Underground leak maybe

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Major pain

Major pain

0
Jun 24, 2013
10
I have liner pool for 5 years and have concrete poured deck. Over the winter And when I removed the cover, I was short 15000 gallons of water. I have a slow water leak. Don’t know where. Had a diver out and he couldn’t find leak. Said he would come back again, but did not and he didn’t charge me.

So any experience with pressure test for plumbing and fix? Is it expensive. Who do I call. I live in NJ. Every pool place I ask wants to send another diver.

Does anybody know how they fix leaks below ground.

Thanks
 

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A diver can be handy in some scenarios, more once you narrow it down. It would be ideal if you could narrow down the leak location a bit. For example:
- Are you sure it's plumbing? Have you tried plugging all possible outlets (suctions, returns, drain, etc) to see if water still drops which would point to the vinyl.
- Could it be the liner? Letting the water level drop a bit to see if it stops, then check around that new (lower) waterline.
- Do you have a main drain? Any chance a hydrostatic valve could be to blame?

Now after all of these things if you are sure it's the plumbing, try to narrow it down between suction side then pressure side. Check with pool companies and regular plumbers who can all do a relatively simple pressure test (for them anyways). Also, make sure to update your pool and equipment info in your signature so we can refer to it for future posts. It may come in handy. :wink:
 
Good luck with the leak. I think Dave is on to something there!

Just wanted to say what a nice setup you have. Good lookin' pool and deck. Nice, safe fence, partially obscured with some beautiful landscaping. Cool little pool house. Amazing lawn and grounds and trees and views. Truly! Three car garage?! Envy-city!! Please don't tell me that area to the right of the right-most garage door is more garage!! That'd kill me!!!

Welcome to TFP! ;)
 
There are no leaks at lights the diver said. I immediately started filling the pool back up to preserve the liner once I took the cover off

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Appreciate the nice comments!
 
If I may... You didn't quite answer Dave's question. Did the pool stop draining when the level got to the light? (Not what the diver said about it.)
 
I presumed to answer Daves question. I don’t know if the water level would have stopped at the light. I filled the pool immediately because the liner was jeopardized due to low water

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I presumed to answer Daves question. I don’t know if the water level would have stopped at the light. I filled the pool immediately because the liner was jeopardized due to low water
 
Where the water level stops is where your leak is. Do you think it stayed there for any length of time? A day or two? Or were you watching it go down, down, down constantly and then filled it before it ever stopped going down?

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Sorry, I think I see the answer in your post. You opened the cover, saw it low, and started the fill. Still, the light is suspect, because that's where you found it. Sounds like you should have a different diver take another look. Start with the light.
 
You're probably getting ready to close, so time is working against you. But I agree the light might still be a player, even if the diver saw nothing. It could be a very slow leak out the back of the light niche where the conduit typically shifts and snaps. So if the diver didn't actually remove the light and check the inside-rear of the niche, it could've gone undetected. I suppose you'll know once you close and let the pool sit for the winter season. You might consider keeping access to view the water level over the winter to watch the water level. If it drops below the light, I'd be suspect of the liner somewhere or a hydrostatic valve if you have one.
 
So for me I’m considering worst case scenario and a leak in underground pipe. I consider if the leak was behind the light liner there would be some evidence around the light fixture where the water could apply pressure behind the liner, especially with so much water loss. This is just a deduction. So therefore if there is pipe leakage below ground, what are the fixes beside excavation. Can you spray polyurea in pipe or do they install flexible liner? How do they repair?

To add more clarity I have two skimmer returns at each end. And I have two drains at lowest point 8 feet under water connected by a tee under the liner. On the supply side, I have one on each end of pool. Doesn’t matter at what rate the pump runs; I have the same amount of water loss each day. I have 4 spitters which are valved and diverted. There is no bypass.

So how do they isolate supply and return lines to pressure test and how do they repair. Those are the things I’m trying to understand. I’ll aubsequently send picture of pump area but think I have described well the circulation system. Thanks
 

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If the light or niche is leaking, the water will flow out of it more when the pool is full. Because there is a whole half a pool's worth of water above it (more pressure). As the level of the water gets closer to the leak point, the amount of water flowing out the leak decreases, because there is less pressure. So...

If the diver was searching for a leak around the light when the water level was at or very near the light, he might have missed it. Now that the pool is full, another diver might have a better shot at finding the leak.
 
For detection of an underground pipe leak they isolate lines and use bungs to do the pressure test. They did for ours anyway. There are non invasive fixes. With our leak my hubby was adamant they’d use this stuff that seals leaks from the inside. It’s left to circulate for several hours in an isolated line. Nope. Our decking was jackhammered up until they found it [emoji31] Ours is a new pool and although the leak is fixed the decking is not. Ours was a suction side leak and was very slow. Leak guy told me with a pressure sided leak you loose water fairly quickly. Not sure how true this is. Fingers crossed your leak is an easy fix. It does sound like it could be behind the light niche.
 
This is the product. I think there are a few I’m not sure that it would be recommended on here but my hubby did a lot of research into this and said it is generally fairly well regarded. I really wish we had the option of using a product like this. First things first for you is to identify the source of your leak. I have a feeling yours will be a relatively easy fix once you find it. You need a leak detection company who can do a pressure test of the entire pool.

Home - PipeFuze
 
riley00dog said:
This is the product. I think there are a few I’m not sure that it would be recommended on here but my hubby did a lot of research into this and said it is generally fairly well regarded. I really wish we had the option of using a product like this. First things first for you is to identify the source of your leak. I have a feeling yours will be a relatively easy fix once you find it. You need a leak detection company who can do a pressure test of the entire pool.

Home - PipeFuze
Click to expand...

Interesting solution. Not cheap, but if it works I can see how it could be less expensive than the "shovel solution." Good to know it's out there, at least.
 
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