small leak in my AGP liner. how to find / what to look for.

[egiblock]

nothing crazy, but loosing about 1/2" a day on my 21' round above ground. just getting water build-up under my deck, so i've narrowed it to that area, but i can't find where the Dang leak is. what are the best things to look for? i've looked down in the water but dont see any holes anywhere. The only place i haven't been able to examine is under the steps that are in there. only other idea i have is there is an area of dirt that seems to be lower than other areas around the pool under the deck.. maybe just the way it was filled in, or should i really look into this area? see pics with red arrow of what i'm talking aboout. but this isn't anywhere near the stairs which is suspect area #2 for me.



thanks for any tips.

 

[Pv2]

get some swim goggles or a snorkle and mask it is REALLY hard to tell from the surface. when you think you have found it you can put some food coloring in a squeeze bottle (or buy leak detecting dye) and double check that way. you are losing about a 100 gallons per day and asking for rust/corrosion problems (along with mosqitos - at least if I had that kind of standing water I would have tons of them!) . hole could be on side wall as well as bottom. do you have fittings near where the water is - skimmer or inlets? another possible spot for leaks. under stairs/steps is highly likely especially for regular liner. intex types are a lot thicker. just takes a tiny pebble and people using ladders to grind a hole.

 

[egiblock]

i'm gonna move the steps tonight and see what's going on back there.. i have a strong feeling that's where it is.. no fittings or any other equipment on the side of the pool that is leaking.

 

[egiblock]

gonna get in there and check it out before the weekend.

if i can't find the leak before it's ready to close up for the Ohio winter, should I drain it and just look at it in the spring time?

 

[Pv2]

I would try real hard to find it. you can't drain traditional above ground liner pools, unless you are planning to replace the liner (and that puts your pool walls at risk for wind damage if there is no water in the pool over winter) if you don't find it you risk real rust/corrosion damage to your walls, though if the hole is up high it might just leak down to that point, in which case you will at least know better where the hole would be.

 

[ctowsley1]

If it’s in the bottom, the sand base under the liner probably has a good indent from the water washing it out. I had a small leak last year and patched it, discovered by seeing the indent in the bottom. The other day my patch let go a little and during my attempt to repatch it, the sand under it had gotten so washed out that the liner was stretched over the ever deepening hole, which caused it to get bigger and bigger until the liner just gave out and the entire contents of the pool rushed through that hole like a tsunami and my lawn was completely flooded. Ugh. Currently contemplating our next steps, and when would be the best time to put in a new liner. We pretty much have to do this before winter but this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.