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QUESTION:I have a gunite inground pool that has developed a leak in the 1 1/2" PVC line that
feeds the automatic pool cleaner. It's bad enough that I lose about a half-inch a
day if I don't cap the cleaner line off. Unfortunately, the line runs through the
side of the pool and then under a concrete pool deck to the pump area. Even if I
could pressurize the line with a trace gas and find the exact location of the leak
with a detector, it would be a major deal to remove the concrete decking to get to
it. (The side of the pool is elevated about 3' above ground and the sides of the
decking are encased in concrete, so excavating or digging sideways won't work
either). Given the size of the leak I'm guessing that a PVC coupling has developed
a small crack or simply come loose somewhere under all that concrete.
At the moment I'm cleaning the pool by hand - quite a pain after years of having the
cleaner do it for me. I've thought about running a new line for the cleaner using
an "over the deck" kit - but that is too ugly. Also considered using a new cleaner
that doesn't require a booster pump, but the existing fittings aren't spaced in a
manner conducive to that.
I'm open to other other ideas - in particular, has anyone seen any new approaches to
sealing small PVC lines using some type of sealant under pressure? I can easily get
to both ends of the line in question.
ANSWER: You have a tough problem! If you pinpointed exactly where
the leak is you could rent a backhoe, dig down beside the pool even
with the bottom of the pool or even deeper than the bottom of the pool
and reach up under the bottom with a long backhoe arm to excavate the
dirt away from the piping. After you repair the leak you can have a
concrete supply company mix you up a slurry concrete mixture just to
fill in that void under there or get some concrete pumping company to
come in an fill the void for you.
On the other hand you could find some high pressure hydraulic hose
half or three quarten inch size and fish it through the old pvc pipe
to the outlet on the side of the pool and find some kind of adapter
fitting to connect to your pool cleaner.
You know heres another example of what you should do in designing a
pool to be failsafe! I specified all the components of my second pool
I built last summer to improve upon the weaknesses in the design of my
first pool which my ex-wife has custody of now. Only bad thing is I
went from a basic pool at $18,000 up to my custom design for a pool
that cost me $40,000!
Travis, if it were me I would call the local equipment rental company
next Friday, have them deliver a backhoe to your house to leave it for
the weekend, get out there with a couple of other guys to watch what
your are doing, and start digging under your pool. Heck, that line in
actuallity is probably really just under your pool sidewalk beside
your actual pool shell. The pool contractors don't put any piping
directly under the pool shell except for the main pool drain line and
it goes directly under the pool shell straight toward the nearest side
of the pool and then runs along side of the pool towards your pump and
filter equipment pad.
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