Swimming pools are best for hangouts, night-time barbecue parties, family events, and poolside brunches. Your swimming pool is an adornment for your home. It is a place where you can relax and just let yourself sink into the water, leaving all of your worries behind. Whatever the design your pool has, there would be leaks sooner or later and you may not even know about them! Swimming pool water evaporates on a daily basis or splashes here and there, so it is hard to believe that there could be leaks within the pool. Well, there definitely could be a pool leak and since it had gone unnoticed, you end up adding gallons of water every week.
Checking your pool for leaks is extremely important so that you do not have to go through this pointless effort and waste your valuable time. Leaks are very easily unnoticed, so it is best to involve multiple people when you are searching for these. If you can’t find leaks and still feel that there could be one, you can call in a pool technician who could do that for you in a professional manner. This article will guide you on how to find leaks inside your pool yourself so that you do not have to hire a pool technician and unnecessarily spend your hard-earned money.
How to Find a Leak in a Pool? – Look for the Possible Locations
See if there are any leaks in the swimming pool equipment, such as the filter, pipe valves, pump, and the pool heater. You should also see if the soil around the swimming pool area contains a lot of moisture. There could be some eroded corners as well, so look for them.
How to Confirm a Pool Leak?
Mark the water level by placing a piece of tape on the pool wall. This would indicate the level of water as of that time. Then check after 24 hours whether the water is around 0.5 cm below that level or not. If it is more than 0.5 cm below that level, it means you got yourself a swimming pool leak.
An alternative is to use a bucket filled with water and weights. Label the water level both inside and outside of the bucket. You should ensure that the water level inside the bucket and outside in the swimming pool is the same. Place the bucket on the pool step. Check the water level after 24 hours. If the water level of the swimming pool is way below the level in the bucket, then there is a leak problem. Repeat this process with the pump on and with the pump off.
Vinyl liner pools need to contain water all the time. If you think there is a leak then turn the filtration system off and see where the water level is going down. If you have a liner pool and you are losing water quickly, it is time to call a pool technician and start adding water.
To see if there is a leak in the filtration system, see if there are air bubbles rising in the return line when the pump is on. If you see them, the leak is in the filtration system.
You could also check for leaks at the bottom of the skimmer and in the pool drain. If you see that the pool is losing even more water whilst the pump is on, it could mean there is a leak in the waste line. Look for any cracks, tears, and gaps anywhere around the swimming pool.
If you see any crack or hole, add some pH indicator dye reagent while the pump is off. The water should not be moving at all when you do this. The crack can suck the dye inwards. This is a confirmatory method of pool leak detection.
How to Fix a Leaking Swimming Pool?
If there are leaks in the swimming pool equipment, these can be fixed easily. You won’t need to spend a big sum of money on a pool technician.
If there is a gap between the plastic skimmer and pool surface, you can fill it with putty. Also, if you have a weak conduit pipe connection, consider patching it up with epoxy or silicone material.
Often there are leaks in the liners. You can use a vinyl liner patch kit to fix this problem. If the leak is underwater, use a patch kit that is wet. If any of these problems are severe or if there are other problems you are not aware of, make sure to get in touch with your local pool professional.
Do You Have Homeowners Insurance to Cover Swimming Pool Costs?
Homeowners insurance covers any personal injuries that may occur while using the swimming pool, including injuries to your family members as well as guests. However, the insurance does not cover damage to the swimming pool. The insurance also does not cover the repair costs of maintenance issues of different swimming pool equipment. Most homeowners with diving boards, slides, and other extra facilities usually do not get insurance covers. So any injuries related to diving boards will not be covered.
On the other hand, certain kinds of damage are covered by the homeowners insurance. This includes damages that can occur due to vandalism, lightning, natural disasters or pipes freezing in the winters. You should talk to your home insurance policy agent and discuss these matters because pool repairing can be quite expensive.
Prevent a Pool Leak with a Few Maintenance Tips!
- Run all the water through the filter system once every day. Your filter should be able to filter two or three times a day. Run the filter system for twelve hours, preferably from 9:00 pm to 9:00 am.
- Test the pool water’s pH level and sanitizer level! Take a sample of water from the middle of the pool (not anywhere else) and use a pH test strip. Note the color. This should be done at least once a week. Just to be on the safe side, you can make a professional check it every month, and also when you close or open your pool. Test for chlorine by using OTO, a yellow chemical. The more yellow the water is, the higher the amount of chlorine.
- Regularly keep your pool water sanitized with chlorine and clean its surroundings with a pool brush. The type of pool brush you should use will depend on the type of pool you have. For example, for vinyl pools you should use a brush with nylon bristles. You can also use premium-quality pool cleaners.
Your swimming pools need to be kept clean and maintained just as well as your home. We often tend to ignore that, so we stop maintaining our pool equipment and thus we let the water become old, unsanitized and dirty. This could have serious health impacts on your family members and guests. Leaks are detrimental to any swimming pool and surrounding areas. It could cost you too much to get them fixed by a technician. So, it is advisable to maintain your pool properly and fix the leaks yourself if you can.
