Water Leaking into Street

[Asims5188]

Hi,
We just bought a home in December and it has a pool that was built in Dec 2017 by Premier. The pool is leaking water into the road. I lowered the water line below the overflow vent to ensure it wasnt draining from there. I shut off the pool equipment and closed all valves from the pool into the pump to see if maybe the water would stop flowing. But its still draining, consistently. When I shut off my autofill the pool lost 1 cm of water level overnight. I can see the water just pouring into the street from a 4” drain line with one of those green pop-up things. If my pool equipment doesn’t connect to a waste line, where is this water coming from?

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Sounds like you might have a waste/sump drainage lines funneling water to the street. Does your filter have a multiport valve? Show us some pics of your equipment pad. Sometimes a MPV can leak to WASTE without you realizing it. Or perhaps there is a French drain line beneath/around the pool to protect it from a raising water table?

 

[Dirk]

Exploring for the leak is fine, but trying to fix it might void a warranty from the builder (if there is one). So be aware of that as you proceed. In California, home owners are protected from certain types of construction defects regardless of any written or stated warranty, even if the property exchanges hands. The statute of limitations for the defect I was dealing with was 10 years, and I got the original builder to pay for it, even though I am not the original owner. But had I attempted to fix the problem myself first, I would not have been able to collect.

So one of your first steps should be to determine who the builder was, and contact them to determine if they're willing to come out and take a look. A phone call is fine to get things going, but you should follow up the call with something in writing. I can't speak to what if any TX laws might help you, but it might be worth some research, especially if you have a major defect causing the leak ($$$).

I few simple steps now might go a long way in determining what the problem is and who's going to pay for it.

In the meantime, help @Texas Splash to help you diagnose, answering his questions and providing the pics he's asking for.

 

[TinFoilHat]

1 cm equals .4 inch. That doesn't sound like enough to pop up the "green pop-up thing" or run a steady stream of water down the street, unless this is some kind of gargantuan pool. Am I missing something here?

 

[Newdude]

unless this is some kind of gargantuan pool.

For me, 1 cm would be about 200 gallons a day, plenty to fill the pipe to the road and keep it pressurized.

A long pipe with a little pitch, or a short one with a steep pitch would be able to gravity drain out the pop up thingie.

I'm with Pat that the MPV has a slow leak but we need more info to be sure.

 

[Newdude]

Or it could be two seperate things. A 4 inch drain pipe sounds like it's connected to the gutters. My AC air handler in the attic has its condensation line going go a nearby gutter and has a slow trickle when it's humid.

Its been 80s to 60s by OP lately and we'd have the AC running (might be hoodie weather in TX, i dunno ). With a decent daily temp swing i could easily lose 1cm a night to evaporation and see the puddle during the day and think they were related.

 

[Jimrahbe]

A,

If this were my pool, I would test the water in my pool for chlorine (FC) and see what it is.. Then I would test the 'street' water and see if they were about the same. This would confirm that the water is actually coming from your pool.

If you don't have much FC in your water, add a gallon of Liquid Chlorine first..

4" drain pipes are normally for things like Deck Drains, French Drains, etc..

Thanks..


Jim R.

 

[JJ_Tex]

I like the idea of testing the street water for chlorine.

Another easy test is to make sure no water is running inside of the house and your auto-fill is off, then look at your water meter. If its spinning its a sprinkler or something else leaking that is being picked up by your deck or yard drains.

Also, you never mentioned what type of filter you have. Tell us that info or post up a picture of your equipment pad.

 

[ajw22]

Better to test for CYA which does not appear naturally or in municipal water.

1-2 ppm of chlorine can be in municipal water and lead you to believe it is pool water when the water is from a municipal water leak.

Or test for both.