Still Chasing the Leak

[TarponTF]

A lot of great topics and advice have helped me immensely with our pool. I am still chasing a 1"/day leak. I let it leak until it slowed to a trickle. The level slowed at the pool niche, just below the hole for the wire. I decided to epoxy the hole that the wire comes out of the niche into the light. I thought perhaps the rest of the leak was evaporation. I was excited to fill the pool back up and be leak free. I refilled the pool and much to my surprise, I still had the leak! I thought "Oh boy, I did a poor job stuffing that hole with epoxy". I let the pool leak again down to the niche area again below the hole for the wire. I checked the epoxy and it was solid and cant see how that would have leaked at all. Serious frustration kicking in I decided to do some underwater closeup photography so I could examine pics on my desktop blown up and really think this one out. I found something very interesting below the hole for the wire. It looked like a molded manufacture date/time code punched into the rear of the niche. When I really zoomed in, I was surprised to see that it looks like some kind of plug and if you look even closer, it seems like one side is starting to pop out. The niche says it is a Hayward S-454379. There is also a marking of E39338 which seems to correspond to the actual light. Of course I cannot find a manual for this niche. Has anyone ever seen this? I am a little unsure of the best approach for repair. Pushing it back in I could have the same problem in the future. Pushing it in too hard could crack the plastic housing. Pulling it out altogether and trying to stuff something else in there could be troublesome as well. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I will ring Hayward's phone Monday but not expecting much from that call.

 

[ajw22]

I would push the plug in gently and silicone around it. Lets see what others have to say - @KDpoolguy @Pool Clown @PoolguyinCT @InyoRob

 

[KDpoolguy]

I’d recommend a preemptive polyurethane sealant instead of silicone (seems to last longer in my research) esp. if underwater. It’s hard to tell if there is indeed a break if it’s a molded plastic niche. If the niche housing is indeed leaking, can you find any evidence there’s water leaking behind the shell? How positive are you the leak is coming from the niche?
Can you pull the wire out and fit in on of them rubber plugs as a redundancy?
Leaking Pool: Find and Fix Pool Leaks | InTheSwim Pool Blog

 

[TarponTF]

KDpoolguy, yes, the niche is leaking from somewhere. I finally had enough and dug a hole to look at the back of the niche. It looks like the niche was cemented in and the area behind the niche has eroded from the water leak. This looks like long term leakage. Its eaten away part of the rebar as well. I included a few pics. You can see the water level below the conduit that runs into the niche. I'm going to try to siphon that out and see if it fills back up. I'm not sure how to reseal this hole or if I need to. If the niche doesn't leak, maybe this area behind the niche is intended to be dry.

 

[KDpoolguy]

Good for you for digging it out. At least now you can really tackle it. Usually it’s the weakest points that fail. It almost seems the conduit connection could also be a source.