swimming pool leak mystery

[martin]

I have a small sunken pool (4m dia) which is basically a round concrete tank with a liner. 

For some while I have been losing about 1m3 of water each day so quite obviously there is a leak;  I have thoroughly checked the plumbing and the skimmer but they are sound.

I can only conclude that water is seeping out through a cut in the liner, but even so at the rate of 1m3 a day seems an awful lot, particularly as it would then have to permeate through the concrete tank.

Does anyone have an idea what loss to expect through a small cut to the liner?   

Any calculated guesses would be appreciated.

[AnOther]

Tricky one, even if the leak is in the side the water is probably going through the base rather than the wall.

Instead of continually topping up why don't you just let it leak until it stops then you'll know the level where it is.

[Baz]

Check your multi valve port, if it is not seating perfectly some of the water might be going waste and not completely circulating. If you look a the waste glass and there is water passing through when circulating then that is the problem and a fairly simple item to service and fix.

Baz

[martin]

Sorted!

I certainly underestimated this problem. 

Seems that water can leak through a fairly small cut and be wicked away through the concrete tank at an  alarming rate  In my case at 40 litres an hour.

[AnOther]

[quote user="martin"]Sorted![/quote]So how did you find it ?

[martin]

I eliminated all the pipe work after some excavation.  I then thoroughly examined the liner, bet there were no visible cuts, so I (correctly) concluded that there must be a liner leak at the skimmer as there was no other possibility. 

Even though I couldn't find exactly where the water was escaping, I cut the surrounding liner out and fitted a new section.  Now not a drop seeps out.

I am so surprised at how much water I was losing; if I hadn't have isolated this leak myself, I would not have believed such a rapid loss possible.