How do I know if my pool is leaking?
Your pool is probably leaking if it drops more than evaporation can explain, if your autofill runs constantly, or if you add water every few days. A Florida pool in summer can lose a surprising amount to heat and wind, so the signs need confirming.
Other signs can show up away from the water. Treat these as reasons to test, not proof of a leak.
- Water level keeps falling after you top it up
- Wet or soft ground, sinking spots or new cracks near the pool or deck
- Algae that keeps coming back despite good chemistry
- Tile or coping that has shifted or opened up
- Water bills that climb with no change in use
- Air bubbles returning from the pool jets or in the pump basket
What is the bucket test?
The bucket test compares your pool to a bucket of water to separate evaporation from a leak. Fill a bucket to about an inch below the rim, set it on a pool step so it sits in the water, and mark the water level inside the bucket and outside it.
Leave both alone for 24 hours with the pump running normally, then compare. If the pool dropped noticeably more than the bucket, evaporation is not the whole story and the pool is losing water. Then you run it again with the pump off, which helps point to plumbing or the shell.
How do you find the exact leak?
Once a leak is confirmed, we narrow it down in stages so no one digs where they do not have to. The first split is whether water escapes from the shell, the equipment or the buried lines.
Pressure testing isolates each supply and return line, plugs it and pressurizes it. A line that cannot hold pressure is the one losing water. Dye testing uses a small amount of dye released near a suspected crack, light niche or fitting in still water, and a leak pulls the dye toward it.
We look closely at the usual suspects: skimmer throats where the skimmer meets the deck, light niches and their conduit, return fittings, main drain and cracks in the shell or beam. Each has its own test, and each is a common place for a slow leak to begin.
Why test before and after a repair?
Test before so you know the leak is real and you are fixing the right thing. Test after so you know the repair worked. A pool can have more than one leak, and finding one does not mean you found them all.
After repair we run the loss test again. If the level holds, you have proof. If it still drops, we keep looking before you close up decking or refill. Fixes themselves fall under pool repair, and a leak that has damaged a surface may point you toward pool resurfacing.
What about Florida ground conditions?
Central and South Florida have sandy soil and, in many areas, a high water table. Ground movement and groundwater can stress plumbing and shells, and a pool that is partly empty can be pushed upward by groundwater, so we do not recommend draining a pool without checking first.
If the leak is under the deck or buried, we explain what we found and what access is needed before any cutting. Hidden underground conditions are not part of a fixed price, and we tell you before continuing.
Step by step: pool leak detection with Prime
Describe the symptoms
Call or text (689) 225-1200 with what you see. Photos of the waterline, equipment and any wet ground help us prepare.
Confirm the loss
We run or review a bucket test to separate evaporation from a real leak, with the pump on and off.
Isolate the source
Pressure testing on lines, dye testing at fittings, and a close look at skimmers, lights and returns.
Explain and itemize
You get a plain explanation of what is leaking and an itemized written estimate for the repair.
Repair and retest
After the fix we test again, so you have proof the level holds.
Where we do this work
From our Orlando office we take on pool leak detection across Central Florida and down the coast to Miami, including Orlando, Winter Park, Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, Kissimmee, Winter Garden, Lake Mary, Clermont, Oviedo, Melbourne, Port St. Lucie, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
