new pool/spa leaking?

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Mike in Tampa
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new pool/spa leaking?

Postby Mike in Tampa » Wed 17 Jan, 2007 22:16

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun and there's probably a reasonable explanation but it seems my newly filled spa has a serious leak. the people just finished the pebble sheen interior yesterday and they came back out today to finish the acid wash and begun filling the spa and pool. The spa waterfalls into the pool so as the pool was filling I added a 2nd hose in the spa. I filled the spa up until it began to over flow at which point I put both hoses in the pool. the water level in the spa has dropped over 6 inches sine this afternoon.

none of the pumps were started and no valve is open (as far as I know). I was just curious if there's a reasonable explanation?


dynamictiger
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Postby dynamictiger » Thu 18 Jan, 2007 03:31

Could just be the way it is plumbed. Don't worry yet, simply ask about it at handover.

HTH
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Postby Guest » Sat 20 Jan, 2007 21:21

thanks for the reply.

yeah, I was worried over nothing. I have a bad "backflow" valve and it was letting water out. He's supposed to come and replace the valves on Monday as well as fix several other issues that arose at start up. I know startup issues are common, but I find it laughable that people who do this for a living can be so nonchalant about any issue much less 1/2 a dozen issues at startup!

Oh well. I was warned to expect all of this when building a pool, but I still have a hard time accepting it.
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Postby Pool Owner » Sun 21 Jan, 2007 01:28

Mike, I am glad it is a simple problem and not a “leak.”

For the future, you may want to invest about $30 into getting a good reference pool book. If you have not yet done so, check your local library for books on the subject of pool maintenance/construction to see if there is one you like. I have a short review of a few books on my blog (noted below). While it is very large, I think you will find “The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual” a good choice. Since it is almost 700 pages, you need to use it like these pool bulletin boards, search for the information you need and only read the part that covers your problem.
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dynamictiger
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Joined: Thu 23 Nov, 2006 17:23
My Pool: one of them is 713,342 gallons
I look after lots and lots
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Postby dynamictiger » Sun 21 Jan, 2007 16:10

Mike

I think this may be a misinterpretation of the start up. Sure the pool builder may appear casual about faults, however house builders aren't much different unless they are building commercial tracts of houses.

Mechanical items do fail such as the check valve and sure after a while in the industry you do get a bit casual about such things.

I actually make a policy of not having the home owner around when we do a start up. We then go through an extensive checklist of items and how these should work and fix these before leaving for about four days and coming back for a final check. Then we do handover. This is because I am on teh mechanical side of the industry. The pool builders are a different animal and not as docu-centric as the mechanical side so they appear a little more casual.

However, you now have a new pool. Hope you enjoy it.
Mike in Tampa
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Postby Mike in Tampa » Sun 21 Jan, 2007 21:49

thanks for the input guys. I'm glad I found this place. it's re-assuring to know I'm not alone and is my experience, although dis-heartening, is not unique.
Mike in Tampa
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Postby Mike in Tampa » Sun 21 Jan, 2007 21:53

one other question. I have 4 blowers in the bottom of the spa. 2 of them are working but 2 are not. The "pool guy" suggested I start the blower and place my feet over both to force the other 2 to become unclogged. that suggestion did not work. any other explanations besides they made a terrible mistake during the plumbing phase?
dynamictiger
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My Pool: one of them is 713,342 gallons
I look after lots and lots
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Postby dynamictiger » Mon 22 Jan, 2007 14:47

Sometimes blower lines can take a while to clear the water out of the pipe work. How long have you run the blowers for?

HTH
Mike in Tampa
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Postby Mike in Tampa » Tue 23 Jan, 2007 07:07

this looks like it will be a minor fix as well. The pool company came back out to work on the issues encountered at startup but he was never able to get anything from the 2 bottom blowers, so he was starting to expect that they were not plumbed to anything. He filled the spa and many hours later I noticed that no water had excaped from the spa. That told me that they had to be hooked up somehow or I should have lost water if they were just draining into the ground. I began to think that maybe somehow they tied these blowers into the water fountain feature I had built into the spa to run while we were in the pool. at this point there were only 2 valves turned off. they were the 2 clear "backflow" valves that they had to replace for leaks. one of them looks to be controlling the water fountain and the other is hooked to the 2 floor blowers. SO it appears that they just have to do some plumbing work at the valves/equipment area to get me fixed up. Normally I wouldn't consider this so minor, but considering the alternative of them having to jackhammer the bottom of my spa out, I'm a happy camper.

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