As promised, I am checking back in with all of you to share the results of the leak detection on my pool. The company came out today and performed a leak detection and the good news is, there was no underground leak detected. The pressure gauge that he hooked up indicated a normal response, it held the pressure properly. So, the next step was to determine just why the pool level drops when the pump is on. Here's what he found: he noticed that the spa was in some state of disrepair with multiple tiles off in various areas. Upon further inspection, he noticed a crack in the concrete rim around the spa, where a lot of these tiles had fallen off, which he said was probably due to shifting. I, of course, had known about that crack but never put two and two together in my mind as to what connection it might have to losing water while the pump is on. I had not seen any loss of water in the spa with the pump off, so didn't feel th spa, itself was leaking. But as he explained it, when the pump is on and the water level rises in the spa, it rises to the level of that crack and the water goes out at that point, and thus causes the water loss while the pump is on.

That made perfect sense, and I agreed with him that I could definitely see how that could happen. He putyed up the crack as best he could while here (he did a dye test and noted several areas of leakage around those same tiles), so he didn't fully repair it during this visit, but said I could probably putty up the rest of it myself, injecting silicon into the areas and also putty. The charge was $285. Yes, a bit steep perhaps, but he is a very experienced person in business since 1976, full time with pools that entire time. so I felt it was important to get someone trustworthy to look at the problem.

So, I guess the moral of this story is: before you call a leak detection person out, make sure that any obvious signs of disrepair such as tiles falling off, areas of cracks, etc. are repaired, puttyied the best that you can. Leak detection can be expensive and you want to eliminate as much above ground as you can. Before calling him out, I had several leaks at the equipment pad fixed to eliminate those problems, but hadn't really given sufficient thought or attention to the areas he pointed out. (and hopefully fixed!) I hope my story has helped others in the same circumstances. Thanks again for this forum and all your helpful advice. I wlil always help out others if I can, also.