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Posted by Steve B on March 11, 2007, 10:37 pm
> Trying to figure out a problem with my swimming pool. I just purchased
> the house so don't know it's history much and the inspector did not catch
> anything - sigh...
>
> There is a drain at the bottom of the pool, and there is a "skimmer" on
> the top. The skimmer I guess is connected to the filter and pump and the
> water is returned to the pool via three jet heads.
>
> Initially the water is right at the level of the skimmer, I then filled 4"
> more water which took about 4 hours with a garden hose. The pump is
> running and water is sucked in and pumped back out. After one day the
> water lowered to the skimmer level again. I tried it a few times and same
> results.
>
> I asked the pool expert out and he says "well there is obviously a leak in
> your pool, why don't you hire us to patch it and resurface it?"
>
> But he cannot pin point to me where the leak may be. Since the water is
> going into the skimmer and it always lower to the skimmer level, it seems
> to me there is a high likelyhood of the pool itself is NOT leaking, but
> the pipes connected to it may be leaking, or may be the valve to the sewer
> drain is...any idea how I can verify it one way or another?
>
> Thanks,
>
> MC
>
Which one is it? Patch or replaster. About a 15x difference between the
two. Sounds like he's guessing.
There is a place where your skimmer actually attaches to the pool. If you
drain your pool down a foot or two so you can see into the skimmer with no
water in it, you can take a mirror and search to see if there is a
separation. Just look for gaps. If you find any, go to the pool supply
house and get the two element epoxy fix. Tell the guy what you're doing.
If they aren't sure, go to a different store.
Mix it up and apply it as deeply in the cracks as you can get it. Mound it
up a little around the top of the crack, too.
If there is no separation in your skimmer, then you got bigger problems.
The next step would be drain the pool and look for leaks, perhaps around the
bottom drain, and along the sides. Almost everything except major
separations amount to putting band aids on hemorrhages with regard to fixing
with epoxy.
After looking in the skimmer area yourself, if you don't find a separation,
fill it again, and call some more plastering companies. Look and see if
they even look into the skimmer area. They probably won't, since they want
to sell you a big replaster job instead of just fixing the small leak.
How is the surface of the bottom of the pool? Does it have any obvious
small cracks? Does it have any sloughing off of areas of plaster?
It sounds like you have a pretty good leak if it is losing that much water
that quick. Maybe you can get a straighter answer just from a regular pool
maintenance/fixit man. They won't be geared up to do a whole replaster, but
if it's a simple repair job you need, it'd be better to spend a hundred or
two rather than a few thousand. Our 35,000 gallon cost $3,000 (in Las
Vegas), but the plaster job was 25 years old.
We drained the pool on Sunday. They came 7 AM Monday, chipped out the
plaster. They were shooting concrete 7AM Tuesday, and at 3PM Tuesday, we
were filling it with water.
Lastly, how long have you had the house? You may have some recourse under
disclosure laws if only to get the seller to split a fix or plaster job with
you.
HTH
Steve
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