Pool Leak Detection and Repair in New Braunfels, TX
New Braunfels Quality Pool Resurfacing offers pool leak detection and repair in New Braunfels, Texas. The work starts by proving a pool is leaking, not just evaporating. Then the leak is traced to the plumbing, a fitting or the shell, and fixed.
A free leak detection estimate starts with a call or the form. We'll talk through the daily drop in the water level and what a bucket test showed. The city's drought plan comes up too, since it names a leak repair as one of only three reasons to drain a pool.
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Pool leak or evaporation? Measuring the water loss
Every pool loses some water, through evaporation, cleaning, leaks and splashing. By the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's estimate, an uncovered 500-square-foot pool could lose 12,000 to 31,000 gallons a year to evaporation alone, depending on the climate. Heat, humidity and wind set the rate, and New Braunfels averages a 94.6°F high in August on federal climate averages for 1991–2020.
The bucket test
The agency's own test takes a day:
- Pick a day without rain or strong wind.
- Turn off every pool system, including the filter, the cleaner and any automatic fill, and keep the pool closed for 24 hours.
- Fill a 2.5- to 5-gallon bucket to about 1 inch from the top. Set it on a step or bench so at least two-thirds of it is under water, with its water a little above the pool's level.
- Mark both water levels.
- After 24 hours, mark them again. If the pool dropped more than the bucket, the pool may have a leak.
Running the test once with the pump on and once with it off helps tell a leak in the structure from one in the plumbing, a leak-detection equipment maker says.
Signs that point to a leak
Losing more than 2 inches a week probably means a leak, the agency says, or more than 3 inches in a hot, dry climate with high evaporation. It also names wet spots around the pool and air bubbles in the return line or the pump strainer. A leak-detection equipment maker adds three more signs. The level falls and then stops at the same height. The deck or coping shows cracks or gaps. Or the pump keeps losing its prime (the water it needs to keep pumping).
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(830) 302-4112How a pool leak is found, step by step
Each step comes from the methods leak-detection equipment makers publish. They show general practice; the free estimate looks at your own pool.
Confirm the leak
Anderson Manufacturing, a leak-detection equipment maker, starts by making sure there really is a leak. A bucket test shows how much of the loss is evaporation, and a pump-on, pump-off test adds clues.
Pressure-test every line
Whatever the suspected spot, all plumbing lines are pressure tested to show whether the leak is in the pipes or the shell. Each line is plugged at all but one opening, filled with water and brought to no higher than 20 pounds per square inch (psi). If the pressure drops, the line leaks; if it holds, that line is ruled out.
Pinpoint a buried leak
Air is fed into the leaking line at no more than 20 psi, often just 5 to 10. Where it escapes into wet soil it makes a bubbling sound, which a listening device picks up through the deck or ground, most often right above the leak. The maker says 90% of underground leaks can be found this way. Where no sound can be made, helium and a gas detector can be used.
Check the shell with dye and sound
In the pool, a little dye is released near likely spots to see whether a leak pulls it out of the pool. The usual spots are skimmers, return fittings, lights, cracks, main drains and hydrostatic valves (floor valves that let groundwater in when a pool is empty). An underwater microphone (a hydrophone) can check the floor without a diver.
Repair the pool leak or refer it
Some leaks are patched during the same visit. Others need a second trip with heavy cutting, digging or repair equipment, and some leak detectors hand the repair to someone else, the maker notes.
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(830) 302-4112Pool leak repair: fittings, cracks, liners and buried lines
Skimmers, returns and lights
Leaks between a skimmer and the shell are notorious for putty patches that have to be redone every year, Anderson says. Its fix works from behind. The water is lowered below the skimmer, a hole is drilled into the bottom of the skimmer throat, and expanding foam fills the gap around the skimmer body. It puts that repair at about an hour. Small shrinkage cracks can also form around plumbing, lights and other openings as the concrete dries, the plastering industry says, and those need sealing.
Cracks in the shell
A leaking crack can be sealed with the pool full, injected, or stapled and then injected, depending on how bad it is and whether it's still moving. Our pool crack repair page covers those methods in detail.
Vinyl liners
In a vinyl-liner pool, the usual leak spots are corners and seams, the skimmer and return openings, fittings such as ladders and lights, and the waterline. By a pool maker's list of signs, a liner with cracks, tears or wrinkles may be due for pool liner replacement rather than another patch. So may one slipping out of its track.
Buried lines in clay soil
Underground pipes sit in the same clay as the shell. Where soils shrink and swell strongly, the stress can break cast-iron pipe, the federal soil survey for Comal and Hays counties says, and it recommends bedding pipes in sand.
Branyon clay tops the federal shrink-swell figures for the area's main soils, and it covers 64.9 percent of Geronimo. On that clay, New Braunfels Quality Pool Resurfacing runs pool leak detection in Geronimo as well.
When a buried line is replaced, the city's pool code holds the repair to its rules for new work. Piping laid in a trench must also be inspected before the trench is filled. The city's permit rule covers repairs to plumbing systems too, so ask its Development Services office whether your job needs one.
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(830) 302-4112
Draining a pool to repair a leak in New Braunfels
This is where the city's drought plan matters most. Since the amended plan took effect on October 1, 2026, its pool rules have covered every month of the year, whatever the drought stage. A pool may be drained only onto a pervious surface (ground that soaks the water up), or onto a pool deck that sends the water straight to such ground. And only for one of these reasons:
- letting out rainwater to bring the pool back to its maintenance level, the height the filter needs to circulate;
- repairing, maintaining or replacing a pool part that has become hazardous;
- repairing a pool leak.
A leak repair is on that list by name. Other work done while the pool is empty isn't, so confirm your plans with New Braunfels Utilities before the water comes out. The water may not go into a street, alley, gutter, right-of-way, ditch or storm drain, and any that leaves the property counts as water waste. Pool water also stays out of the sanitary sewer unless the utility approves it first.
Leaks, water waste and refills
Leaving a leak alone has its own rule. The city's water code counts failing to repair a controllable leak on a property as water waste, and the utility says water waste is prohibited year round. Topping a pool back up to its maintenance level is allowed within the city's watering hours. Refill rules change at the city line. Selma has its own drought plan, which bans filling or topping up any pool at Stage III; New Braunfels Quality Pool Resurfacing covers pool leak detection in Selma too.
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(830) 302-4112Pool leak detection cost
On one San Antonio-area price list, as of October 2026, a flat-rate leak detection and repair package starts at $699 for most pools and pool-and-spa combinations. A San Antonio leak-detection company names what moves the price. Its list: the pool's size and complexity, how many plumbing lines need pressure testing, whether a diver must inspect underwater, and travel distance.
Those are published figures from other sources. New Braunfels Quality Pool Resurfacing prices a leak job only after a free look at what your water level is doing.
- Leak detection, any pool type
- $100–$1,000
- Leak detection, inground pool
- $400–$1,000
- Repair once the leak is found
- $500–$1,500
National averages, 2025. Averages, not a quote.
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(830) 302-4112Pool leak questions homeowners ask
How much does it cost to have a pool leak detected?
On 2025 national figures, a pressure test alone runs $150 to $500. More lines to test, or a dive inspection, push the total up. The cost section above has a San Antonio-area package price and national ranges.
Should I turn off my pool's auto-fill to check for a leak?
Yes, now and then. Every three months, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests, switch the automatic fill off for 24 hours to test for leaks. Fill valves sometimes stick, it adds, sending water to the overflow drain. The bucket test above also starts with the fill switched off.
Why is my pool losing 1 inch of water a day?
It could be evaporation, a leak or both. A pool maker's rule of thumb is about 1/4 inch of evaporation a day on average. Wind, temperature, humidity and the size of the pool all change that, and on some late-summer nights the level can fall 1 to 3 inches. If the drop keeps up, run the bucket test before anything else.
Where is the most common place for a pool leak to occur?
The same places come up in every list. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guide names the liner, the pump seal, pool piping, the joint between pool and pipe, pool edges and pipe joints. In concrete pools, a leak-detection equipment maker points to skimmer throats, main drains, returns and other fittings, steps and benches, light niches and cracks in the shell. It also says to listen closely wherever the water level stops dropping.
Can you fix a pool leak without draining?
Often, yes. Epoxy putty can go on underwater, though it may need redoing each year. A skimmer leak can be fixed from behind with the water lowered only below the skimmer. One crack-staple maker says its repair is done with the pool full in most cases. Crack injection is different: it needs a drained, dry shell. So does replacing tile, stone or grout, which a tile-setting maker says should never be tried under water. When a drain is needed, the drought plan's leak reason applies, so check with New Braunfels Utilities first.
Get a free estimate for pool leak detection
New Braunfels Quality Pool Resurfacing answers calls and estimate requests 24/7 for leak detection and repair in New Braunfels and nearby towns. Tell us how much water the pool loses in a day and whether the auto-fill is running.