Do You Have A Leak In Your Pool?

It’s an unfortunate fact of life: if you own a pool, eventually your pool will develop a leak. It could be from a tiny crack in your pool’s shell, a leak around the drain or skimmer, or in the underground plumbing. Once a pool leak is detected, it is important to determine the source as quickly as possible and have it repaired before it causes damage to your property.

Detecting A Leak

The most common way to determine if you have a leak in your pool is to watch your water level. Although you will always lose some water to evaporation or splash, if the level is dropping faster than usual, you may have a leak. Look for areas around your pool where the ground is wet, or for water dripping or spraying from the pump or filter.

If you think your pool has a leak, the next step will be to find the source and have it fixed. Finding the source is not always easy, as there are many possible places where your pool may eventually lose some structural integrity. Some of the most common areas are within your pool shell, especially anywhere there is an opening or fixture, such as the drain or skimmer. In most cases, you will need a professional pool service company to analyze your pool in order to find the leak and then proceed with repairs.

A professional pool service company with experience in leak detection can usually find the source of the leak and get it fixed before there’s any further damage to your property. As soon as you realize you may have a leak, call a pool service company specializing in leak repair to get the problem resolved immediately.

Posted on behalf of Somar Pools

Looking for Pool Leaks

While it’s true that most pools lose some water over a period of time through splashing, backwashing the filter and evaporation, if you are having to add water to your pool weekly, then you may possibly have a leak. To determine if you do have a leak, mark the water level of your pool with a piece of tape or grease pencil, then check it 24 hours later. Your pool should not be losing more than one-quarter inch of water per day.

Now, how do you find that leak? Of course, you first want to check all the obvious places such as the equipment pad, filter, pump, heater and pipe valves. Walk around your pool and its equipment looking for wet areas, as well as sunken areas or ground showing erosion. Look for tears or seam separations if your pool has a vinyl liner. Turn off the pools filtration system and note where the water level stops dropping; this could tell you if the leak is in the skimmer, filter, or light housing. If the water level continues to drop, the leak may be in or around the drain at the bottom of the pool. If you have identified the leak as coming from the skimmer, filtration system or light housing, most can be easily fixed with putty, a two-part epoxy or a wet patch kit.

Some leaks just cannot be detected or repaired without the help of your local professional pool service company. With current pool leak detection technology, most leaks can be detected and repaired relatively easily and affordably, depending upon the location and complexity of the problem.

Posted on behalf of Somar Pools LLC

How To Check If Your Pool Has A Leak

Nothing beats a refreshing dip in your own pool. However, owning a pool require maintenance and repairs, including dealing with leaks. If you own a pool, eventually you most likely will have a leak that needs repair. The important thing is to know how to check if your pool has leak so you can get it repaired quickly before it causes damage to your property and costs you even more money.

There is an easy ways to see if your pool is losing water. Try this simple technique. Take a bucket, preferable plastic so it won’t rust, and put in on the first step in your pool. Fill the bucket to the same level as the water surrounding it so that the bucket water is even with the water in the pool. Make sure your automatic pool filler is turned off if you have one. Also make sure no one gets in to the pool during the test period. Check the water around the bucket once a day. If the level in the pool goes below the level in the bucket, you have a leak. If they stay the same but both lose water, it is just evaporation.

A general rule of thumb is that you should not be putting in more than two or three inches of water a week unless the temperatures are very high causing excess evaporation. If it seems like you are losing water, you probably are. The next step is finding a reliable pool repair company with experience in pool leak detection to find the leak and get it fixed before any more water is lost!

 

Leaking Pools Can Cost You More Than Just Water

Most in-ground pools at one point or another are going to spring a leak somewhere, it is usually just of a matter of when and where. For homeowners, this can cause havoc on their water bills as they continuously are adding more water to their pool. But that is just the beginning of what a pool leak can cost if it is not detected and repaired quickly.

  • Chemicals. In addition to the water seeping out of the pool, so are the chemicals that are need to keep the correct PH balance. Additional chemicals will be needed as more water is added to keep the pool healthy.
  • Pool equipment damage. Water leaks can damage the pump equipment, piping and even cause damage to the pool structure. If allowed to continue, instead of a simple leak repair, the pool owner will be replacing other pool equipment as well.
  • Pool deck. Leaking water can undermine the ground supporting the pool deck and cause it to collapse. This can be costly and dangerous.
  • Foundation damage. The worst scenario is that a leak is left to drain into the ground long enough to cause damage to the foundation of the house or cause water damage in the house.

A pool will lose a certain amount of water to evaporation. However, if the water levels go down at an accelerated rate, the water bills go up or there is wet ground around a pool, it needs to be checked for leaks and repaired quickly. Hiring a professional pool repair service for pool leak detection will cost much less than the damage the leak will cost if allowed to continue.

Hidden Pool Leaks

If your pool is equipped with an automatic pool filler and you have noticed that your water bills are unusually high and getting higher, you may have a leak in your pool or pool filtration system.  Higher water bills are to be expected in the summer months when the pool is open and being used heavily, but unexplained high water bills are often the first sign of a water leak that can be anywhere including in your water supply line, the plumbing inside your home, a leaky toilet tank, leaking irrigation system, or a leak in your pool.

Automatic pool fillers or water level controllers are wonderful devices that relieve pool owners from the hassle of constantly filling their pool.  Pools naturally lose water due to evaporation and from water splashed out of the pool, and water level controllers add water to keep the pool water at the right level which prevents damage to the pump and allows the skimmer and filter to work properly.

However, when the pool has an automatic water level controller the pool owner might not notice the water loss from a pool leak for months.  If you are looking for the source of a potential water leak, don’t forget the pool.  You can use a simple bucket test to check for pool leaks or contact a pool service that handles pool leak detection.

If you find a pool leak, have it fixed as soon as possible.  Pool leaks not only waste water, but you will also need to use more chemicals in the pool to keep it properly balanced.  In addition, pool leaks can cause erosion and damage to your foundation.

Pool Leaks

Almost every pool or spa will develop a leak at some point.  Pool leaks can be difficult to find because a leak can be coming from many different sources.  Pools usually leak around fitting such as drains, skimmers, and light fixtures, but leaks can also develop in floors, walls, and plumbing.

If you notice that your pool is losing water faster than normal, take some comfort in knowing that you are not the first pool owner to have this problem.  There are many excellent pool service companies that have experience with pool leak detection and they will be able to find and repair any leaks in your pool.

With that said, don’t underestimate the seriousness of a pool leak.  Even a small crack or hole can leak hundreds of gallons of water each day.  Replacing this lost water can get expensive and also make it more difficult to keep the proper balance of chemicals in your pool.

More importantly, pool leaks cause underground soil erosion that can be a very serious problem. Most pools are located near the home and erosion around the foundation of your home can cause serious structural problems.  Underground erosion can cause the ground to settle and lead to cracked, broken or sunken pool decking, driveways, and walkways.

Leaking pool water can infiltrate septic systems and leak into basements, crawlspaces, and below ground level living space causing further structural damage, mold, and mildew.

In short, don’t just keep adding water to a leaking pool or spa.  Call a reputable local pool service company with experience in finding and fixing leaks.  They have the experience and specialized equipment to find that leak and get it fixed right.