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losing water from pool/pool too shallow?

12 years ago

We have a newly constructed pool built by a local PB with a retracting cover from coverpools. We seem to be losing about an inch of water a week from the pool - from monday to friday, when the pool is typically not in use (so it's not from swimming or evaporation when the cover is open). While it has been very hot, was wondering if this is normal for a pool that is covered. The problem we have is that there is only about a 1" difference between the maximum we can fill the pool (otherwise the water spills over the wall in front of the cover) and the minimum level where the water still fills the skimmers. So every week, we are running the hose for a few hours to fill the pool

So I guess two questions - a) is it normal to lose an inch of water a week in a covered pool and b) what is the normal distance between "max fill" and "minimum fill"?

Thanks!!

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Comments (6)

busboy
12 years ago
Loosing and inch per week especially in hot weather is normal. I dont know what kimd of cover you have but unless it is a solid cover that is "sealed" you are going to lose water due to evaporation. Afraid I don't understand your second question.
jl10022
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks - the cover is not fully sealed, but it is also not porous (e.g. water pools on the top when it rains).

For the second question, the maximum we can fill the pool without overflowing is only about 1" above the minimum we need so that the skimmers are full of water when the pump is running; was wondering if that is normal.
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just-a-pb
12 years ago
For a pool covered with a coverpool cover that is way to much evap. Part of the selling point is very little evaporation.
Generally the top of the dam wall between the pool and the housing is 2" below the top of the pool bond beam.
Water would then sit aprox 3" below the pool bond beam or aprox center of the skimmer, or center of tile line is set correctly.
It doesnt sound like that is how they have yours if you drop an inch and starve the skimmer.
Try a bucket test and see if you are losing water.
cascade
12 years ago
Yeah, sounds like your skimmer is set too high. Pics of dam wall and skimmer?
jl10022
Original Author
12 years ago
So, our PB has now installed an extruded aluminum strip across the dam wall to give it more height (it adds about 1.5 inches). (I will get a picture as soon as I can - need to be in the pool and lift the cover up). It is set so the cover passes (slightly) above it. Good news is that now the pool has more depth; bad news is that I'm not sure this is a great solution long term (e.g. there are stainless steel screws holding it to the wall, but it is a salt pool). Not particularly happy about it since it would seem to mean that the dam wall is too low.

Has anyone seen this done before? Is this a good solution or something that we should be concerned about?

Thanks!
just-a-pb
12 years ago
So instead of having a 1' thick tiled concrete dam wall to hold back the water, you have a thin aluminum strip held with screws.
Depending on how big your pool is 1.5" of water can weigh alot. Basically at 1.5" thats almost 8lbs per sq ft of pool. A 400 sq ft pool would be 3200 lbs of water its holding back.
I guess that answers that question.

Check the coverpool specs. They are very detailed about how everything should be built.

I would say thankyou for the temp fix to get you through the summer, but how are you going to fix it for real.

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