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15 years of plumbing in Kempton Park
Pool Leak Detection
Kempton Park
Pool leak detection in Kempton Park is easiest in a dry spell, because summer storms quietly top up a leaking pool. The diagnosis is written down before a repair is priced.
Six places a pool loses water
Each is tested on its own, so the diagnosis names one part rather than the whole pool.
Cracks in the shell
Fine cracks in marbelite or fibreglass, at steps, corners or the waterline. Dye released beside a crack shows whether water is being drawn into it.
Return jets and fittings
Every fitting through the shell, from the return jets to the light, is a joint that can open. Each one is dye-tested in turn.
The weir and its seal
The joint between the weir box and the shell, and the weir's own seals. They are dye-tested with the pump off and the water still.
Suction and return pipes
The buried pipes between the pool and the pump. Each is sealed off and pressure-tested on its own to see which one loses.
Pump, filter and valve
A leaking pump seal, a cracked filter housing or a multiport valve passing water to waste. Each is checked under pump pressure.
The written diagnosis
The part that leaks and how the test showed it, on paper before any repair is quoted.
Summer rain is a pool leak's best cover
Kempton Park gets most of its rain in one season. The weather station at OR Tambo International, next to Bonaero Park, records 720 mm in an average year on the 1991 to 2020 normals. January averages 131.7 mm and December 130.0 mm, while July averages 1.7 mm. Afternoon thunderstorms are typical on the Highveld in November, December and January, and the airport logs about 73 thunderstorm days a year.
Rain is measured as depth, so an average January lays about 13 centimetres of water over everything open to the sky, the pool included. A pool losing a little each day through a crack or a loose fitting can have that loss quietly replaced by the storms. Through the wet months, which WeatherSpark puts at mid-October to the end of March, the level can look steady while the leak carries on underneath.
The dry season takes the cover away. June averages 6.6 mm at the airport, July 1.7 mm and August 5.4 mm, so a winter drop has almost nothing adding back to it. A pool that seems to have started leaking in May may have been losing water all summer. Measured over a few dry days, the loss becomes a number that can be worked with.
Waiting for winter is not free, because the water a pool loses is the owner's to replace. Absa's homeowners FAQ, for one, says the refill of a swimming pool is not covered. If a repair needs the pool lowered, Ekurhuleni's by-law also limits where that water may go: not over a road or into a gutter, stormwater drain, watercourse, open ground or anyone else's premises, and not into a drain without the City's written approval. A leak found by testing at the normal level, rather than by emptying the pool to look, keeps both of those costs small.
So the time to judge a pool you suspect is after a dry spell, and in Kempton Park that is easiest outside the wet months. Mark the waterline with tape and add no water, then note the level on each day without rain. A steady fall gives the diagnosis a number to start from, and the shell, fittings and pipes can then be tested one at a time. In summer the same check works, but only across a run of days without storms.
If the pool held its level all summer and started falling in autumn, suspect a leak the storms were covering, and measure it over dry days before anyone quotes a repair. A diagnosis that starts from a measured drop is harder to get wrong.
How a pool usually shows where it leaks
Five patterns in the way a pool drops, the part each points to, and the test that confirms it.
Pool water loss, Kempton Park
| What you notice | What it usually is | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Drops faster while the pump runs | A leak on the pressure side: return pipe, filter or valve | Return line pressure-tested; equipment checked under pump pressure |
| Drops with the pump off as well | The shell, or a fitting through it | Dye at cracks, the light, the jets and the weir |
| Stops dropping at the weir mouth | The weir box joint or the skimmer line | Weir seal dye-tested; skimmer line sealed and tested |
| Wet or sunken paving near the pump | A buried pipe leaking between pool and pump | That line pressure-tested, then opened at the leak only |
| Steady all summer, falling from May | A leak the storms were topping up | Level measured over dry days, then each part tested |
A strip of tape at the waterline, read on each dry day, is the simplest measure to have before the visit.
Four promises before a pool repair is priced
Written against the outcome pool owners fear most: a large bill, and the level still dropping afterwards.
A diagnosis on paper
Which part leaks, the test that showed it and what was ruled out, written down and given to you before any repair is quoted.
Tests before tiles
Dye and pressure tests come before any coping, paving or tile is lifted, and before the pool is lowered.
Finding and fixing, priced apart
The search has its own price, agreed on the phone-back. The repair is priced once the leak is known, and you are free to stop there.
A level check after the repair
Mark the level over a few dry days once the work is done. If it still falls, report it through the same form; how a re-check is charged is explained before anyone comes out.
Four steps from a falling level to a written cause
The level is measured before anything is tested, and tested before anything is priced.
Form and phone-back
Send the form with how fast the level drops and whether the pump makes a difference. The plumber phones back and explains the visit charge.
Measure the drop
The waterline is marked with nothing added, and the loss compared with the pump running and with it stopped.
Test part by part
Lines are sealed and pressure-tested; cracks, fittings and the weir are dye-tested. What each test showed is written down for you.
Repair and re-measure
The repair is made at the agreed price, and the level is measured again to confirm the loss has stopped.
Related work in Kempton Park
Pool questions from Kempton Park gardens
Not covered here? Add it to the call-out form and ask it on the phone-back.
Is finding a pool leak priced separately from fixing it?
Yes. You hear the price of the search on the phone-back, and the repair is quoted on paper only once the leaking part has been found. You can stop after the diagnosis if you want time to think or plan the repair for later.
How call-out charges work in general is explained on the plumbing prices page.
The pool held its level all summer and now drops every week. Has it just started leaking?
Possibly not. Most of Kempton Park's rain falls between mid-October and the end of March, so storms can top up a pool that is losing water and hide the drop. When the rain stops, the loss shows.
Measure it over a few days without rain, adding no water while you do. A steady fall is worth testing, whenever it started.
How do you tell a cracked shell from a leaking pipe under the paving?
By testing each one separately. The pipes are sealed off and pressure-tested one at a time, and dye is released beside cracks, the light, the jets and the weir with the water still, to see whether it is drawn out.
Comparing the level with the pump running and with it off also helps: a loss that grows with the pump on points towards the pipework on the return side.
Do I get the diagnosis in writing before you quote the repair?
Yes. You get a written note naming the leaking part and the test that found it, before any repair is priced.
That paper is yours to keep. If you decide to repair later, it still says exactly where the work starts.
Once the leak is fixed, will the insurer pay to fill the pool again?
Probably not. Absa's homeowners FAQ, as a published example, says the refill of a swimming pool is not covered. Other policies have their own wording, so check yours.
That makes the water already lost, and any refill, the owner's cost. It is one more reason to find the leak at the normal level rather than lowering the pool to look.
Where can the pool water go if the repair means lowering it?
It stays on your own property, or goes into a drain only with the City's written approval. Ekurhuleni's by-law says pool water may not be discharged over a road or into a gutter, stormwater drain, watercourse, open ground or someone else's premises.
Testing is done at the normal level, so lowering the pool is decided after the diagnosis, not before it.
The repair is done but the level still drops. Who pays for the second look?
How a re-check is charged is explained on the phone-back, before anyone comes out. The level is measured again over dry days to see whether the loss has stopped.
If the repair holds and the pool still drops, there may be a second leak elsewhere. That search is priced before it starts, and you get the result in writing like the first.
We had a week of storms. Should I wait before testing the pool?
Wait for a few dry days before measuring the level. Rain adds water to an open pool, so a reading taken straight after a storm can hide the loss you are trying to see.
If the wet weather goes on, the pipes and fittings can still be tested directly. Only the level measurement has to wait for a dry spell.
Where we work
Every suburb inside Kempton Park, from Birchleigh North down to Bonaero Park on the airport fence.
- Kempton Park CBD
- Allen Grove
- Aston Manor
- Birch Acres
- Birchleigh
- Birchleigh North
- Bonaero Park
- Bredell
- Cresslawn
- Croydon
- Edleen
- Esther Park
- Glen Erasmia
- Glen Marais
- Isando
- Kempton Park West
- Nimrod Park
- Norkem Park
- Pomona
- Rhodesfield
- Serengeti
- Spartan
- Terenure
- Van Riebeeck Park