How to Detect a Leak in Your Pool

During the summer months, many pool owners fail to realize that evaporation or splashing may be the culprit behind their so-called leaking pool. Before running to the phone and calling up a pool restoration company with a concern about whether or not your pool may be leaking, pool owners can save themselves a nice little pile of cash by trying to detect the leak themselves through these steps below:

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Check the Obvious Culprits

If you think that you may have a leak on you hands, check the following before thinking about pool remodeling:

• Look at the pump, filter, heater and pipe valves and check them for any leaks
• Look for any wet areas around the pool, and for any wet soil, sunken or eroding areas
• If you have a vinyl liner pool, look for any tears or separations around any of the skimmers, fittings, cleaner lines, returns, lights, steps and corners

If No Obvious Leakage…

If none of the above areas reveal obvious leakage, then you can try to detect a leak through either of the two following ways:

• Place a bucket that’s filled with pool water on a pool step (weigh it down with a brick to hold it stead).  Make sure that the water level of the bucket and the pool water are the same, and mark them. Check it 24 hours, and if there is a greater drop outside of the bucket, then it may be time to call a pool restoration specialist.  Redo the test with the pump turned on, or with the pump turned off (depending on how the test was conducted the first time).

• Mark the water level with a piece of tape or grease pencil and check 24 hours later.  You should have lost no more than what is considered to be acceptable during the summer in your area (it could be anywhere from ¼ inch to 1 inch per day)

Should you suspect a leak in a specific area, you can make the pool restoration company‘s job a lot easier by simply placing one or two drops of a dye test solution or some pH indicator from your pool chemical test kit in the water near the suspected leak. If the dye is sucked into the crack you know there is a tear or a gap present.

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