Pool Leak Questions, Answered Straight

Fill a bucket with pool water and set it on the second step so the bucket rim sits above the waterline. Mark the water level inside the bucket and the pool level outside it. Turn off the autofill, run the pump normally, and wait 24 hours. If the pool dropped noticeably more than the bucket, you have a leak — both lose to evaporation equally, so the difference is leak. If they dropped the same, it's evaporation. Repeat with the pump OFF for 24 hours: loss only when the pump runs points to pressure-side plumbing; loss all the time points to the shell, skimmer, or suction side.

In summer, up to about a quarter inch a day — one to two inches a week — is normal evaporation for an uncovered pool here, and screened lanais cut that meaningfully. Winter loss is much lower. Consistently losing more than two inches a week, in any season, points to a leak worth investigating.

A flat $250–$550 for a typical residential in-ground pool, quoted before we come out. Standard pools sit at the low end; pool-spa combos and pools with water features at the top, because every extra circuit is another line to pressure test. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.

No, and it never should be anywhere you call. Detection is a flat diagnostic fee; the repair is a separate written quote after the leak is located, which you approve before any work starts. Companies that bundle them — or offer 'free' detection — make their money finding expensive repairs.

You usually won't — from the water level. The autofill replaces what the leak loses, so the level looks perfect while the leak runs for months. The tells are a rising water bill, salt levels that keep drifting down on a salt pool, chemical demand climbing, or soggy ground near the pool. Shutting off the autofill for 24–48 hours reveals the real loss rate.

On City of Port St. Lucie or St. Lucie West Services District water, a pool leak hits three ways: the leaked gallons themselves, the inclining tier structure pushing your whole usage into pricier brackets, and sewer charges billed on the same metered water. An 8,000-gallon-a-month leak — an inch a day on an average pool — commonly adds $50–$150 to the bill. If your bill jumped and you have a pool with an autofill, check the pool first.

On Treasure Coast gunite pools, in rough order: the skimmer-to-shell joint, the light niche and its conduit, underground plumbing fittings, returns and other wall fittings, the tile line, and structural cracks. Age matters — pools from the 2000s building boom are now in the prime failure window for skimmer throats and original plumbing.

Very likely, yes — on the suction side. Air in the returns or a pump that struggles to hold prime means the pump is pulling air through a break or loose fitting in the skimmer or suction plumbing. It's one of the highest-confidence leak symptoms there is, and pressure testing isolates exactly which line it is.

No — and on the Treasure Coast, be suspicious of anyone who suggests it casually. Our water table sits high enough that an empty shell can literally float out of the ground. We test with the pool full: pressure isolation for the plumbing, dye and electronic testing for the shell, scuba on deep pools.

Gunite shells can develop structural cracks from settling, and every penetration through the shell — skimmer, returns, light niche, main drain — is a sealed joint that can fail. There's also the hydrostatic relief valve in the main drain sump, a Florida-specific fitting that relieves groundwater pressure and is a real, checkable leak point when it fails.

It's a strong sign, especially with a green stripe of grass over the pipe run, sunken or lifted pavers, or sand washing out at the deck edge. In our sandy soil, escaping water erodes material fast, which is why people sometimes fear a sinkhole. True sinkholes are rare on the Treasure Coast — a leaking underground line is the common, fixable explanation.

Usually two to four hours on site, depending on how many plumbing circuits your pool has and whether the leak cooperates. You get verbal findings the same visit and a written report with the repair quote after.

No honest company guarantees that, and we won't. The large majority of leaks are found and documented in a single visit. But pools can have more than one leak, and intermittent leaks — ones that only open up under pump pressure or at certain water levels — sometimes need follow-up testing. If that's your pool, we tell you exactly where things stand and what the next step costs before you commit.

It helps but isn't required. We need access to the pool and the equipment pad, the pump available to run and stop, and ideally the autofill off for 24 hours beforehand. A gate code and a phone call at the end works fine for rental owners and snowbirds.

Not much, but it changes how we work. Most Port St. Lucie pools sit under a cage, so deck cuts for plumbing repairs happen inside the enclosure. We protect the screen panels, contain concrete dust, and haul out debris. One bonus: cages cut evaporation, so caged pools have a lower 'normal' loss rate — which actually makes leaks show up more clearly in a bucket test.

No — Treasure Coast pools run year-round and so do we. Summer is our peak season purely because high evaporation makes owners unsure what's normal, and heavy use surfaces problems. A leak found in December costs the same to fix as one found in July, and it's cheaper than letting it run until spring.

Three things: turn off the autofill so you can see the real loss, run the 24-hour bucket test, and pull up your last three water bills to look for a trend. Then tell us the numbers. If it looks like evaporation, we'll say so and you've spent nothing. If it looks like a leak, we quote the flat detection fee and go find it.