Chasing pool leaks, Don't call a leak detection company until you watch this

hey guys what's up it's Josh from all the voice for swimming pool science today you guessed it we are talking about proper skimmer lid maintenance and repair now of course the number-one job of a skimmer lid is to make sure that when you're having family deck races around the pool no one breaks an ankle but of course there is proper care of these things that we can all remember back in the 80s we had our great paper skimmer lids protectors from Jones brothers manufacturing out of California and sadly they went out of business after the family murder-suicide and Tommy's uuhm skimmer suck in air and you fill this thing up this is one good lot of leather should be good well you know I checked we're doors not stuck dude this thing's long yeah before we call a leak detection Pro let's do some hunting around and see if we can find it ourselves before we call in a leak detection company and spent hundreds of dollars we're gonna do a little simple detective work on our own starting with a bucket test it doesn't get any easier than this it's just a matter of finding a small bucket something to put a weight inside of it putting it on the top step mark it at water level and put another mark on the inside the same exact spot that that mark is at this point we'll take another smaller vessel and slowly begin to fill the inside of the bucket water up to our inside line if there's no leak on the pool the water in the bucket should evaporate at the exact same rate at the as the pool and the difference should be exactly the same there should be actually no difference in that case if after a couple days we have less water in the pool and we do in the bucket well the pool is almost completely empty really what it is if we end up with a lower level in the pool than we have in the bucket we know we've got a leak somewhere at this point we want to make sure that all water sources are shut off to the pool we want to run the equipment one last time and check for any damp spots around the pipes where they go into the ground at the equipment also we want to check the pressure side manifold and look for leaks around the valves or any plumbing fittings you want to also check your filter around the band clamp and also the top mount air relief as well as the bulkheads top and bottom and the plug at the very bottom don't forget to check the pump you've got two plugs on the bottom you've got your seal plate and the outlet nipple that's the pipe that comes from the top and then also the main seal after that you want to shut the system down for the duration of the bucket test so it's been about three days Pat our bucket in here we've got a water level shutoff the great thing about this is is it's a zoo to tell the story right here right now whether we have a leak or not so let's take a look and see what we have notice here on the outside of the bucket I've got a sick enough to get loss of water however the inside of the bucket I seen in the lovely drop down maybe a half an inch this tells me now that we definitely have a water loss somewhere on this pool above and beyond back washing and drag out swimming what I love about the bucket test is the simplicity it either means you have a leak or you do not have a leak doesn't matter if it rains guess what the same rate of water is gonna fall into the bucket it's gonna fall in the swing pool you'll still be able to tell if there's a leak or not if that level is different now you come back in three days and the water levels higher in the pool than it is in the bucket and someone's messing around with you they're putting water in that pool and you're goofing up test this test also works whether the pool is running during this time or it's shut off now there are some cases where we want to try both ways with the pools shut off for a couple days and the pool running a normal schedule what this will tell us is is if we see a difference as in the pool loses more water while it's running that might indicate that we have a plumbing leak versus if for the pool loses the same rate of water whether it's running or not running that may mean we have some missing ground on the tile we have a leak somewhere in the white niche or some sort of compromise in the shell after confirming a leak with the bucket test you can pinpoint it using a dye test you might be tempted to reach for the phenol red in your test kit don't do it it's a carcinogen use a non-toxic dye test kit instead so an important part of doing a leak test like this when we're dye testing down in the water is to do everything we can to make sure the waters calm we want this pool to have been shut off for at least fifteen to twenty minutes before we even attempt this so that the water is as still as possible as you can see I'm very slow with my dye very careful and as you notice we're not really getting any dye creeping in inside the return no dye is being drawn in which tells us that this return is not leaking so we've seen what it looks like when we don't have a leak on a return it's not very exciting the dye just kind of dissipates and spreads out and disappears let's take a look and see what it looks like when we do have a leak on a return as you can see that dye is cruising right on in there and I don't even have to get close to it for that to pull it in that's a pretty strong current this is a pretty significant leak this is what I would probably call a 30 to 40 gallon leak per day right here now sometimes those leaks can go a little slower and you may have to hold that dye a little closer to really find out but that is typically what we'll see on a leak you hold the dye too far away it may not drift in be sure to check all the returns all the way around the leak is going to draw the most water from the return that is a closest proximity if in fact the leak is on the turn don't forget to check your pool toys and your chlorine floaters is they can be a significant source of water loss as well along with all return fittings you need to check any additional lines that run to your pool such as vacuum lines or even your water level or line the light niche is a necessary one to check as well the few things to look at when it comes to checking leaks on the skimmer first thing we're gonna do is open this guy up took a look down at the holes in the bottom to see what we have while you're there check the mouth of the skimmer for any missing pieces of grout those gonna be big leak points and a traditionally plumbed skimmer the back hole goes to the pool equipment the front hole leads to the main drain so one way to check that main drain is to squirt but ever so carefully like we've been doing a little bit of dye there to see where that goes to properly test the main drain though we've got to remove the cover which means we have to get in the pool to do this you'll need to remove the main drain cover what we're looking for is where the pipe comes in for the main drain and along the mud ring to see if there's any missing plaster or grout and if you do have any missing grout or plaster you can almost bet that that's where there's going to be a leak you're gonna want to direct your test there and while you're at it do yourself a favor and scrub that algae out for my little manger ain't nothing like me these are the tips and tricks that you can use to possibly solve the leak issue yourself or at least pinpoint before calling out a leak detection professional remember if you do have an underground leak or a leak under your deck a leak detection company is going to be able to pinpoint that leak to a very small area and that is going to reduce the amount of work and therefore reduce the amount of money you spend fixing that leak I'm Josh from all the voice for swimming pool science don't forget to Like share and subscribe thanks for watching guys

Channel: Swimming Pool Science

Views: 579,829

Rating: 4.8080292 out of 5

Keywords: Leaking pool, How-to, How to find a pool leak, my pool is leaking, Is my pool leaking?, Swimming Pool Science, Josh Maule the Voice, Pentair, Hayward, Jandy, waterco, water way, Pool service, Pool repair, how to fix my pool, Phoenix pool service, Phoenix pool repair, Does my pool have a leak?, hot tub leak, Spa leak, Fountain leak, leak, low water level in my pool

Id: 8KIMBfwbPAo

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Mon May 20 2019