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Anyone with a pool ever have an underground piping leak?

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by chemgator, Oct 6, 2022.

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  1. Oct 7, 2022 #21
    thomadm

    thomadm VIP Member

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    Just fill it in with a load of dirt. Best decision i ever made was to throw in the towel on mine. Not worth the headaches.
     
  2. Oct 7, 2022 #22
    chemgator

    chemgator GC Hall of Fame

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    My parents did that with their pool. Filled it in with dirt, tree limbs, whatever they could find. Then covered it over with 4" of concrete and put up a basketball goal at one end. As the debris rotted and settled, the concrete started to crack, and then drop about 3-4", exposing the top row of tiles. Not very attractive (or useful for basketball). We tell them it looks nice.
     
  3. Oct 7, 2022 #23
    chemgator

    chemgator GC Hall of Fame

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    I turned the pump off and measured the leakage rate as I tried plugging different openings. The leak rate was very steady whether the pool was running or not, and regardless of which openings were plugged. However, after the water dropped a few inches (to near the bottom of the skimmer opening), the leak rate slowed down to less than half. I suspect the leak could be in one or both of the skimmer boxes.
     
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  4. Oct 7, 2022 #24
    thomadm

    thomadm VIP Member

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    Yeah had a lot cleared and brushed buried and same thing happened. Stuff rots and leaves holes over time. In the case of the pool, used a concrete bit and drilled holes in the bottom of the pool to let water drain, filled about 2-3" of pea gravel to let the water drain good at the bottom. Topped it with landscape plastic to keep the dirt out of the gravel then filled the rest with dirt. Covered the area with stone like the rest of the porch, can't even tell the pool was there.
     
  5. Oct 7, 2022 #25
    jeffbrig

    jeffbrig GC Hall of Fame

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    I can't imagine... I really like having a pool. Between an automatic cleaner and a saltwater chlorine generator, it's surprisingly little effort to maintain day to day. Probably helps that I only have palm trees in the backyard, so no leaves...
     
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  6. Oct 8, 2022 #26
    intimigator1

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    I agree
     
  7. Oct 8, 2022 #27
    OklahomaGator

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    When the water level quits dropping you know the elevation of the leak.
     
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  8. Dec 4, 2022 #28
    chemgator

    chemgator GC Hall of Fame

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    Good news. We had a diver go in the pool and he found several leaks in the liner, and he fixed them all, for a cost of $300. No problems since (it's been about a month). Now if I could only find someone to work on the hot tub leak . . .
     
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  9. Dec 5, 2022 #29
    DesertGator

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    That is good news. 95% of the time, leaks are something in the surface structure (usually a bad gasket or cracks in the plaster). I just went through something similar about a year ago. If you actually had an underground leak due to ground shift or something similar, the only way would be to dig up the pipe and replace.
     
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