tape, and reinsert it. But I can't unscrew it from the PVC without first disconnecting it from the hose, and I can't get it off the hose, even after removing the hose clamp. The hose is quite rigid.

You could cut the hose this side of the barb. Then unscrew the plastic elbow and I would replace it - use thread tape. Always best to go back with new once you get this far.
The trick to getting the hose back on is to soak the end in hot water to make it more flexible.
You may need to buy a new piece of longer hose. Go back a foot or so, cut it again. Then use a double barb to join 2 hoses together and then have sufficient length to join back to elbow.

Alternative solution
Buy a 1/2” PVC elbow fitting that is male on 1 side and female on other. Screw that male end into the existing PVC elbow and point the female end towards the flexible pipe.
Purchase a straight barb connector (not the elbow type you show). Screw that into the new elbow and then put flexible pipe over barb. Again, put the flex hose in cup of hot water to make it flexible.
The use of the new 1/2” elbow and straight 1/2”x barb should be long enough to connect to the existing flexible pipe.

Let us know what worked.

 

[sktn77a]

Don't cut the hose. Cut the 90 where the barbed section joint the threaded section. Then pull it out with pliers (it will come out - you may have to use a hair dryer/heat gun on it but be careful if you use a heat gun). Then unscrew the threaded part from the PVC insert. Screw the threaded end of a new connector into the PVC adapter after putting several turns of plumbers taper (don't be afraid to make it tight) and then align it with the hose and push it in and clamp it. Run it for several days before filling back the dirt!

 

[Bperry]

Culprit: the connection between the water supply hose and the pvc piping for the autofill. The leak is a drip from the green-circled connection, where the threads on the black 90-degree elbow go into the white PVC.

But how to address it?

My first thought is to remove it, apply thread tape, and reinsert it. But I can't unscrew it from the PVC without first disconnecting it from the hose, and I can't get it off the hose, even after removing the hose clamp. The hose is quite rigid.

I suspect the black elbow is this 55 cent barbed irrigation elbow I see on Home Depot's website. I could always just cut the elbow in half, separately persuade each side free (the barbs are threaded, so once the elbow is cut, I should be able to back it out of the house), screw the new one into the PVC, and then hope I'm strong enough to press its barbed end into the quite rigid hose.

Anyone have a more graceful solution or any experience with this little devil?

That’s a sprinkler fitting and not meant to be perfectly sealed all the time or pressurized (if it is). Barbed fittings should be above ground or buried in an inspection box so you can see when they fail.

 

[matthanna]

Thanks for all the input here. I was able to destroy the barbed irrigation elbow and replace it, then I left it open for a few days to inspect.

It does seem that this was perhaps a bit of a shortcut to use irrigation fittings for this part of the system. Thankfully, it's upstream of all of the actual pool equipment, but it is indeed under continuous pressure from the house water supply, and I'll be keeping an eye on it.

 

[Newdude]

It does seem that this was perhaps a bit of a shortcut to use irrigation fittings for this part of the system.

What else were they supposed to use on irrigation pipe ?

On a serious note, sprinkler pipe was used for many years in many areas. There's at least one in MA still doing it per a memeber last year.


Glad it worked out

 

[matthanna]

What else were they supposed to use on irrigation pipe ?

Haha, touché!
In some ways I’m glad they did, as I need to slice a tee into this autofill line and add a drain for winterizing, which will be quite easy given the irrigation piping.