Evaporation or a leak...?

[rbonin]

My pool loses about 1" of water every 3-4 days. I can't decide if this is normal evaporation/ splash out or a slow leak. The pool:

- is uncovered all the time
- pump runs 7x24
- is in direct sun all day long

I am interested in how this compares to every else's experience.

~Rick~

[kbcpa]

Put out some water in a container and mark where the water level is. Then compare the evaporation loss to the level in your pool in a few days. It should evaporate at the same rate. If the pool drops quicker than the container my guess you have a leak. This happened to us a few years ago and we had a leak.

[rbonin]

I'll give that a try - thanks

[matt4x4]

Remember to try and keep teh bucket (container) on the first step of the pool or so, so both environments keep relatively the same temperature, or you may find skewed results like the bucket losing more water that it would have sitting on the step

[wilhouse]

why do you run your pump 24/7? you only need to run it long enough to give you one turnover in volume, 10 hours is probably more than enough...

cut the hours back and see if there's less water droppage.

wilhouse

[rbonin]

Fair question, willhouse.

I have been thinking about cutting it back. It just seemed simpler to run it all the time as far as the heater and chlorine generator are concerned.

[cwstnsko]

I've always been curious how it is that it came to be generally accepted that 1 turnover, once a day is the right amount to filter a pool.