Constant Leaking That Can Never Be Pinpointed

[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...