Signs Your Pool Might Be Leaking & Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Them
Pool leaks are sneaky. They start small – often barely noticeable – but can quickly turn into a homeowner’s nightmare. You could be enjoying summer swims and not know that a leak is silently washing away the soil beneath your pool or, worse, your home’s foundation.
We’ve seen it happen too many times: a homeowner ignores minor signs until one day, they’re faced with a $15,000 repair bill for foundation work – all because of a pool leak that would have cost a few hundred dollars to fix.
In this article, we’ll explain the signs of a leak that you can spot without special equipment, explain why these leaks can become serious problems, and tell you when it’s time to call for professional help.
Common Signs of a Pool Leak
You don’t have to be a pool expert to spot the early warning signs of a leak. Here’s what you should look out for:
Water loss
The most obvious sign of a leak is water loss that can’t be explained. Every pool loses some water due to evaporation – typically about ¼ inch per day during warm season. But if you find yourself adding more than two inches of water weekly, something’s not right.
Notice how often you’re topping off your pool. If your automatic water filler is running more frequently, it might be time to investigate. This is important because a leak, even tiny ones, can result in hundreds of gallons per week, silently draining away your money in high utility bills.
Change in chemical levels
If you’re suddenly going through chemicals faster than usual, it might be because fresh water is constantly diluting your pool. Or if you’re adding more water to replace what’s leaking, you’re also diluting all those carefully balanced chemicals.
Other indicators of a potential leak are if chlorine levels are dropping quickly or if you need to adjust pH levels more frequently. Your pool’s water chemistry should remain relatively stable, and if it doesn’t, water loss is often the culprit.
Equipment problems
Take a walk around your pool equipment area and inspect it. Is the ground wet when the equipment is running? Are there water stains or mineral deposits on pipes or fittings? These subtle signs are easy to dismiss as “normal,” but they might actually point to leaking connections.
Pay special attention to the pump, filter, heater, and chlorinator connections. Feel for dampness around valves and look for drips when the system is running. Even small equipment leaks can waste surprising amounts of water over time while damaging your equipment pad and electrical components.
Visual signs
If you know what to look for, your pool will often show visible signs of leakage. Cracks in the pool shell might appear to be normal signs of wear, but they could be leak points—especially if they’re growing or appear damp when the pool hasn’t been used.
For vinyl liner pools, look for wrinkles, tears, or stretched areas, particularly around jets, skimmers, and returns. In fiberglass pools, check for bubbles under the surface or separation at the tile line. Concrete pools might show hollow spots, crumbling areas, or tiles popping loose.
Don’t forget to inspect the deck surrounding your pool. Cracks that radiate from the pool edge, sections that have settled, or areas where the deck has separated from the pool coping often means water is undermining the structure.
Landscape changes
Watch out for unusually soggy areas near your pool, even during dry weather. Sunken spots, sudden lush grass growth, or unexplained mushrooms – all these can mean that water is traveling underground.
Be especially vigilant for pools on slopes or hillsides. Look for signs of soil movement, such as small mudslides, newly formed channels, or erosion patterns that weren’t there before. This might indicate that water from your pool is actively changing the landscape, potentially threatening retaining walls and other structures.
These signs rarely happen in isolation. If you notice two or more of them happening in your yard, there’s a high chance that your pool has a leak.
Timeline of Damage Progression
Pool leaks don’t stay the same size – eventually, they get bigger and become more complicated to fix. The timeline of the damage follows a predictable pattern:
- A tiny crack forms somewhere in your pool – so small you might not even notice water escaping.
- Water silently seeps out, washing away the soil or sand supporting your pool.
- Without proper support, parts of your pool start to shift and strain. This extra stress creates more cracks or makes existing ones bigger.
- More water escapes through these growing leaks, causing faster damage to your yard and possibly your home.
- Eventually, something gives way completely – a pool wall cracks open, the deck collapses, or the foundation shifts dramatically.
This destructive cycle might take months or even years to play out completely, with each stage becoming more expensive to fix than the last.
When to Take Action
When it comes to pool leaks, time is literally money. The longer you wait, the more expensive the repair will be. A simple leak might cost $300 to $800, depending on its location and complexity. Even replacing a pool’s plumbing, while certainly not cheap at $1,500 to $3,000, pales in comparison to the major repairs you could be dealing with.
For instance, structural damage to a pool shell can easily exceed $10,000. That’s not including the foundation repairs to your home, which might start at $5,000 but can quickly go up to $15,000 to $25,000 if there’s significant damage. Add in landscape restoration, deck rebuilding, and other related repairs, and that total can quickly match the cost of a new pool.
The decision to wait doesn’t make financial sense when you understand the progressive nature of water damage. As soon as you notice your pool is leaking, hop online and perform a search like “pool leak detection company boca raton” (if you live in Boca Raton for example) and choose a company with great customer reviews. No matter the expense of a pool leak detection service, you can bet it will be much cheaper than repairing long-term damage.
Act Now and Protect Your Pool
The warning signs we’ve outlined are your pool’s way of signaling that something’s wrong. They rarely fix themselves but only get worse with time.
If you have a feeling that your pool is leaking, start with simple DIY tests like the bucket test. But don’t hesitate to call in pool leak professionals if you confirm a problem. Professional leak detection contractors have the tools and expertise you need to locate issues that might not be visible to the untrained eye.
Don’t wait for a pool leak to turn into bigger structural damage. In the world of maintenance, procrastination is the most expensive mistake you can make.
