How to Determine if a Pool is Leaking

With the lake levels continuing to decline and fires continuing to burn across the state, it is very important that we, as poolowners, are not wasting water by way of a leak.

Therefore, now would be a great time to determine if your pool is leaking.  Depending on the atmospheric conditions, swimming pools will lose up to ½” of water per 24 hour period through evaporation.  Most of the time it will be less than this but it should never be more (assuming there is no splash out or backwashing of the filter).  If you are unsure if a pool is leaking, the bucket test is an effective method of determining whether the pool is leaking:

The Bucket Test

1. Fill the pool to the normal level.
2. Fill a bucket with pool water and place it on the top step of the pool.
3. Mark the level in the pool and the bucket.
4. Measure the water levels in the bucket and the pool after 24 hours.
5. If the pool loss is greater than the bucket loss, there is a leak in the pool.

If you are unable to perform a “bucket test”, let us know and we can use our leak analyzer to determine in just a few minutes if your pool is leaking.  If it is, we can perform a leak detection—which will be the subject of next week’s column.