Is Your Las Vegas Pool Leaking or Just Evaporating?

If your Las Vegas or Henderson pool is still dropping fast in late October and November, it's probably a leak, not evaporation. Evaporation slows way down once nights cool off, so steady water loss now stands out. The easiest way to know for sure is a 24-hour bucket test, which the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) recommends.

Not sure what you're seeing? Text us at (702) 608-5226 and we'll help you figure it out.

How much water does a Las Vegas pool lose to evaporation?

SNWA says the average in-ground pool loses 48.6 gallons per square foot every year to evaporation. For a typical Southern Nevada pool of about 470 square feet, that's roughly 22,842 gallons a year.

Turn that into inches and it's about 78 inches a year. Six and a half feet of water, gone into the dry desert air. That's taller than most of us.

Most of that loss happens in summer. Hot water, low humidity and wind all speed it up. In July, a pool can drop a lot in a week and still be perfectly healthy.

November is a different story. The water is cooler and the sun is lower. Your pool should be losing much less than it did in August.

Why is fall the best time to catch a pool leak?

Fall is when a leak finally stops hiding. In summer, a small leak gets lost in all that evaporation. You top off the pool, shrug, and blame the heat.

Once temperatures drop, evaporation shrinks but a leak keeps going at the same pace. So if your water level is falling just as fast in November as it did in summer, something is off.

Here's the sneaky part. If your pool has an auto-fill valve, it quietly replaces the lost water. You never see the level drop. You just see a bigger water bill and wonder why. Auto-fills are great. They're also really good at keeping secrets.

Winter watering rules start November 1. SNWA's winter schedule limits yard and drip watering to one assigned day a week, and Sunday watering is never allowed. If your irrigation is barely running and your bill is still high, the pool is a good place to look.

How do you do the bucket test?

The bucket test compares your pool's water loss to plain evaporation. Both sit in the same sun and wind, so the difference tells you a lot. Here's how we do it:

1. Turn off your auto-fill valve so it doesn't top off the pool during the test.
2. Fill a bucket with pool water and set it on your first or second step, weighted down with a rock or a brick.
3. Match the water level inside the bucket to the pool's level, then mark both lines with tape or a grease pencil.
4. Run the pump on its normal schedule.
5. Wait 24 hours. Skip swimming, and restart the test if it rains.
6. Compare the two drops.

If the pool dropped noticeably more than the bucket, you likely have a leak. If they dropped about the same, it's evaporation. Go enjoy your evening.

One tip. Run the test once with the pump on and once with it off. If the pool loses more with the pump running, the leak is often on the pressure side of the plumbing, after the pump. If it loses more with the pump off, look at the suction side, the skimmer or the main drain.

What are the signs of a pool leak?

The bucket test is the best proof, but your yard often drops hints first. Watch for these:

• Wet or soggy spots between the pool and the equipment pad, especially on days you didn't water.
• Cracks in the plaster, the tile line or the deck.
• Gaps or cracks around the skimmer, where the skimmer meets the pool wall.
• Water pooling or dripping around the pump, filter or valves.
• Chemistry that won't stay balanced, because fresh fill water keeps diluting it.
• Algae that keeps coming back even with regular chlorine.
• A water bill that jumped and you can't explain why.

Henderson and Las Vegas pools also move with the ground. Our soils shift, decks settle, and the tile line takes the hit. A hairline crack at the skimmer is one of the most common leak spots we see.

How much water can a small leak waste?

A small leak adds up fast. On a 470-square-foot pool, every inch of water is about 293 gallons.

If your pool loses an extra quarter inch a day from a leak, that's about 73 gallons a day. Over a month, that's more than 2,000 gallons on top of normal evaporation. Over a winter, it's a lot of water for a desert that's watching every drop of the Colorado River.

Water that leaks out also carries chemicals with it. So you pay twice: once for the water and again for the chlorine and acid to rebalance it.

Can you fix a pool leak yourself?

Some leaks are easy, and some really aren't. A loose drain plug on the filter or a dripping union at the pump is often a quick fix. Snug it, replace an O-ring, and you're done.

Leaks in underground plumbing, the main drain, a light niche or a crack in the shell usually need pressure testing and dye testing to find. That's a job for a pool pro or a leak detection specialist. Digging up the deck on a hunch gets expensive.

Electrical parts like pool lights need extra care. If you think the leak is near a light or any wiring, turn the power off at the breaker and call a professional. Don't poke around with the power on.

What should you do next?

Run the bucket test this week while it's cool. It costs you a bucket and a day.

If the pool drops faster than the bucket, call or text us at (702) 608-5226. We're open 24/7. We'll check your equipment, plumbing and tile line and tell you plainly what we find.

If you're a new customer, you get 50% off your first month of weekly service (site inspection required). Weekly service is the easiest way to catch leaks early, because we see your water level every single week. Request a quote.