Losing Water!

[scooter hotrod]

I haven't been able to detect any leaks, but I filled the pool up to normal, just below the top of the skimmer and within 2 days it had dropped almost 2 inches. I don't see any standing water around the pool and can't determine what the heck is happening. It's an AG 18X33 ft oval pool with a liner. The pump is brand new and there are no leaks around the filer. Is there anyway to test for a leak in the liner? ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS!!!:confused:

[matt4x4]

I don't think you'll be looking for standing water, however, spongy ground is something you may be able to detect.
If you have ground cover or gravel around the perimeter, move it aside every couple of feet and poke your finger at the ground.
Another method is from inside the pool, walk around inside and poke your toe down every foot or two, the liner should have some give where the earth is saturated beneath it and the rest of it should be relatively hard in comparison.
This should narrow it down significantly for you.

[scooter hotrod]

Thanks! I'm assuming that it is a leak in the liner and if so, will I have to drain the entire pool in order to fix. Or is there a product that will do it with the water still in. Probably a stupid question, but I thought I'd ask.

[matt4x4]

Since there are no leaks in your equipment, it can only be one of two things, either someone is stealing your water while you sleep, or your liner has a leak :)
No, you do NOT need to drain the pool EVER! All vinyl pool repair kits come with an underwater glue, there are many glues you can use, the ones supplied aren't necessarily the best, but will do the trick. Just follow the instructions, and buy the best kit you can get your hands on.

[Poconos]

-- Question...without knowing what valving you have is there any water coming out the waste (backwash) line if you have one, with the pump running? If so, probably a bad valve or valve gasket. Some people don't notice this leak source if the waste line dumps into a drain or something.
-- Suggestion...Let it continue to drop and see if it keeps going below the skimmer.
-- Suggestion...plug the return(s) and maybe the skimmer and see what happens.

-- Info...some adhesives can drive you nuts when trying to place a patch because they aggressively attack the vinyl patch and curl it before you can place it in position. Boxer adhesives #100, available at most pool stores, is a slow acting and therefore slow curing adhesive that will not curl the patch quickly.

Hope this helps.
Al

[scooter hotrod]

I don't think there are any water thieves on the loose, so I'm assuming its the liner. I have a push/pull valve and there is no water leaking out of the backwash hose when the pump is running, or when it is not running. It must be the liner.....but wouldn't there be tiny bubbles coming up if this is the case. I mean, I'm losing around 2" of water/day or so.

Thanks for the advice....looks like I have some diving to do this evening. I only have a month of swimming left, at best. It will go from high 90's to low 80's by middle of Sept in St.Louis. :mad:

[matt4x4]

Scooter, because your pool is not a sealed enclosure, the water leaving does not need to be replaced by anything, thus no bubbles (it's not like turning an open water bottle upside down).
If you want to save yourself from diving and looking all over the pool for a hole you may or may not see (needle in a haystack), try what I suggested - fgeel around for a soft/spongy spot under the liner, if it's near the edge, it can be on the wall or cove, if it's further in from the edge, it's likely on the floor.
Steps and stairs are always your first suspect locations since they beat up on the liner. Also look for pebbles that may have pushed up and are causing hard but pointy bumps on the floor, sometimes vacuums will wear the tips down causing a hole.
For the amount of water you are losing, the hole size can be as small as a 1/4" split in the liner.

[matt4x4]

Oh, as an afterthought, with a small unnoticeable hole, it would likely be on the floor in order to lose 2" a day since if it was half way up the wall, the water pressure would be half of what the floor has on it and it would have to be a bigger, more noticeable hole - just an educated guess but judging from the amount lost and you not having found a niticeable hole....

[Jeffski]

I can lose 2" of water in one day in my IG, but I attribute this to lots of kids swimming and splashing plus evaporation.

[scooter hotrod]

I found nothing when inspecting the liner last night and I'm starting to get baffled here. I filled it back up to where I normally keep the water level and this morning it was back down below the skimmer. This leads me to believe I'm missing something with the water lines because it never gets lower than right under the bottom of the skimmer. I just can't find where it's leaking.

[South_Texas_Sun]

Scooter, I just found a leak in my spa by using something I read here (somewhere).....Get a bottle of liquid RIT dye and put it into some kind of sqeeze or spray bottle.

Squirt a little of it at the skimmer with the filter system ON, just to see what the dye looks like when "pulled" towards a "leak", then turn OFF the filter system and squirt the suspect areas.

It works great. I found a couple of good sized leaks and a couple of really tiny leaks around the spa rail jet tubes.

Hth,

STS

[matt4x4]

Sounds like your skimmer seals to me, along the bottom edge, but what baffles me is that you do not have any moisture around the pool - weird!

[scooter hotrod]

It has to be leaking from the skimmer or from the the water return to the pool. It might be there, that was the only place that was a little moist, but I coudn't find a leak. Could it be leaking between the return and the pool wall and draining straight down where I can't detect it? I'll have an answer on this tomorrow. Thanks for all of the advice.

[matt4x4]

It can easily be leaking between the liner and wall, running down in between and out the bottom, you should have a relatively large soft area directly beneath - outside of pool perimeter as well. At least that's an easy fix since it likely just requires tightening or new gaskets.

[scooter hotrod]

Well I think I found the culprit! There were a couple of holes between the end of my backwash hose and the filter, so the water (leaking from the faulty push/pull valve) wasn't making it all the way to the end. It was gradually leaking out in the middle of the damn hose. For now I have the hose pulled up so it can't leak until I can replace the valve. Thanks for everyones' advice....hopefully this will do the trick. I've had enough problems with the pool this year.

Now if only I could get rid of my algae problem.....I have some black algae on the bottom of the pool, concentrated mainly at one end. Since it's been down almost a week it's starting to spread though. A guy at my local pool supply store said there's a strange strand this year. Is he full of crap just trying to get me to buy some overpriced stuff??????

[Spensar]

I recall reading a blurb on algae types, and for the black its said that it was tougher since it had roots and a tougher top. It said the key was to bomb it with chlorine, as for any algae, but that a good brushing was important to break it up and let the chlorine get at it since the roots would regrow from the roots even if it seemed to be gone.

Sounds like that is more of a problem for cement pools where roots could dig in vs. vinyl, but the advice on brushing it harder than a regular green algae could be the trick. If it's really tough you may want to try a smaller brush and do it by hand to break it up.

Good luck with it!