Leak Repair

[gilbreth]

Roughly speaking, we get about 5 calls a week for leak identification / repair. Because this is such a hot topic, and one that generates a lot of fear in homeowners, we thought we would post these pictures for three reasons - 1) to try to comfort people who think they have a pool leak, 2) to demonstrate that pool leaks do not necessarily have to cause you tremendous pain and financial stress, and 3) to help "do it yourselfers" consider their pipe routing for new pools.

Normally, when we quote a leak repair, we are charging simply for the time and travel of going to the pool and ruling out different variables. Once all the variables are ruled out (main drain, returns, tank, gutter, vac line, pump leaks, multi-port leaks out the spider gasket, etc) finding the leak is simple brute force digging in the right spot. Often, the tiles or granite can be salvaged also. 95% of all leaks are in the piping, in 7 years of pool repair I have only seen one pool with a structural leak. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, underground leaks can be found quickly, and repaired easily. Even in areas of high settlement, we can change the piping from PVC to HDPE (high density PE) which is actually easier to work with than PVC and much sturdier. At the time of the repair, or even for new piping installations, it is important to consider what might happen in the future. Its best to have a trained eye glance over the pipe routing schematic in order to handle "what if" developments going forward. We just installed a pool with PE piping that ran past 7 different trees, over 35meters, and under 2 buildings! We installed it though, so that if needed, a repair can be done quickly and efficiently with minimal collateral disruption.

[craigt3365]

Just a note...I was not able to utilize your services, but the house we bought had not been lived in for 3 years. Apparently, the pool had settled and had major leaks in pretty much every PVC connection. When it was filled, it went down 1 foot in about 2 days. We turned on the pump and water was coming up from the ground all over after we fixed the initial broken PVC elbow near an underwater outlet.

Like you said, after that it was brute force to dig up all the pipes, including some under the patio. Eventually, it was all fixed and did not cost that much. But we thought at first, it was going to be a big deal. Our pool does not leak at all now.

[gilbreth]

<BR>Just a note...I was not able to utilize your services, but the house we bought had not been lived in for 3 years.  Apparently, the pool had settled and had major leaks in pretty much every PVC connection.  When it was filled, it went down 1 foot in about 2 days.  We turned on the pump and water was coming up from the ground all over after we fixed the initial broken PVC elbow near an underwater outlet.<BR><BR>Like you said, after that it was brute force to dig up all the pipes, including some under the patio.  Eventually, it was all fixed and did not cost that much.  But we thought at first, it was going to be a big deal.  Our pool does not leak at all now.<BR>

<BR><BR>Gil - that's great news.  Even for me, I stress about a pool leak.  Something about the awful wastefullness of it all.  We had a pool leak last year just after I installed safety fencing around my pool (we have two young kids, and 3 dogs - 2 dogs fell into the pool on the 2nd day in our new house).  After installing the fence, we noticed the house pump running frequently.  After isolating and ruling out the tank, float valve, main drain, gutters, vacuum line, etc., I was able to determine that it was likely the return line closest to the house (alas, under a granite deck).  Argh.  We removed 3-4 granite pieces, dug out the pipe, and injected air.  Viola! Found it.  We then repaired it, closed the granite, and we were done in 1/2 a day.  Edited July 11, 2010 by gilbreth