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Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Sunda. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about detecting pool leaks.
Just be aware that the leak could be in the pool's return lines to the pump, and switching the equipment off isn't going to stop it.
The first thing to do is a visual inspection looking for any prominent areas where a leak might be present. I'd suggest trying to narrow down the size of the crack/leak via your water bucket test. How much water is the pool losing per day or week? If you mark the side of the pool at the water level, how many millimetres does it go down each day? If it's losing 10mm a day, you know you're looking for a visible crack. If it's only a couple of millimetres, the crack might be visually undetectable.
Make sure to check any tile grout lines and areas with sharp corners for failing tiles. Steps are also a common area for cracks to form. Look for wet spots in the yard that might give away the area of the pool where you're losing water from. Check the concrete around the pool or pool coping for cracks that might continue down into the pool's wall. Monitor the water level to see if it stops draining at a certain point. If this happens directly below the skimmer basket, it could indicate a leak in the lines.
Some images of the pool and the coating condition might help identify the causes of the water loss. If this is an older pool that hasn't been coated in 15 years, then these leaks might just be from age and indicate that it needs re-surfacing. Most older pools have some form of hairline cracks in them. As the pool ages and the coating deteriorates, accumulated water loss through those hairline cracks becomes more noticeable.
I look forward to seeing some images of the pool and assisting further in this leak detection.
Mitchell
Thank you Mitchell.
The water drops very quickly and it is much lower than the skimmer line now. We are losing over 5cm per day.
I have noticed there seems to be some irregularities at the pump outlet, so not sure if it is the source of the leak.
I like to know if there are products in Bunnings which I can get to test the leakage, fix the leaks and coat the surface of the pool?
I have attached the pics for your reference.
5cm of water a day is an incredible amount and indicates a significant leak. I'd suspect your best option is to wait and see if the water stops leaking at a certain point. You can then search at that height around the perimeter of the pool for an issue. There are no products at Bunnings that can detect the leak for you. It's a matter of locating it and then setting about repairing the issue.
The pool outlet looks like the adhesive has failed. That might be an aesthetical cover flange over the holes, though. If the water stops leaking out once it gets slightly below the outlet, that would be a good indication that it's the problem.
No one has touched the settings on your filter recently, have they? There is a setting that sends water to waste instead of circulating it back into the pool. If the filter is set to waste and the automatic cleaner is used, it will pump water out of the pool.
Mitchell
If you haven't been running the pump and filter, but the water is still going down, the issue wouldn't be that the filter is set to waste. I just wanted to rule that out.
There are some products that work underwater, and once I know what you need to repair, I can suggest a suitable product for you. Let me know if you find something, and we can discuss how to go about the repair.
Mitchell
Thank you Michell.
The water level has finally stabilised from the leaks.
I have attached the pic where the water line is at current.
Am concerned whether it is due to a broken pipe?
Great work @Sunda! This is precisely the type of indicator we need to start troubleshooting.
Although the water has stopped here, and it obviously appears to be the outlet or pipe, let's not jump the gun. Thoroughly inspect the rest of the pool perimeter for any other cracks or suspicious areas on the waterline.
For now, though, we can presume that either that outlet or the pipe has an issue. It would be best if we could drop the water below that outlet before attempting to fix it. Are you familiar with how to turn your filter to waste? I can walk you through this if you post images of your pool filter and pump. Look for a big selector dial with terms like backwash, filter, waste and recirculate on it. You just need to turn the handle on the filter to the waste setting and run the cleaner or have the cleaner hose in the water whilst running the pump.
Once the water is at least 10cm below the outlet, try to remove it. It looks like the brown adhesive is just about ready to give way. If not, you can run a blade around its edge to see if that frees it. The area needs to be thoroughly dried before proceeding. You'll need to clean the old adhesive off as well as possible before applying a liberal amount of Sika 300ml Transparent SikaSil Premium Pool Silicone to the fitting and pipe edge before re-installing. You might like to show us an image of the pipe once you've removed the outlet before completing this step.
I hope that there is a gap between the pipe and Pebblecrete, where the water is escaping. Once the outlet is glued back to the Pebblecrete and the pipe, the water won't travel out that route anymore.
Please keep us updated.
Mitchell
