Realizing that you have a leak in your pool can be a stressful thought however, more likely than not the fix will be fairly painless. Loosing an inch or two of water can amount to hundreds of gallons of water every week. That water has to go somewhere and causing structural damage to your pool or your homes foundation are big concerns. One of the top pool care mistakes we see people make is to let a pool leak go too long without leak detection. By letting the leak go the pool owner is not only loosing water but also loosing the balance of chemistry needed to maintain a clean and healthy pool. Unbalanced chemistry leads to additional problems such as bacteria, algae or damage to plaster. Most of the time when we schedule a leak detection for a client it ends up being a simple break in the plumbing, a gap between the pool wall and a skimmer or other pipe that penetrates the shell of the pool. Many of these problems are not terribly expensive to repair and by repairing them quickly a pool owner is preventing long term damage.
How do you know for sure you have a leak? Some water will be lost to evaporation (even in winter), splash out, and backwashing the filter. When you want to know for sure, you should perform the "bucket test".
First, raise the water level of the pool to the normal, which should be the middle of the skimmers or tile line and just below the overflow grate if you have one.
Second, place the bucket full of pool water (filled to the same level as the pool) on the top step.
Third, mark both the inside and outside of the bucket with the water level.
Next, check back in 24 hours. Is the pool side lower than the inside of the bucket? If so you have a leak and should have a professional leak detection.
What is leak detection? Professional leak detectors use specialized equipment and processes including listening devices and pressure testing to determine the exact location of a leak. We're talking about pools here but these are the same kind of techniques that would be used for other plumbing leaks that may occur in a home or any other system that involves plumbing. In a pool the technician sometimes needs to dive, but can usually determine and repair the leak without emptying the pool.
