How To Find Pool Leak

A swimming pool adds an aesthetic beauty to your house, apart from serving as the best relief zone from the hut and sultry summers. While hitting the pool is the best activity you can indulge in, this activity can be brought to a full stop, in case the water in your pool constantly starts dripping. A leaking swimming pool is something that is not good both for the house and the environment, because of constant water loss. There are several indicators of a leaking swimming pool. If your house is up on a hill and if your neighbor complains of their garden getting flooded, then your pool is likely to have a leak. You might find yourself filling up your pool more often than the previous year. The final indicator of a leaking pool is that you might have several cracks on the floor and walls of your pool. Read through the following lines to find out ways to detect a leak in your swimming pool.

Swimming Pool Leak Detection

One of the easiest ways to detect a leak in your swimming pool is by marking the water level in the pool using a tape or grease pencil. Check the pool after 24 hrs of marking. Ideally, the pool should have lost only ¼ inch of water, an average water loss by a pool. If your pool is losing more water, then chances are that your pool is leaking.
Do a thorough survey of your pool, the equipments and the area in and around your pool. Look at the filter, pump, the heater and the pipe valves for any damage. Check for any wet areas around the pool, check for wet soil and eroding areas. If you have a vinyl pool, look in for tears or any kind of separations at the fittings, skimmers, steps and other areas.
You can even detect whether or not your pool has a leak with the help of a bucket full of pool water. Place a bucket full of pool water on the stair of the pool. Measure the water level inside the bucket and outside the bucket on the pool stair. The water level should be equal both inside and outside the bucket. Mark the water level and check after 24 hrs. If the water level outside the bucket has drastically reduced, then the pool has a leak which should be taken care of at the earliest.
Another way of detecting a pool leak is by turning off the filtration system and making a note where the water stops dropping. A vinyl liner pool should have water in them all the time. This test is of no use if you have a liner pool and the water level is dropping rapidly. In this case you will have to keep adding water to the pool and call a professional for assistance. If you notice that the water is not dropping at the skimmer opening, then there is a leak in the skimmer or the filtration system. If the water stops dropping at the light, then there is a leak in the light system, and if the water drops below the light then the leak is probably in the drain at the bottom of the pool. In case you notice air bubbles, in the return lines water when the pool’s pump is running, there is probably a leak in the suction side of the filtration system. You can even check the waste or backwash line for running water.
You can detect a leak in your pool by using a dye test solution or some pH indicator test reagent. Pour the dye or the reagent near the pool with the pump powered off. If there is any crack, gap or tear then the dye will be sucked in, thereby conforming a leak in the pool.

Leak Caused Due To Plumbing System

Plumbing systems are a constant source for water loss for a host of different reasons ranging from pipe material, installation quality, age, configuration and soil conditions. The configuration of a pool plumbing system and filtration is quite simple. The water is sucked through the skimmer and main drains in the pool by the pump. The water travels underground back to the mechanical room passing through the pump strainer basket. The water is, then, passed through the filter and heater and is piped back to the pool through the return lines.

Apart from these closed system lines, few pools even employ an open system equalizer line that help the pool pump to retain its prime, during low water level conditions. The equalizer line connects to the bottom of the skimmer and other ends of the main drain or a side port in the wall near the skimmer. This equalizer line is time consuming and expensive to repair or change and therefore gets neglected at times of renovation. It is a non pressure line; therefore it will leak less than the rest of the pressurized lines. But these pipes can also be older than the rest of the pool, making them one of the major areas for the unexpected and unexplained water loss.

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