Is Your Pool Leaking?

Detecting a pool leak immediately is crucial because a leak can lead to many different problems if ignored. Structural damage, ground erosion, soil shifting, patio settlement and sinkholes are just some of the issues and are very costly and invasive to remedy. When a pool leaks, there is no way to know where the water is going and what damage it may be causing. In addition, a leaking pool can result in higher water bills and ongoing maintenance issues. Therefore, it is essential to promptly identify and address any signs of a pool leak to prevent damage and to maintain the integrity of the pool and the pool components.

Change in Water Levels

If you notice a consistent drop in the water level of your swimming pool, it may be a sign of a pool leak. However, before jumping to conclusions, it’s essential to rule out things such as evaporation and backwashing.

Evaporation can cause the water level to decrease, especially during hot and windy weather. Acceptable water loss for evaporation is 1-2” weekly (2” would be on the very high end). If your water loss is on the higher end of what’s considered “normal” for evaporation, then you should do an evaporation test. To test for evaporation, you need to perform a bucket test. After doing the test, if the pool water has decreased more than the water inside the bucket, then your pool is leaking.

Backwashing is a maintenance process that is done on sand and D.E. (diatomaceous earth) filters in order to clean them. When backwashing, water carrying the trapped dirt, debris, and impurities is taken away from the pool and sent to waste or a designated drainage area. This will result in the water level in the pool going down, however this loss should only occur during and right after the backwash process. If the water level continues to decrease after backwashing, it more than likely is due to a leak.

By ruling out evaporation and backwashing, you can narrow down the cause of the decreasing water levels to a leak in the swimming pool. It’s important to address any leaks promptly to prevent significant damage and/or water loss.

Increased Water Bills

If you’ve noticed an increase in your water bill and can’t figure out the cause, it may be due to a pool leak. Pool leaks can lead to an increase in water usage in 2 ways.

If you are placing the garden hose in your pool, when normally don’t need to, then your pool could be leaking. If you are adding water more than 1x every 7-10 days, then almost certainly that is an indication your pool has a leak, and it will become costly and wasteful over time.

If you have an autofill for your pool. An autofill adds water to the pool automatically as soon as the water level drops. An autofill is very convenient if you are too busy to add your hose regularly, or if you are away and cannot add the hose. In some cases, you may notice that the autofill is constantly running/filling the pool and you may begin to suspect a pool leak. In other cases, you may not realize the autofill was running at all until you receive a notice from the water company about increased usage, or you receive your water bill, and it is significantly more than normal (sometimes 3-4x normal). Either way, your pool may be leaking.

Locating and repairing your pool leak as soon as possible can prevent you from receiving increased water bills during, and right after the summer season.

Inability to Maintain Proper Chemical Balance

When your pool chemicals are frequently imbalanced, and you find it difficult to maintain proper levels, it usually is a sign that there’s a pool leak. Pool leaks can impact the ability to balance pool chemicals in multiple ways. If water is leaking from the pool, then so are the chemicals. Additionally, a pool leak reduces water volume in the pool. This will lead to dilution and chemical imbalances. Both of these scenarios require that you add chemicals to your pool more often than usual, which becomes very costly and wasteful.

Finding and fixing a pool leak quickly will save you money on wasted chemicals (which tend to be expensive), increased water bills and possible expensive repairs.

Algae Growth Inside Your Pool

Failure to address chemical imbalances (as noted above), and then allowing the pool water to remain untreated or inadequately rebalanced, can lead to the growth of algae. As a result, algae growth can lead to water discoloration (water turns green), water clarity issues, increased need to add chlorine, unpleasant odors, eye and/or skin irritation and even pool surface damage (in gunite/concrete pools).

It is important to address your pool leak as soon as possible in order to prevent algae from growing in your pool and then causing the above scenarios to occur.

To Summarize

Prompt action is the key to resolving pool leak issues. For an efficient and effective resolution of any type of pool leak problem, contact a reputable pool leak detection company like Atlantic Pool Leak Detection. Our 15 yrs. of experience and expertise in pool leak detection and repair will help prevent water from being wasted, costly water bills, and increased chemical usage/costs. Most importantly, expensive and invasive repairs to your pool and/or yard will be avoided.

Reach out to us today if you are experiencing any of these issues with your pool.

Categorised in: FAQ Blog, Pool Leak Inspection