HELP-do I have a leak or is it just evaporation?

12 years ago

It will be 2 weeks on Wednesday since I got water in my pool. The water was brought in by tanker and I know I have 50K gallons. I have been filling the pool with the garden hose for aprox. 3 hrs a day since the day after the water was put in. As of Friday (10 days after initial fill) the water was at the bottom of the tile line. They shut off the skimmers for a few hrs. until the tanker could get here with 4K gallons of water. The tanker filled it to almost the top of the tile line. I keep my water at 87 and the nights have been cooler (50's and 60's). I have seen steam coming off the water at night and in the morning. I have 2 spillovers from my spa that are aways running unless the spa is on and I have 2 bubblers in the sun shelf that are on occasionally. I did have a leak in my slide pipe but that was fixed on Friday before the extra 4K gallons were put in. We did have people over and there was a lot of diving which = water loss. As of right now the water level is about 2" or less from the bottom of the tile line and I know it is supposed to be at least 3". The pool does sit in direct sunlight all day. They are shutting everything off tonight and doing a static bucket test. Do you think it is a leak somewhere or just evaporation? I am so scared that there is a leak under the concrete? How would they find the leak if there is one? I am so ready to cry. This has been the never ending project and I fear that if there is a leak I will never see the end. Thanks....Megan

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Comments (9)

goyom
12 years ago
Deep breath.

The bucket test will tell all, so worry not.

As for company coming over, heck my 2 kids in 2 hours can easily lower my water level and inch with splashing, diving, water guns etc.

As for evaporation alone, I am in the Houston area and end up adding water to my pool once or twice weekly an inch or so at a time, evaporation is big here.
megankheaps
Original Author
12 years ago
I should add that it was under water test for a long time as well as during the concrete prep and pour. I am hoping that if it is a leak that it is something as simple as a light conduit. We have had NO rain in a long time either. I will be keeping an eye on the bucket (I get up way earlier than the pool company gets here). Thankfully, they are still one the job working on the slide hill and other things so they were here for me to explain everything.
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Hey there. A heater is much more than you need. You are wasting energy keeping the whole pond and the surrounding air warm rather than just keeping a small space open(just a sliver is enough) in the ice. The water is deep enough that the fish should do fine. Can you find out the water temp a foot or more deep? It doesn't need to be warm. My pond is 34oF a foot down with the ambient temps 20oF and with a bubbler and the waterfall from the Skippy filter going it will still be open if the temps drop much lower. I tried to use a heater on a very small pond once and the surrounding shrubbery was totally white with frost and icicles and there was a fog completely surrounding the pond. Far too much heat. Turn off the heater, turn on a bubbler. Let the waterfall run unless it forms a dam. The bubbler will likely be enough. If not, then get a deicer, not a heater. The cost to run will be much, much less. There is even a theory that just so there are bubbles from the aerator, you don't need a hole in the ice. The fact that your fish are still active shows they are not settled for the winter yet. Check the water temps. They should slow down below 55oF. Sorry, I'm too lazy to do the conversion to Celsius today.
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looony2nz, Bucket test......Using a large plastic pail, fill with water to within a few inches of the top, mark water level on the bucket, place bucket on top step of pool. Mark water level in the pool. Make daily comparison of water loss. General rule of thumb is loss shouldn't be more than 1/4" per day. Check grout joints for missing grout. Look closely inside the skimmer throat where the tile meets the front of the skimmer. Good luck.
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kspoolman
12 years ago
If the bucket test reveals a leak and not simply evaporation, you will need to locate the leak.

There are some great leak detection companies.
By pressuring up the lines and using highly sensitive listening equipment, they can usually pinpoint a leak within a few inches. They can also use dyes around fittings, light fixtures, skimmers, etc.

By getting a close location of the leak, you can minimize the demo needed to repair it.

Hopefully its just evaporation, but if not its not the end of the world. Hang in there.
c9pilot
12 years ago
If you can, peek at any neighbors' pools and see how much theirs is going down. I was all stressed out about my new pool, too, until I started looking around and saw my neighbors were worse than mine (I've been refilling when it gets 1 inch low.)
And the kids use Super Soakers when they play in the pool - water goes everywhere. Then it rained for two days and the overflow couldn't keep up. The water was almost lapping over the coping.
megankheaps
Original Author
12 years ago
Well, it is a definite leak. The pool water fell 1" in 12 hours and the rate of evaporation of the water in the bucket was only 1/8". The pool builder is also a service company so they are shooting dye into it right now. All the lights are off and they are waiting for the owner of the company to call them back. This is just the icing on the cake. If this was the only thing that went wrong I would be upset but not angry. I am ready to scream.
banana_fanna
12 years ago
Oh, I'm so sorry. Like someone said upthread, it's not the end of the world but when you've waited so long and paid so much for something, it sure feels like it.

I hope you get a quick fix.
goyom
12 years ago
Really, you should be happy. You found the issue, and have a PB that is making things right.

I have a friend right now that is suing a woodlands TX PB for gross negligence on their build while they were in South America. Everything was done wrong and was caught on hidden cameras. Looks like the are going to demolish and remove the pool.
megankheaps
Original Author
12 years ago
We think that the leak has been found. They injected the dye into the light conduits and the light under the spa spillover sucked it right up. They ran another bucket test last night after they temporarily sealed the leak and my husband said it does not appear to have lost any more water overnight. They were sending one of their service guys out today to permanently seal all the light conduits. Hopefully, that will take care of everything. I guess it is the best of both worlds because it was an easy fix and if we were losing 1" of water a day to evaporation we would have been in big trouble. I don't mind running my hose a little bit but we are on well so I fear burning it up if I run it too much.
MPK 09
12 years ago
I'm so glad to hear that! Hopefully everything will be smooth sailing from now on. Fingers are crossed for you!!!

HELP-do I have a leak or is it just evaporation?

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goyom

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HELP-do I have a leak or is it just evaporation?

Comments (9)

goyom

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