A slow drip inside a buried pool pipe can quietly flood your garden or erode the concrete under your patio long before you notice anything on the surface. In Sanur's salty air and relentless sun, PVC joints and metal fittings degrade faster than you'd expect, especially in older villas built in the nineties and two-thousands. The good news: most leaks are located with a straightforward pressure test and repaired without tearing up half your property.
Signs You Have a Pool Pipe Leak
The first clue is usually the water level. Evaporation in Bali takes roughly one centimetre per day in dry season, so if your pool drops three or four centimetres overnight and the filter isn't running, something is leaking.
Other things to watch for include a persistent wet patch in the garden that never dries even after a sunny morning, white salt or mineral deposits forming around an exposed pipe joint, the circulation pump cycling on and off more often than usual, and a faint hissing sound near the skimmer or return line when the system is pressurised.
- Water level dropping well above normal evaporation rate
- Wet soil or soggy grass in a fixed spot near the pool perimeter
- White crusty residue (dried chlorine salts) around joints or fittings
- Pump running longer cycles or tripping the overload relay
- A musty smell under the patio or in the equipment room with no visible source
Pressure Testing: How We Locate the Leak
Before anyone starts digging, we isolate the suspect circuit – suction side, return side, or the drain line – by closing the relevant valves. The section is then filled with clean water from your rooftop tank or PDAM supply, capped at both ends, and connected to a pressure gauge.
We hold the pressure for twenty to thirty minutes and watch the needle. A steady drop tells us there is a leak; the rate of loss helps narrow down whether it's a hairline crack or an open joint. If you use well water, be aware that higher mineral content can leave deposits on the gauge reading, so we always cross-check with a second fill.
One safety note: never add chlorine, algaecide, or any chemical while the system is pressurised and sealed. Trapped fumes behind a cap can build up quickly. And if you see frayed electrical cables near the wet area during testing, stop work immediately and call a licensed electrician before touching anything.
Send me a photo or short video of the wet patch, the pump area, or the suspect joint on WhatsApp – I'll tell you what's likely going on and quote the job from there.
Opening Up the Pipe Without Damaging Your Villa
Once the pressure test pinpoints the approximate zone, we mark the spot on the ground. In older Sanur villas the pipes often run under a concrete patio, through a garden bed, or even along the exterior wall where sea-air salt has already eaten into metal couplings.
We hand-dig a small access trench rather than using a breaker, especially within two metres of any electrical conduit or septic-tank line. If the pipe sits under a tiled terrace, we cut only the affected tiles and lift them carefully so they can be re-laid afterwards.
The goal is to expose just enough pipe – usually thirty to forty centimetres around the fault – so the repair is clean but the rest of your landscaping stays intact.
Repairing the Leak
Most common fixes are straightforward: replacing a cracked coupling, re-gluing a de-bonded PVC joint, or swapping out a short section of pipe that has become brittle from UV exposure and salt spray. For larger breaks or corroded metal segments, we cut out the damaged length and fit a new piece with proper solvent-weld joints or threaded fittings.
After the repair, we repeat the pressure test on the same circuit to confirm the hold is stable before backfilling the trench. The area is then compacted, and any lifted tiles or turf are replaced.
Pricing depends entirely on how much excavation is needed, whether the pipe runs under concrete, and what material the replacement requires. Send photos of the wet spot and the pipe area on WhatsApp and I'll give you a clear quote before any work starts.
Preventing the Next Leak
A few habits go a long way in Sanur's climate. Check your pool water level every morning for the first week after any chemical treatment; a sudden drop right after dosing can mean an over-concentrated chlorine hit weakened a rubber gasket somewhere in the system.
During the rainy season (roughly November to March), heavy downpours shift soil around buried pipes. Walk the perimeter after a big storm and look for new soft spots or standing water that wasn't there before.
Keep the equipment room ventilated so salt-laden air doesn't sit on metal fittings year-round, and avoid parking a car or stacking heavy planters directly above a known pipe run. A yearly visual check of exposed joints – skimmer, return, drain – catches small weeps before they become floor floods.
- Inspect visible joints and couplings once a month
- Walk the pool perimeter after each major rainstorm
- Avoid over-dosing chlorine; follow the test-strip reading
- Keep the area above buried pipes free of heavy loads
- Ensure the equipment room has cross-ventilation to reduce salt corrosion
Questions
How long does a pressure test take?
The actual hold is about twenty to thirty minutes per circuit, but including isolating valves, filling with clean water, and reading the gauge under stable conditions, plan for roughly an hour. If we need to test more than one circuit (suction, return, drain), add another half-hour each.
Can I keep using the pool while you work?
Not during the repair itself, because the affected side will be drained and open. The other side can usually stay in service if it's on a separate circuit. I'll let you know exactly how many days the pool will be offline before we start – most single-joint fixes are done within a day or two.
What if the leak is under my concrete patio?
We cut only the tiles directly over the fault zone, lift them with a small pry bar, hand-dig down to the pipe, make the repair, re-pressurise to confirm, then backfill and reset the tiles. You won't lose the whole terrace, just the small section that needs access.
I'll reply with what's needed, a price and when I can come.
