The bucket test
Fill a bucket with pool water
Fill it to about the pool's level and stand it on the top step, so it sits in the pool at the same temperature.
Turn off the top-up
Switch off any automatic top-up, and don't add water while the test runs.
Mark both levels
Mark the water line inside the bucket, and the pool's level on the outside of the bucket or on the tiles.
Wait 24 hours
Run the pump as you normally would.
Compare
If the pool dropped more than the bucket, it's losing water to more than evaporation. Repeat with the pump off: a bigger drop with the pump running points to the pipes.
Signs of a pool leak
- You're topping up more often than you used to.
- Wet or soft ground near the pool, its pipes or the equipment.
- Cracks in the shell, or tiles coming loose.
- The pump draws air or loses its prime.
- Water around the pump, filter or valves.
- The water bill went up, and there's an automatic top-up.
What a specialist will do
A leak specialist will start with the equipment, where a drip is often easy to see. Then they test the rest: dye squeezed near fittings in the shell shows where water is being drawn out, each pipe line can be pressure-tested on its own, and listening gear picks up a leak in a buried pipe.
Finding a leak doesn't always mean draining the pool. Ask before you agree to it.
Plumbing or pool equipment?
Some pool leaks are plumbing, some are pool equipment, and a few are in the shell itself. A leaking pump seal or filter is work for a pool technician. A buried pipe, or the pipe that feeds the automatic top-up from the mains, may be work for a plumber. A good specialist tells you which before anyone digs.
The top-up line connects to your drinking water supply, so treat any change to it as licensed plumbing. In WA, all water supply plumbing outside the short homeowner list "must be carried out by a licensed plumber or permit-holder." Elsewhere, check the plumber's licence on your state's register: see checking a licence.
What changes the job
Concrete, fibreglass and vinyl liner pools each leak, and get repaired, in their own way. Where the leak is matters most: a fitting you can reach underwater is very different from a pipe under the paving. Pool size, depth, and how many pipe lines run to the equipment all change the work.
What you can do first
You can
- Run the bucket test, once with the pump on and once with it off.
- Check the equipment area for drips, damp or salt crust.
- Watch whether the automatic top-up runs more than it should.
- Do a meter test with the top-up off, to rule out a leak in the house pipes too.
Leave to a licensed plumber
- Pressure-testing and repairing buried pool pipes.
- Repairing or replacing the top-up valve and its connection to the mains.
- Lifting paving to reach a pipe, then making it good.
- Any change to the pipe that brings mains water to the pool.
If your water bill jumped
An automatic top-up hides a leak: the pool stays full and the water bill takes the hit. See high water bill for the checks to run, then talk to your water company about the bill.
Questions to ask the specialist
- Will you test the equipment, the pipes and the shell, or only one of them?
- Do you need to drain the pool to find or fix it?
- Is the leak in the pipes, the equipment or the shell?
- Will you mark the leak and show me before any digging?
What we would do
Do the bucket test before you call anyone. If the pool and the bucket drop the same, it's evaporation, and a pool cover will do more than a leak specialist. If the pool drops faster, especially with the pump running, book a leak specialist who takes on pool work and has the gear to find it, so the paving only comes up in one place.