For those of you who are here because you already know you have a leak, start this video at 5:37 to learn how to fix it.

Great video. Very helpful. I wanted to mention that what may look like a tiny leak (like around a pump fitting) adds up really quickly. Even that drip, drip, drip sucks gallons out of the pool fast.

One thing, if u dont have dye u can look around the house for stuff. I settled on the left over coffee in the pot from that morning and it worked perfectly. Kool aid powder or fruit juice would probably also work

Can you tell me how to fix the jet when you showed the dye go into the jet?

Anyone else not have a pool but wanted to watch this cause it looked interesting?

Thanks for posting. Did this today and found a small tear in my liner. Local pool store had a repair kit for underwater repair. Water was cold but no more leak. Thanks for posting 👍

Finally a Pool Guy that knows what He's Talking About.... at least I can understand something of what he's saying, Thanks and will check out your other Videos .

Great vid! I have been working on pools for about 20 years now, and I have never heard of this test. I live in PA though where we only get about 6-7 months of the year. Thank you for the great info.

The unit heats up fast and is super quiet. It looks fancy kzfaq.infoUgkxl8Od2BvnGbn1ffwqsuFXW0QnmcZgMiVY and can be kept in the living room. It gets hot within a split second of turning on the unit. The build quality is exceptionally good and is safe to be around kids and pets. This one is super quiet and can be kept on while in office meetings, my wife loved it. It shows the temperature right on the unit which is very useful and adding a rotating feature helps to heat up the surrounding, so other people will not fight with you for heat. It is right as described in the description..!! Definitely recommend!!

7:13 I can only imagine how many questions that statement generated!

That was a very helpful video My regards to this amazing man I found the leak by myself after the leak detection company told me that there wasn't any leak found

I came here because KZfaq put it on my feed. Watched the whole thing.

I got short of breath watching him unscrew that cap.Dudes got a good pair of lungs on him. I can only hold my breath half as long before suffering a panic attack!

I enjoyed the humor, along with the superior camera work, and covering how to do all the drains and returns.👍🏻

Excellent advice! I just bought a new home with a swimming pool and since I never owned a swimming pool before, I was curious as to why I have to add water every other day I am going to follow your advice to see if in fact I have a leak. Thanks 😊

So we’re not going to talk about how long this guy held his breath while checking the main drain at the bottom of the pool??

Great video. My pool is very close to my house. A few years ago I started noticing water underneath my house. I thought it was rain water that was getting underneath because it always seemed to happen after heavy rain. Today I was filling the pool level with a hose and I forgot to turn it off. The level was very high so I decided to look underneath the house, we haven’t had rain in a few weeks and everything is dry, and sure enough there was water underneath the house… I know that non of the equipment outside is leaking enough for that to happen. Maybe now I can figure out what’s going on…

ok now how do you fix that leak in the return jet line? Any way to isolate other than digging the whole thing out?

You can listen/hear common pool leaks at your jets or skimmer or Tiles with a $10 automotive stethoscope.. Pump is off, quiet surroundings. You can hear leaks.

I have plenty of tile and grout missing from my pool and no leaks at those locations. Where I found my leak to be was where the plastic part of the skimmer meets the pool structure/concrete. Pool remained the same during winter so I knew it wasn’t bottom drain it also drained quicker when pool was filled more which meant the water pressure effected leak therefore no need for bucket test.

Thanks dude. Great info. Just what I needed

Thank you for the warning about phenol

I use JB waterweld on a lot of my pool things. Mostly the aboveground liner.

As many comments I do not own a pool, yet I feel I learned something, which got you a subscriber. :)

WOW.... YOU ARE GREAT ON THIS.......I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!!!............MANY BLESSINGS FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

When our pool was put in the water level went down 3 inches overnight. The installer was freaking out, thinking he'd have to tear up the concrete after finding no leaks in any of the common places. Turned out the the electrician had put to sharp of a bend in the electrical line for the light and it popped off the back of the niche. Easy fix fortunately.

Leaks are a good reason to consider not pouring concrete for the pool deck.My thought is to use pavers, slate, or any material which can be easily removed to allow access to the underground plumbing work. Also, it could be difficult to make repaired concrete deck match the finish (color & texture) of the rest of the pool deck.

I had a leak at my main drain in the bottom of my (fiberglass) pool. After draining the whole pool, I found that about half of the bolts holding the sump housing to the bottom of the pool had corroded and was allowing the sump housing to sag toward that end of the pool and allowing massive amounts of water to exit the underside of the pool and overflow into a neighboring yard. Replaced all of the bolts and the problem was solved.

Great video on the bucket test and testing the return lines, but talking under water that was a real trick, ha ha

I'm loving the back yard. Its like the perfect size..

Might want to use a large, low-profile bucket with a leak-proof reference rod inserted and protruding through the wall of the bucket. The low profile ensures that the sun, air/wind contact the water in the bucket most similar to the water in the pool (tall bucket walls protect water from sun & wind evaporation), and the sealed reference rod through the bucket wall minimizes errors when measuring 'inside water level' vs 'outside water level'. If you really want to increase measurement accuracy, the color of the bucket could match the color of the pool to minimize temperature differences too, especially if the suspected leak is small.

‘If there is more water in your pool than the bucket, then someone is messing around with you and goofing your test’. I died 😂😂😂👏👏👏

Well done. Clearly explained so it's easy to do!

I have a pool so I watched this for useful information

Nice job, even fun to watch. Laughed at the pool toy leak test and gasped at the sideways fall!

Incredible video! Thank you very much, I know the next steps I need to take. DO WE USE THE SAME DYE APPROACH AROUND TILE/GROUT CRACKS ETC ??

here's a question, if you have a 45 year old concrete pool (northeast - solid ice winters), how long can you expect plastic fittings to last - do they shrink and become compromised over time? If you had to change a bottom drain fitting and bore out a 12 inch hole to address the rot around the fitting and reset a new drain fitting, how would you do that with ground water on the other side?

Great video I've been needing to chase down a leak and now I know how, thx!

Do you have other videos that shows how to find the leak within the return line?

Great video! Good information delivered in an entertaining way.

For the bucket test you actually want to put the bucket on a lower step so that the water level is within 2-3 inches of the top of the bucket. This will take out the evaporation variable because there will be more access to wind.

WE SUCCESSFULLY REPAIR A LOT OF LEAKS IN LONG ISLAND AREA ESPECIALLY POOLS THAT WHERE NOT WINTERIZE PROPERLY

My pool company told me to turn off the pump and put polystyrene over the skimmer hole, poolside, to see if the water level goes down, because there’s a leak somewhere. I can’t see the sense in this nor how it would successfully block the water from the skimmer, it’s had a new vinyl liner put in. We now find there are leaks from the pipe going into the pump, joint going into the glass bead filter, and possibly the lid of the pump.

Good info. I have a lined pool so some of it doesn't apply. But since I suspect a plumbing leak that's the part I interested in.

So if your leak is under the concrete, it might be cheaper to just keep paying a little extra for lost water or collect rain water to use as a topping off water source.

Great video. Where can I get a syringe set up like you have so that I can perform that dye test? Thanks.

Holy Smokes! While you did say earlier in the video to turn off the pump, it'd be a great safety tip at 8:20 to remind viewers to MAKE SURE THE PUMP IS OFF BEFORE REMOVING THE MAIN DRAIN COVER.

Phenol red IS NOT A CARCINOGEN. It is, in fact, designated a non-hazardous product by OSHA. Read the SDS sheet on it.

How great would that be to find a transparent bucket.

If the pool pump has to pump water up every time it's turned on (Hayward Super Pump, pumping water as if unprimed takes about 15 seconds) after being shut off for several hours. Is this indicative of a leak?

EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks for this! Sub'd

Lovely, trying it now..Thank You

i cant count how many times ive had leak detection sent out to do bucket tests and to say there are no leaks. one way to know you have a significant leak is loss of stabilizer over a short period of time when there has not been heavy storms or overfilling

Lol... loved the “do not use the phenol red” reagent as a dye test. That is an old school pool guy trick.

I don't own a Pool. But since I'm living in my parents "Basement" and they own a pool, I thought I would make myself useful.

Don't forget to look at the sight glass and if it's full while on filter it means the spider gasket is no good, change spider gasket. It is sending the water out the waste and backwash pipe

thank you for this informative video it helped me a lot ..

Great video Josh, opened my eyes wider...

I have little sand near one of the returns only and not at the other returns but the one also blows bubbles too only one that does that too.

Great idea! I love this video!

FRED "Okay, he got it off - the main drain cover - look now!" BILL: "Hooo boy, lookit all that green algae!" FRED: "He put together a real organized, easy-to-follow video, surely he's gonna clean that algae off, and..." BILL: "He's reaching for the lid now, Fred...." FRED: "Oh my god! - he's puttin' the lid back on...he ain't doin no cleanup!" BILL: "Fred we need to do a intervention here - call his kinfolk and git them ready..." . .

Yep, just confirmed I'll be paying a leak detection professional if this happens, lol.

Holy crow! Great video! Thank you! Way better to be prepared and knowledgeable before calling for help. I have always compared a line drawn at the skimmer with the solar cover on and again tested with the solar cover off to account for evaporation. Your tests make sense and fool proof. No guessing. I called for help many years ago and I thankfully didn’t have money to rip up the cement decking as they suggested because after I researched, and researched I found out it was a filter gasket. Easy inexpensive change. It took me such a long time though. Almost gave up on keeping my pool! Those people who did that to me should be put out of business!

All 70 people that dislike probably want a pool but don’t have one ☝️

I busted out laughing when you slowly fell into the pool 😂

Ok, so how do you fix it ?

For these modern pools where my water fill is located like some water fills is on the ground with like a little floater . Where I turned off that ?

Powerful instruction. Thank you.

Thank you so much Josh for your great information.

Thanks. Informative AND entertaining.

An interesting discovery I use to get bubbles in my returns but the other day I was away for a few days so i filled pool up to bottom of the bull nose but above the tile so pretty high up above the mouth of the skimmer. Noticed no bubbles in my returns or in the pumps basket unbelievable but how?

Don’t use food coloring for the dye. I turned my whole pool pink

The bucket test has to be done while the pool is filled to the middle of the tile. The low water level may not change after a certain amount of water has leaked due to the weight of the water and gravity. When the skimmer is sucking air like that the system will not be fully pressurized.

Great tips! Thank you!

Swimming Pool Science. Aaah Thanks. The guys that worked on my pool are coming sometime tomorrow. The huge enorme de grande communal pool two roads in front of me, that has been being fixed for months is due to be finished tomorrow. I may just go and throw myself in that.

don't forget to check the hydrostatic relief valve - mine was leaking

Screenshot starts at 8:10

Good vibes my dude. I'm digging the leak detection/murder-suicide podcast format. Who has the screenplay rights?

Guy can hold his breath!

Great Video. Thanks for the ideas!

Urination into the pool will not reflect the same amount of urination into the leak detector bucket. Just a little FYI

I almost didn't click this because of the clickbait thumbnail. Glad I did thanks for the helpful tips

Stupid is' is stupid does! TRASH BAGS, yes the fast and simplest way is using plastic sheet material or trash bags. #1. Turn off all valves/ pumps. #2. Place a trash bag at each skimmer. #3. Using a pool pole, place a trash bag at each drain, keep the pole atop the trash bag so it will not float to the surface. wait 10 minutes and see which areas are sucking the trash bag into drain/ skimmer. That is where you start looking, usually it is a coupling that came apart from the ground shifting, a simple fix using rubber coupling with stainless steel hose clamps can fix the problem. I have come behind plumbers trying to charge thousand$ and have been able to lower the co$t to hundred$. Color Dyes don't work when the leak is not on the surface of the ground. Also if the leak has been ongoing for a long period of time, you might wish use a cable cam or a visual to check for a crevasse/ cavity beneath the pool. There may be a looming sink hole that can cause death and property damage. I once did a repair and we pumped in a truckload of sand/ 14 yards and it all disappeared. The owner of the Apartments sold the property immediately after the discovery.

Please come to NJ and find and fix my leak!!!

I believe I have a leak because the pool is just being opened. We lower the water below all valves. All lines were blown out. Why would I fill the pool and then look for a leak if we know it is below skimmers and valves?

I really want to see a pool repair now

THANK YOU for this video! might save me 400$

Thanks!

I have a leak in my pool somewhere and the company that installed the surface can’t find it. I’m losing water at a significant rate. The lady tells me that it’s somewhere in the pipes but the water won’t drain that low. It only drains to about 1/2 inch below the tile line. Simple science tells me if it stops draining then the leak is above the point that the water drains to?? She is telling me that isn’t the case.

Is there a way to arch the leak in a plaster pool without having to remove the water? TIA

Great video / thank you

Great Video! Thank youz for the information

Awesome video brother....thank you.

Damn, you can hold your breath forever man!

Great video

Excellent video thanks.

The bucket test only needs 24 hrs for an accurate result. You need to fill the bucket to the top to compare evaporation between the two vessels, I put masking tape inside the skimmer and mark the water level with a pencil.

Please help! We purchased a new pool liner and now use his service at the end of the last season. When the new pool company opened the pool it was almost empty. We never had this problem before. After it was filled the liner was all over the place, wrinkles and pulled away from the sides. He found a hole, repaired it and stretched it. Now, it is still leaking and I notice when you step on edges it doesn't fit against the edges at bottom. I feel like I am walking. on something that is going to tear and am afraid for people to be in the pool and might ruin the liner on top of it still losing water. Now, the pool guy wants us to call a leak detection company at $650 an hour. We will only be reimbursed if it is his fault. The pool guy said it is a leak behind the wall. Yet we didn't have this previously. Can you please tell us what to do? We are desperate

You didn’t find the leak, you only found that return is leaking somewhere between the pool and the pump.

The guys did the Skimmer Line 1000 euros. Then pressure tested the jets. Needed new ones 2000 euros plus Sand 150 euros. Then it was still leaking so new Skimmer - back had broken probably with the weight of the water. Total 5650 euros. Hope this comment is ok now. Thanks for all your help and interest.