Early in my pool career, I once heard a very seasoned pool company owner tell a customer “all pools leak, its just a matter of whether you can live with the leak or if you want to have it found and fixed.” To this day that is a disturbing response to a homeowner that just had their pool project finished and was questioning the water level.
As service professionals, we always pay attention to the pools we service and look for signs of a leaky pool based on chemical usage, water level each week, whether the ‘auto-fill’ is working or not, and some other visual cues. The most obvious forensic evidence of a leaking pool is through the weekly chemical reports we compile as part of weekly pool service. For example, we know that the only way Hardness levels increase or decrease are through chemical additions or dilution, respectively. When we have rain events from tropical systems, we can see rain fall at rates of 4-6″ per hour. This will RAPIDLY dilute pool chemicals and could make someone think that their pool is leaking because the chemical usage is higher than normal. Additionally, we have also seen a faulty auto-fill cause a similar phenomenon, which is easily rectified if the auto-fill can be recalibrated and the level for the pool water can be properly set to be below the level of the overflow. This seems like a silly situation but it happens way more often than it should.
Every prospective pool buyer should note that not all licensed pool builders are quality contractors. Having worked with HUNDREDS of pool builder customers in my career, I can attest to the fact that just because the state issued them a license does NOT make them excellent pool constructors and definitely not good service providers. I mention this because I have proven over and over to pool owners that their pools are leaking, they still tend to believe the guy the spent $150k with even though we present indisputable evidence that they have a problem. Be wary of a builder that services their own pools…many times this leads to a conflict of interest and the pool owner is the one who suffers.
So, if you still think you have a leak, you can settle this by performing the standard White Bucket test. Here’s how to do this.
- Purchase a clean white 5 gallon bucket.
- Fill the bucket 3/4 to the top with pool water.
- Sit the bucket on the top step or on a sun ledge and allow water level to stabilize.
- Take a piece of blue painters tape and mark the water level ON THE OUTSIDE of the bucket. If you can’t see the line, use your phone’s flashlight on the inside of the bucket to emphasize the line for the water level.
- Use another small piece of tape and mark the pool water level on the tile or side of your pool. Again, you may need to wait for the water to calm so its flat enough to accurately mark the water level.
- After 12 hours, note the water level in the bucket and the pool. If the pool has seen more water loss than the bucket, you may need a leak detection test performed.
If you have any questions about this test or if you want to schedule a leak detection, please contact us as soon as you can so we can get you on our schedule. Contact us here.
