Aquadoctor Leak Detection
AQUADOCTOR BLOG
​My name is Doug Rivas and I am the owner and lead tech for Aquadoctor Leak Detection (Aquadoctor, Inc.). Before starting Aquadoctor, I worked as a pool construction manager for one of Florida's largest pool builders and I also worked with 3 other pool leak companies where I was able to see how each of them operate. This blog is a work in progress- it was recently moved from being on a separate website and it seems a more efficient format is to connect it to my business website. There are a lot of different aspects in how pool leak detection and pool repair/construction work. This blog shares helpful information about products for your pool, explanations, ways to save money, and all the extra information I did not want to include on the home page since I reformatted the business website, aiming to simplify it.
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Most local pool companies are either in competition with one another or partnered in some way. This creates a dynamic that may or may not always be helpful to the pool owner when encountering an issue. I've mentioned on the home page Aquadoctor makes $0 on referrals. Here's why.
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Sample Scenario for BIG MONEY LEAK DETECTION -BMLD(fictitious):
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Pool service tech or homeowner notices water loss decides it is beyond normal evaporation.
Pool service tech recommends BMLD.
BMLD comes out. Notices a crack near the skimmer. Recommends completely replacing skimmer
Homeowner pays for BMLD skimmer replacement. Problem resolved or water loss after attributed to evaporation (which it may have been in the first place).
BMLD make $400 from the leak detection and $2000 from the skimmer replacement. BMLD pays pool service tech $50 for the leak detection referral and $200 (10%) for the repair referral. Pool service tech gets double paid to also continue saying BMLD is great and will handle all future pool repairs, equipment replacements, etc.
BMLD and pool service continue to make money and have no incentive to be 100% transparent with the homeowner or recommend a cost effective leak solution.
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This sample scenario of BMLD is what happens on a very large majority of pool leak detections. BMLD has a dedicated marketing department and "inside sales" position to ensure all the local pool services and pool stores have a chance at being one of their "business partners" and referral agreement/payments flowing. It's a little like those mechanics who upsell new air filters and brake pads, except instead of a once every few months oil change, it's a mechanic who sees the car (pool) every week. I'm not saying this business relationship is wrong but anytime large amounts of money is changing hands for pool work, I believe most homeowners would like to be aware who's getting paid off! So there it is, how lobbying in the pool industry works. Do you want to trust your pool leak to a lobbying pool service partnered with a pool leak company overselling repairs to fund their enormous marketing campaigns and referral system. To me, its sketchy since the homeowner ultimately will not know if they are getting an honest evaluation since so many people are getting paid off in the process- the pool service, the repair crew, and the leak detection company. None of them have a proper financial incentive to recommend a cheaper solution even if it's just as effective.
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This leads us to another point- overselling repairs. Pool owners sometimes have a basic understanding of pools and sometimes even leak detection. Even with some knowledge, it can be hard to trust if a leak detection tech recommending a new skimmer is 100% explaining what is happening. Pool leak detection companies get a bad name for a couple reasons- business practices with referral payments/overselling repairs and just being pool epoxy tech's. It is true that some jobs it's a quick epoxy fix and others it requires a full replacement of a skimmer, for example and other jobs require a more involved and costly repair. Knowing the difference and providing an honest recommendation is ultimately the job of the pool leak detection technician and being able to trust their recommendation. BIG MONEY LEAK DETECTION has to pay for their custom vehicles, marketing department, office staff, repair crew, and referrals. How do they do it? Monopolizing the online presence for pool leaks and recommending excess repairs, paid for by you! Their own leak techs won't be their competition, not any time soon- they are locked into a multiple year non compete and NDA. The business model is basically kept secret. I feel bad for their techs- most don't get paid much hourly beyond minimum wage and drive all day going to multiple jobs, every day. They operate through an app so the customer thinks it very thorough leak detection work, but its an excess form filling out by the tech when they could be in the pool finding the cause of the leak. So lots of paperwork, lots of contracts, lots of systems in place to lock in this business model and keep the incentives and barriers in place so homeowners would never see a business page blog calling it out. Sometimes it works great- BMLD finds and solves a lot of leaks. They also oversell a lot of repairs. Its a simple fact that ultimately comes down to its hard to get reliable and experienced pool leak techs and even harder to keep them from getting a referral payment for a repair upsell. This is also keeping your fingers crossed their in house repair crew has experience for the job. In our experience, having a separate repair crew and company makes things simple and honest.
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The 2 largest repairs I have seen oversold are definitely skimmer and light niche replacements. Skimmers can sometimes last decades but its a common repair. If a pool leak tech doesn't have the skills and experience to figure out the water loss issue, recommending a skimmer replacement by default is common. It might not even solve the issue and the pool leak company might have to come back with one of the more experienced techs after. Sometimes the pool leak company will eat the cost of the skimmer replacement but this isn't always the case. Then we have light niche replacements. Light niches have multiple places they can crack or develop leaks. Several of those places can be fixed without having to replace the entire light niche and cut into the gunite/concrete pool shell to perform an involved and costly repair. Aquadoctor Leak Detection rarely recommends replacing the light niche. While working as a pool construction manager/superintendent, we did not replace a single light niche even on brand new jobs that were empty and hadn't been plastered. When the initial shell is shot, its done at the same time and cures uniformly. When you cut into a shell to replace a light niche and cement a new light niche, the pool shell develops a cold joint around the new niche. A cold joint is when 2 layers of cement touch but cured at different times. There's more than one way to get around this especially if the light niche didn't need to be replaced to begin with. But many of the jobs I've been to, you can see the plaster patch ring around the pool light where a niche has been replaced usually following a pool leak detection recommendation. If the pool gets replastered, that ring will not be obvious since a fresh veneer of plaster covers it. A cold joint still remains underneath it- a potential weakness in the structure of the pool shell. This is why we don't believe replacing light niches is always the best approach. It always depends on the situation, some light niches do get damaged beyond any repair but it's much rarer than what is seen in pools in SWFL by our own opinion and experience. Skimmer replacements are much more common and necessary since the pump schedule causes wear cycle fatigue on the plastic suction fitting. Light niches are not exposed to these same stresses since they aren't a suction inlet.
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IF you have a pool leak and were recommended to replace your skimmer and/or light niche and want a second opinion, give Aquadoctor a call- we can help. It might be the only way to fix your pool leak but it might be a huge pool repair expense that isn't necessary.
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More to follow...
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POST TOPIC: EVAPORATION AND POOL COVERS
As we approach summer, the weather has been changing. The rainy season is not yet upon us and evaporation losses are persistent. It is typical to have to add water once a week to your pool to make up for the evaporation losses. This figure is even more if a solar heater, gas heater, or electronic heat pump is installed in the system and actively raising the water temperature. One of the best investments a pool owner can make if they have any form of heater is a thermal cover. There are many styles of thermal covers from the old school ones that roll up in a spool on the deck to the custom fitted covers that anchor to the deck. One of the styles we prefer are the lily pad design which do not take up much deck space and can float freely in the pool. Here is an example of this cover type:
This style of cover is highly efficient and allows for the evaporation loss of a heated pool to be much lower while also saving on the electric/gas bill by trapping more heat inside the pool. Using a pool cover will save you money, water, and make your swimming experience warmer year round.
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What are some easy ways to maintain your water level while you are out of town?
There are 2 simple devices that make filling your pool while away much easier for your pool service. The first is a hose timer (approx $20) which can be purchased at a Lowes/Home Depot/Ace type department store or online like the one in the following link:
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All you have to do to use this timer is connect it between your hose and hose bib then turn on the hose and set how many minutes you want it to run for (up to 120 min or 2 hours). This helps understand how much water is being used and added.
The next device you can get is a little more expensive (approx $90) and may be available at at hardware store or you may need to visit a pool store like Leslie's or Pinch-a-Penny. Basically, this product is an add on autofill for pools that do not have a built in auto-fill. You connect it to the end of the hose and it sits on the coping and the float adjusts to the desired water level such that it automatically shuts off when the valve is closed by the rising water level. It is important to weigh this device down by putting rocks inside the hollow cavity and/or adding bricks or heavy material to the top so the buoyant force does not push the autofill out of position and cause the hose to continue running after the desired water level is acheived. Here's a link for the hose mounted autofill:
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Filling your pool smartly and efficiently will help save money and idenitify any leak issues early. For those who have a built in autofill system, we do not recommend running it all of the time. The reason is they will mask the symptoms of a leak and you will only notice your pool has a leak when you receive a massive water use bill from the water department. normally, you should only have to turn your autofill on once a week which allows pool owners to be cognizant of evaporation losses, water use, and potential leaks.
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Why your pool may not need an overflow and how deck drainage works
The answer is simple- your deck is designed to drain water if your pool overflows. Decks are built with a 1" slope every 8' (or they should be per pool code). This means that the coping/top of the pool is the high point of the entire deck and water flows away from it towards either the edge of the deck/cage or towards a deck drain. Some pools have very large deck areas that get into more complex slope arrangements but the basic concept is the same. It is very rare for an overfilled pool to cause any additional issues besides flooding into the yard the same as it would with an overflow. The situation when this becomes a problem is when the deck drain ends are plugged by mulch or debris. There are several solutions to this. Most deck drains are a 2"x3" channel drain that is designed to perfectly accept 1-1/2" sch 40 pvc to add an extension beyond a garden/mulch bed to redirect flow further from the deck. Another solution is to make a small trench near the outlet of the deck drain and add gravel to create and maintain a flow path for water to exit the deck. Almost every deck that has flooding issues is due to the ends of the deck drain not allowing proper flow and drainage because blockages effectively act like a cork in a wine bottle. Remove the cork and let your deck drain as it was designed to do.
Most newer pools have a built in overflow. The majority of the time this is plumbed into the front port of the skimmer and is simply a "U"- shaped pipe that doesn't see any pressure and only equalizes with the pool water level outside the deck at whatever height it is cut to (we recommend 3/4 of the way up the tile at lowest so your system saves and optimal amount of water). Other places you may see an overflow plumbed are a 1" pipe in the side of the skimmer (built in), in the waterline tile, and sometimes a sidewall return that only connects to the overflow outside of the deck. Even if your pool has an overflow, there are certain times you may want to drain the pool manually, such as a torrential downpour or incoming hurricane. This can be accomplished with a plumbed in discharge (many pools have a hose bib directly after the pump or it may be a separate valve) but the filter clean out port can also have a hose connected to it. Another very cheap option is to get a standard 1-1/2" PVC thread and screw it into a return fitting, connect a blue collapsable hose and run the hose to the desired location so the pump will drain the pool. Again, this is not a normal operation and if your pool deck has clear ends on the drain, an overfilled pool will not cause any major damage.
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​​POOL PRODUCTS:
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This is not a product we NEVER use in replacement of doing a leak detection, but it is worth mentioning for pool leaks because in some very select scenarios it is definitely worth knowing about. That product is Fix-a-Leak. It will seal off very small plumbing leaks after being circulated through the system and basically plugging up the leak area with fibers/particles and then setting up as a temporary seal. The pool filter element has to be removed to use this product and definitely follow all instructions on the product label. Fix a leak can cause many issues. One issue is that it can clog up the venturi jet nozzels if they are not removed. The spa jets may never work the same after using this product without adjusting the valves and venturi nozzels correctly. Fix a leak help some and it may also be something a homeowner uses to hide a leak when selling a home with a pool. Be aware of this product, sometimes its good, sometimes its used incorrectly. It will be obvious during a leak detection if fix a leak was used.
Pool covers are great in Florida for 2 reasons- the decrease evaporation and help keep your pool warmer in the winter. The lily pad style covers seem to work the best since they dont take up a bunch of deck space and are super cheap. You can also make some yourself by zip tying some black trash bags to hula hoops or if you would like to save the trouble and just order some at a pool store or online:
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