Constant Leaking That Can Never Be Pinpointed

[dwembley]

We inherited our leaking pool from the previous owner. Since we bought the house almost a year ago, we've been constantly battling the leak issues.

We hired American Leak Detection in May. After spending hours (2 days), they found a small leak in the pipe and fixed it. The pool kept leaking after the repair.

They came back in July and found no loss of pressure. They dove and epoxied a crack. The pool is still leaking.

They just came back and now say there's a small leak in the return--exactly the same area they dug in May. And they aren't even sure if it's the cause of the leak! (We're totally frustrated by their "expensive guesses".)

We lose about 3/4" of water a day, but the leak always stops at the bottom of the skimmer box (and therefore we never thought the crack was the cause of the leak).

Does anyone have any idea why the water stops leak at the bottom of the skimmer box, and if the leak is in the return line? Does that seem logical?

[RavenNS]

I have no idea ( I'm a newbie),
but whilst browsing pool stuff, I came accross a product called fix-a-leak.
Now I'm sceptical about whether this would actually work, but it's manufactured in Canada, so generlly a product can't get licensed here unless it works...

I don't know where you live, so here is a web site that sells to the USA...
( & has some "opinon" letters posted as well)
http://www.askalanaquestion.com/the_fix_a_leak_store.htm

I've certainly seen numerous hot tub stores selling this product...

I think this is the main manufactor's web site:

http://www.fixaleak.com/main.html


Perhaps others here have used this product & could say if it does what they claim it'll do.....

[Poconos]

Does it stop leaking when the level is at the bottom of the skimmer opening or the housing (box)? If it stops at the bottom of the skimmer opening it could be the skimmer housing itself or the pipe from the skimmer. If it continues leaking below the opening then that rules out the pipe. Could also be a coincidence and the leak may be somewhere else in the pool at that level. In any case the leak is at or close to the level when leaking stops.
Al

[huskyrider]

When chasing nuisance leaks like these I'll always dose the pool with a good amount of chlorine (5+ppm) and turn the pump off for a few days to let the pool stabilize at the level of the leak.
When they stop at the bottom of the tile line or the skimmer you'll usually find the leak in the skimmer throat or in a lamp conduit.
I've found quite a few nuisance leaks in the conduit of the lamptail below the JB of the switch or the switch leg at a coupling that had a near equal elevation as the leak in the pool. This can be a long way away from the pool itself.
I'm really shocked that American hasn't had any luck locating your leak, I've found our guys there to be awesome in finding leaks I couldn't find myself.

See Ya,
Kelly

[dwembley]

Thanks for the reponses.

The leak stops at the bottom of the skimmer opening.

>I'll always dose the pool with a good amount of chlorine (5+ppm) and turn the pump off for a few days to let the pool stabilize at the level of the leak.<

We'll try that.

American Leak Detection is a franchise, so the quality of service probably depends on the franchisee and its employees. When the technician first came out, he spent 4-5 hours and couldn't find where the leak was. He had to come back with his boss (owner?) the following day and the boss found it.

[Poconos]

More thoughts. Since it stops at the bottom of the opening, and seems to drain to that level relatively fast, my guess is either the pipe or the pipe attachment point at the skimmer bottom. Reason...as the water level approaches the leak level the leak rate slows because the water pressure due to depth drops. This seems to keep going until water doesn't flow into the skimmer and the pipe is still at some depth therefore I suspect the leak is lower than where the water level stops dropping. Make sense? Hope I explained it. Once the water stops flowing into the skimmer does the water already in the skimmer continue to drop? If you can inject dye at the bottom of the skimmer that should prove it.
Al

[tribe_fan]

Can you put a "gizmo" in the skimmer and return- the would tell you if the leak is internal or external to the pool.

[dwembley]

We did some testing and we've found the same pipe is leaking. We see the water dripping and it drips more when we turn on the pump.

Is there any question that American Leak Detection should come back and repair it for free? They're trying to charge us ANOTHER $400 for the repair!

[huskyrider]

Is there any question that American Leak Detection should come back and repair it for free?

This is a question only you can answer.

I'm curious, did they repair the leak that's still leaking or did they simply locate the leak itself. in my position I only pay them to locate the leak, not perform the repair. This would have the utmost bearing on which way I'd answer your question.

See Ya,
Kelly

[dwembley]

They did the repair, too. We didn't know they would do the repair. We wanted to hire another company for the repair because of the obvious conflict of interest, but other companies were reluctant to repair the leak another company found.

We were just thinking of having other companies look at the leak since the pipe in question is exposed right now.

[dwembley]

After all, American Leak Detection agreed to redo the repair they did in May and did. However, the pool was still leaking!

So they came back and now they say it's leaking from the main drain (which they previously tested several times) and the crack (which they epoxied in July). Their suggestion is to disable the main drain, which will require draining the pool.

Now we keep the main drain shut off and the pool doesn't leak anymore. If they're going to disable it anyway, we figure we can leave it off. Will there be any problem with that?

[CallMeIshmael]

What an episode! Perhaps this might help:
If the leak is now proven to be in the main drain line (as it appears, since shutting that line off from the pump makes the leaking stop as a whole), then it seems 99% the case that the leak in the main drain line is not as low as the actual main drain itself or even in the deeply-trenched pipe- It's in line with the skimmer opening, since that's where your water loss stops.

With that sorted out, it would only be question of accessing the main drain pipe that is near the surface, not too far underground... The material of your deck would determine just how much of a task that would be, but it's already much better than any main drain problem further below. It seems you're getting closer to the source, and the news so far isn't too bad.

PS. Poconos' post points to the possibility of a leak in a possible pipe connection between the main drain & your skimmer box. Did you check to see whether water continues to drop inside your skimmer box once the rest of the pool water stops dropping at the skimmer opening? His is a great question that might help you get to the right (& hopefully final!) fix. This is the 1% possibility that could indicate a deeper leak location, which might means looking at your options for either main drain & MD-pipe replacement OR just keeping the main drain shut-off.
Sorry I'm typing fast, so may not be as clear as I should be :-)
Best of luck.

[Poconos]

Looking back at my last post here I think I'm partially wrong. What I was suggesting was a leak in the MD pipe at some lower level, maybe near the bottom of the pool. My comment about the leak rate would be correct only if the MD was somehow capped so water could not flow into the MD pipe via the MD itself. Maybe that's what they did...cap the thing somehow. I have no experience with main drains....and don't want any. Dye and being able to isolate lines should point you in the right direction.
Al

[dwembley]

The episode/ordeal continues with new development :(

We just found the water dropped 2 inches today and heard a gulping sound from one of the skimmer boxes. Then we found the pump area is flooded with water. Now the water is leaking from the above-ground pipe!

At least some of the above-ground equipment is covered with the home warranty (though with lots of fine print). So we'll call the home warranty company tomorrow.

To be continued...