Any swimming pool people here? Lost 8 inches of water in one night

[Heavenly]

Plaster pool in ground. On a hill. No sign of any plaster damage. No sign of water anywhere. I estimate that I lost 3,000 gallons of water overnight.

Put calls out to pool people but no luck yet.

Yikes.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Tom Selleck?
Regards, GF.

 

[passedpawn]

We had a leak once (not that fast though). I hired a guy in scuba gear to go around my pool to find the leak. He had a little squirt bottle with dyed water in it. He'd squirt and see where the dye went. He thought he located the leak around the skimmer box, then attempted to patch the leak with pool putty. It was many years ago, but I remember that the leak continued. We get a lot of rain here in the summer, so it wasn't really much of a problem. But we ended up resurfacing, skimmer and other suspect features were replaced, and all is good now.

You might consider turning off the pump for a couple of days and watching the level. If it doesn't change, then the water is at the level of the leak right now, or the leak is in the plumbing to/from the pump.

Then turn the pump back on. If the level continues to drop, the problem's in the plumbing.

 

[GHBWNY]

FWIW, we are also on a hill and have an 18' X 36' in-ground pool (30-35,000 gal.), 40 years old --- cement block walls, but with new vinyl liner. Our water level was dropping 2" overnight and called our pool guy. He discovered something had fallen in and punctured a dime-size hole in the liner at the deep end. Water was seeping through the hole, through cement bottom, through the gravel below that, and into the ground and away from the pool. Other than the level drop, there was no exterior indication of loss, nor could we see the hole from above. He dived down with a patch and cement and we were good to go. We have also had some leaking in a return line, but that was visible via a soggy spot on the lawn next to the pool.

@ passedpawn, we also had a crack in our skimmer box which was leaking *slightly*. Pools --- a never-ending source of "enjoyment".

 

[B29]

Yu are in California--maybe water was stolen?

 

[DrunkleJon]

I used to lifeguard as a teen, and worked with a pool maintenance/service company for a little while (among other jobs I have had). How cold has it gotten at night? Has the weather dropped to freezing yet? Has the pool been winterized yet? Usually pool leaks that drop the level that much, are often on the plumbing side. Check around the pump and filter paying particular attention to the (backflush) valves. Worst case scenario is that the leak is underground though I dont know if the ground can absorb that much water that quickly.

 

[bayoujeeper]

I used to lifeguard as a teen, and worked with a pool maintenance/service company for a little while (among other jobs I have had). How cold has it gotten at night? Has the weather dropped to freezing yet? Has the pool been winterized yet? Usually pool leaks that drop the level that much, are often on the plumbing side. Check around the pump and filter paying particular attention to the (backflush) valves. Worst case scenario is that the leak is underground though I dont know if the ground can absorb that much water that quickly.

+1 to this, was the pump running overnight when it happened. A bad spider valve can divert the water out of the drain instead of recirculated.

 

[Twins_Dad]

Yu are in California--maybe water was stolen?

+1^^^

Look for your neighbors running a hose under the fence at night to keep their grass lush and green.

On a serious note, I have zero experience with pools other than swimming and peeing in them but 3000 gallons overnight seems like it is a lot.

Good luck! The cost of the leaking water alone could get expensive during this awesome drought.

 

[Owly055]

Yu are in California--maybe water was stolen?

I agree with that assessment.......... You lost about a truck load. You can pull that amount of water using a vacuum tank in a matter of minutes with a big hose. I suspect you have fallen victim to the new scam of stealing water from someone's pool and selling it, then offering to repair the "leak"....... Remember that pool maintenance card left on your door last week? Call the cops! Note the aroma of chlorine wafting through the local almond orchard next time you are driving by.

H.W.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I agree with that assessment.......... You lost about a truck load. You can pull that amount of water using a vacuum tank in a matter of minutes with a big hose. I suspect you have fallen victim to the new scam of stealing water from someone's pool and selling it, then offering to repair the "leak"....... Remember that pool maintenance card left on your door last week? Call the cops! Note the aroma of chlorine wafting through the local almond orchard next time you are driving by.

H.W.

3K gallons is approximately the amount in your standard baby/wading pool. No where near a truckload, unless you are talking about a pickup truck with a redneck rigged liner.

 

[Roland_deschain]

Need I say more?!?!? (Hope the pic attached)

Roland

 

[dkwolf]

3K gallons is approximately the amount in your standard baby/wading pool. No where near a truckload, unless you are talking about a pickup truck with a redneck rigged liner.

Uh.... Most fire department tankers (tenders for you west coast folks) carry between 3,000-4,500 gallons.

And 3,000 gallons will fill a 15'x15' pool to a depth of 2 ft. Not exactly a "baby/wading pool"

 

[Owly055]

3K gallons is approximately the amount in your standard baby/wading pool. No where near a truckload, unless you are talking about a pickup truck with a redneck rigged liner.

Actually it depends on the truck........ You can't carry more than about 1/10 that amount on a pickup. I'd love to see you try to haul 25000 pounds on your pickup!! A lot of single axle trucks with 22.5 duals have a gross vehicle weight of 36,000 pounds, and an empty weight of around 10,000 pounds. A common capacity of a tandem axle semi trailer is 5000-6000 gallons. Water weighs about 8.4 pounds per gallon. I know, I've hauled many thousands of gallons of it......none of it stolen!

H.W.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Uh.... Most fire department tankers (tenders for you west coast folks) carry between 3,000-4,500 gallons.

And 3,000 gallons will fill a 15'x15' pool to a depth of 2 ft. Not exactly a "baby/wading pool"

Actually it depends on the truck........ You can't carry more than about 1/10 that amount on a pickup. I'd love to see you try to haul 25000 pounds on your pickup!! A lot of single axle trucks with 22.5 duals have a gross vehicle weight of 36,000 pounds, and an empty weight of around 10,000 pounds. A common capacity of a tandem axle semi trailer is 5000-6000 gallons. Water weighs about 8.4 pounds per gallon. I know, I've hauled many thousands of gallons of it......none of it stolen!

H.W.

My apologies, I was assuming by a truckload you were referring to the massive milk trucks that they use to fill residential swimming pools. >>3000 gallons

And as for the baby pools I was referring to I am talking about the in ground ones at community pools, etc. Most of them are approximately 7 feet or so in diameter and maybe 8 inches deep. Apologies for being unclear.

v=3.14* r^2 *h with r=3.5 h=2 2/3
Math
307.72 cu feet - 1 cu foot = 7.481 Gallons
2302 gallons

 

[Owly055]

My apologies, I was assuming by a truckload you were referring to the massive milk trucks that they use to fill residential swimming pools. >>3000 gallons

And as for the baby pools I was referring to I am talking about the in ground ones at community pools, etc. Most of them are approximately 7 feet or so in diameter and maybe 8 inches deep. Apologies for being unclear.

v=3.14* r^2 *h with r=3.5 h=2 2/3
Math
307.72 cu feet - 1 cu foot = 7.481 Gallons
2302 gallons

The OP mentioned 3000 gallons estimated loss..............

 

[spittybug]

Theft, underground pipe damage (any subsidence anywhere?) or the aforementioned spider gasket.

 

[DrunkleJon]

and i have seen pickup bed pools before. (not my photo)

 

[dkwolf]

My apologies, I was assuming by a truckload you were referring to the massive milk trucks that they use to fill residential swimming pools. >>3000 gallons

And as for the baby pools I was referring to I am talking about the in ground ones at community pools, etc. Most of them are approximately 7 feet or so in diameter and maybe 8 inches deep. Apologies for being unclear.

v=3.14* r^2 *h with r=3.5 h=2 2/3
Math
307.72 cu feet - 1 cu foot = 7.481 Gallons
2302 gallons

I realize this is getting off-topic, but there's an error in your math. As near as I can figure, you figured a 7' diameter pool, 8 feet deep.

A 7' diameter pool, 8" deep would hold about 200 gallons.

(3.14*3.5^2 = base area 38.46 ft^2; 38.46*(8/12) = 25.64 ft^3 => ~187 gallon

 

[DrunkleJon]

I realize this is getting off-topic, but there's an error in your math. As near as I can figure, you figured a 7' diameter pool, 8 feet deep.

A 7' diameter pool, 8" deep would hold about 200 gallons.

(3.14*3.5^2 = base area 38.46 ft^2; 38.46*(8/12) = 25.64 ft^3 => ~187 gallon

Ok. My mistake. Now I need to remember where I got that figure. I swear I was told that most of the circular wading pools were 2-3k gallons> I did do a quick google to do the math for me and it looked right. I dont know why that person made it 2 and 2/3 deep where it should have only been 2/3 foot deep. Apologies.

 

[dkwolf]

Ok. My mistake. Now I need to remember where I got that figure. I swear I was told that most of the circular wading pools were 2-3k gallons> I did do a quick google to do the math for me and it looked right. I dont know why that person made it 2 and 2/3 deep where it should have only been 2/3 foot deep. Apologies.

No worries. A not-insignificant part of my job is wastewater lagoon design, so volume calculations are second-nature.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Back on topic...The happiest day of my ownership of an in-ground pool was the day I filled it in.

In similar situations, it was almost always the plumbing. If you have only surface skimmer and no drain in the floor, the easy thing to do is to let it drop below that surface skimmer and see if it stops. you may also be able to plug the floor drain.

Once you know its the plumbing, good luck. Start with the easy stuff you can access without a lot of digging. After that, prepare to spend a weekend or two with the shovel.

 

[Heavenly]

Thanks for all the replies. Been a little busy with this so haven't been back.

I used a blue chemical out of my pool kit to try to identify water movement around the plumbing. Sure enough, water was being sucked into the supply lines to the main pool. I took off the 2 eyeballs and plugged the supply lines with plumbers plugs. This stopped the water loss in the pool. But overnight my attached spa lost water. Noticed there is also a supply eyeball in there that isn't a part of the hot tub water supply valve. So I plugged that. No more water loss.

Now the hard part. 3" concrete patio around the entire pool. It's old and has shifted a bit so we've decided to rip it all out and make it nice. While we have it out, we'll replace all of the plumbing lines too.

 

[B29]

In my area you can buy a 2,500 gallon load in a small tank truck or a 5000 gallon load in the semi tanker.

 

[cattmoble]

Had to be in the plumbing not the pool itself. How do I know....... Two happiest days of my life .......
1) day we bought our house w/ an in ground pool
2) day we sold it