Is your pool losing more water than normal? It’s a common question among pool owners, and it may have one of two common causes: a lengthy natural evaporation or an actual leak. Knowing how to tell the difference can save water, money and stress. For leak detection, a robot pool cleaner can be a useful (although unlikely) tool to catch the leak early.
Knowing whether your pool water loss is from evaporation or a leak is the first step to proper pool care.
What Is the Typical Water Loss?
A pool normally loses, we’ll lose up to about 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch a day of water due to evaporation. Unfavorable factors such as elevated temperature, wind, and pool activity can also increase this loss. If you’re losing a lot more, you may have a leak — a problem your pool vacuum, skimmer or pool robotic pool cleaner won’t quite reveal directly can help you track.
Easy Checks for a Swimming Pool Leak
The Bucket Test
Solution (Try these steps to maintain your pool water test strips): Fill a bucket with pool water and lay it on the pool step. Put a line on the inside and outside of the bucket to indicate the level of the water. Compare the levels after 24 hours. If the pool water loses more than the bucket’s, you probably have a leak.
Dye Test
With the pool pump off, squirt a dye near possible leak areas — near the skimmer, return jets and drains for example. If the dye spreads out, there is a leak.
The Function of Pool Equipment in Leak Detection
While pool vacuum robots or swimming pool robot cleaners may themselves won’t catch leaks, regular cleaning by them like you would when using a vacuum cleaner for pool, means dirt and algae aren’t hiding-water-loss-prone areas.
The Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra, Beatbot AquaSense 2 Pro, and the Beatbot AquaSense 2 allow a full-coverage cleaning – from wall to floor – thereby providing an all-around powerful cleanister with minimized pressure imbalances which can uncover hidden leaks. These wall mounts pool cleaner models provide deep cleaning, and demonstrate water dynamics.
Where to Look for Leaks
Cracks around tiles or lights
Damaged or deteriorating skimmer parts
Fit and tight on return lines
Pool booster pump and plumbing fittings
A maytronics pool cleaner can’t repair leaks, though a cleaner pool makes them easier to spot. Cracks and damage become apparent more quickly when walls and floors are clean and free of debris.
Preventing and Mitigating Water Loss
If it’s just plain old algae, the pool vacuum for algae and the usual treatments will resolve it. Also: learn how to acid wash your pool periodically to reduce organic buildup, and inspect the filtration system frequently. If you are looking to drain your pool when you are making repairs to it, you can find information on how to drain it without a pump.
By operating a smart pool cleaning robot this is possible, and it is quite informative to check out the situation before and after every cleaning cycle as looking at what happens from time to time helps understanding how water retention works.
Does a Pool Robot Pick Up Algae or Have a Leak Detector?
Yes. More advanced models—such as the Beatbot and Maytronics— are capable of handling all types of debris, algae, and grime. They won’t actually point to leaks but they do give you a space that’s easier to maintain and clean while being more clear when damage may have occurred.
For more on the robotic options, look to our robot pool cleaner comparison guide or our pool vacuum troubleshooting post.
Conclusion: Robot Pool Cleaner Can Tell You The Difference Between A Leak or Evaporation
Knowing whether your pool is leaking or evaporating is a crucial element in water and money conservation. And with the help of your pool vacuum, skimmer, monitoring routines, and tools like a robot pool cleaner, you’ll get clear water faster. Combined with an efficient technology such as the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra, that means spotting out-of-season emergence or any abnormal trend and keeping the pool in its best shape.