Winter Evaporation with mesh cover

[jbriar]

Hello all,

I pulled back my safety cover last week to do a pre-opening check, and to my dismay, the water level in the shallow part of the pool is about 2". Compared to closing time, I've lost nearly 2 ft. worth of water since October. The pool is a 24K gal lazy-L, with a vinyl liner, located in central NJ. The safety cover is mesh, and easily allows water to come up through, or down into, the pool. Even as late as January, my over-ambitious Labrador Retriever was getting wet as she ran across the cover. Now, of course, I've got wrinkles to remove from the shallow end of the pool, but I have a dry dog.

This happened last year as well, but we were adding about 1" of water per day, and found a leak in the shallow end, which was repaired.

I'm trying to see if anyone out there in pool-land has seen the same radical evaporation over the winter months. Maybe I just need to watch it during the winter and add water as needed...

Thanks for your help.

John Briar

[duraleigh]

Hi, John,

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that's a whole lot more than evaporation. That's w-a-a-a-y too much loss.

I believe you have a leak somewhere.

[JohnT]

I have a mesh cover, and I had to drain about 2ft of water out of mine during the time my plumbing was winterized to keep it from spilling over. I vote with Dave, you've got a leak. If your dog was getting wet in January, it seems like maybe a plumbing leak that developed after a freeze or somebody (the dog??) moved a lever or valve. Is your pool equipment lower than the water level?

[jbriar]

JohnT,

All the valves and equipment are above the water level of the pool.
I guess I'll have to hire the pool guy again to do some leak detection work.

Thanks for your advice.

John Briar

[Poconos]

John,
Some questions for now. Do you know if the water level stabilized at 2" at the shallow end? All your plumbing should be above that level unless you have a main drain. If you don't have a MD then it's a liner leak or....how about stairs into the pool. A common leak area is the pinch of the liner around the stair opening. In my opinion the first step in your case would be to fill a few inches and see what happens. Measure the depth accurately at some known point to be able to estimate a loss rate. Depth change x surface area to yield cubic feet per time then gallons per time. Then we can go from there. 'Typically' the greater the depth to the leak, the faster the water will leak. Eventually stopping at the depth of the leak. Last year I developed some techniques on finding and repairing leaks for my own problem.
Al

[jbriar]

Al,

I'll give that a try. Yes, I think we're stable at 2" in the shallow end. I do have a Main Drain, but I have to agree - The area around the steps deserves a second look.

Thanks for your help.

John Briar

[sleater]

your problem is completely different than my concern but i thought this wasn't a bad location to add a question ...

this was our first winter with a similar safety cover. when the cover was removed the water level was "right on" -- almost zero water needed to be added or removed

sounds great but this spooked me ...

what if the water level got to that level during the winter, froze and had cracked my lines? is this a concern that anyone else has with these covers? do you check water levels at regular intervals during the winter?