How to Find a Leak in a Pool Liner

Don’t know how to find a leak in a pool liner? This will not do. Unless you know how to fix a pool leak yourself, it’s imperative that you know how to find a leak in an inground pool, or else, your pool might lose a great deal of water in less than a weak, and thus increase water bills and weaken your subsoil. You’re surely wondering right now “how can I tell where my pool is leaking if I don’t have the necessary pool leak detection equipment?”; don’t worry: detecting a leak doesn’t require a special tool: just sharp eyes and a nifty trick.

How to Find a Leak in a Pool Liner

There are many benefits to have a pool. So, when you notice a problem, like black stains on the pool liner, it can be annoying. This article will teach you how to find a leak in an inground pool liner and how to fix a pool leak on time. It’s not difficult, but it requires immediate action once you’re sure your pool is leaking; otherwise, worse troubles will arise.

How Can I Tell Where My Pool Is Leaking

It takes a day to confirm the existence of a leak, and all you’ll need is a bucket, painter’s tape and water. This is what you have to do:

1. Fill the bucket with water and place it next to your pool.
2. Mark the water level in the bucket and in your pool with painter’s tape. Let them sit there for a whole day.
3. In the next day, measure the difference between the water level and each piece of tape.
4. If the difference in the pool is greater than the bucket, then your pool has a leak; if the loss isn’t that big, it means that the loss of pool water is due to evaporation.

Now that you know there’s a leak in your pool, it’s time to locate it.

How to Find a Leak in a Pool Liner

There are two places where you can check for any potential leak source:

1. Check the electrical systems, particularly the conduit lines coming from the pool’s lights. A healthy set of lines are dry; if you notice there’s moisture around, you must call an industry professional to precise location of the leak and repair it (lest you want to get shocked).
2. Alternatively, check the plumbing system. Turn off the filtration, look around the pipes, fittings and the pump, and check if there’s moisture. If you detect any, it means the leak location is around there. Sometimes it’s just a matter of replacing a pipe to fix the issue, but if you notice the leak originating from the pump, you might need to hire professional services to fix your filtration system.
3. If your pool doesn’t have electrical conduits or a filtration system, look for the hole with food coloring. How can I tell where my pool is leaking with food coloring, though? Easy. First, get sure that your pool is completely full; afterwards, touch the pool’s floor to see if it’s squishy (this suggests that there’s a leak in the bottom of your liner) and place some drops of food coloring on the water. Now, take a look at the flow of water; once the food coloring is near the leak, you’ll see it flowing out the exact spot where the hole is.

How to Fix a Pool Leak

Once you locate the pool’s leak, try fixing it with a patch first. If it doesn’t work, or if the leak is too big for the patch, then you might need to purchase a vinyl replacement liner immediately to prevent further leak and call for an industry professional’s help for its installation.

Other Questions

Are pool leaks covered by homeowners insurance?

Typically, and unless your leak was caused by a covered peril (let’s say a hurricane or earthquake), no. This is because home insurance doesn’t pay for maintenance damage.

Why does my pool lose water overnight?

Remember that pools lose a quarter-inch of water due to evaporation. However, if you noticed that your swimming pool water has lost more than the usual overnight, then it might indicate a leak. You’ll have to refer to our guide in order to alleviate this problem.

Fixing a pool leak is just as important as cleaning a swimming pool. So, answering the question, “how can I tell where my pool is leaking?”, you can use the budget method and compare the water levels overnight to determine if your pool needs repairs, which will be a piece of cake if you know how to fix a pool leak. As you can see, pool leak detection is not a hard task; now that we’ve taught you how to find a leak in an inground pool with the help of our guide, you can do it right away. In fact, now that you know how to find a leak in a pool liner and how to fix it, you’re more than prepared to face this kind of situations.