Gold Coast pools lose water all summer, and most of it is evaporation, not a leak. So before anyone charges you to look for a leak, spend two days and a bucket confirming there is one. If the bucket test says the pool is losing more than the weather takes, then the detection fee is money well spent, because a leak in a buried line does not get cheaper by waiting.
Pool leak detection pricing
| Service | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bucket test | Free, do it yourself | Confirms a real leak before you pay anyone |
| Pool leak detection | $300 to $600+ | Shell and buried lines. Complex jobs can exceed $600. The fee finds the leak; the repair is quoted separately |
| Repair | Quoted after the leak is found | A shell fitting, a skimmer box or a buried line are very different jobs, so we do not guess the repair before locating it |
The free bucket test
This is the single most useful thing a pool owner can do before calling anyone, and it costs nothing.
- Fill a bucket most of the way with pool water and sit it on the top step or a ledge, so the water in the bucket and the pool water around it sit at roughly the same level and the same temperature.
- Mark the water level inside the bucket with tape or a marker. Mark the pool water level on the outside of the bucket at the same time.
- Turn the pump off for the test if you can, and do not swim, backwash or top up while it runs.
- Leave it for a day or two, ideally without rain.
- Compare the two marks. Evaporation lowers the bucket and the pool by the same amount, because they are exposed to the same sun and wind. If the pool level has dropped further than the bucket level, the difference is a leak.
Run it once with the pump off and once with the pump on. If the pool loses noticeably more with the pump running, the leak is likely on the pressure side, in the return lines or the equipment. If it loses more with the pump off, the leak is likely on the suction side or low in the shell. If it loses the same either way, the shell or a fitting in it is the usual suspect. That one comparison already narrows the search before we set foot on site, and it is what Jieye will ask you about on the phone.
What else drops a pool level
Splash-out from kids and a full pool on a hot day, backwashing the filter, an auto-fill valve that has stopped working, a leaking backwash or multiport valve sending water quietly to waste, and Gold Coast wind across the surface all take water out of a pool without a leak in the structure. Check the backwash line outlet while the pump runs: a steady trickle there is a valve problem, not a pool problem, and a much cheaper one.
Shell leaks vs buried line leaks
Once the bucket test confirms a leak, there are two places it can be, and they are found differently.
A shell leak is in the pool itself: a crack in a concrete shell, a failed seal around a light niche, a skimmer box that has separated from the shell, a return fitting that has come loose, a hydrostatic valve in the floor of the deep end, or the tile line on an older pool. These are found by dye testing along suspect areas with the pump off, by pressure testing the fittings, and by listening gear that picks up water moving through a crack. Shell leaks are often the cheaper end of detection because everything is visible and reachable from the water.
A buried line leak is in the pipework you cannot see: the suction lines running from the skimmer and the main drain to the pump, and the return lines carrying water back to the pool. These run under the coping, under paving and under the pool deck, and on the Gold Coast they are usually PVC that has been in the ground for decades, shifted by ground movement, tree roots or a bad glued joint from the day it was laid. Finding a buried line leak means isolating each line, pressure testing it to see which one will not hold, then using listening equipment along its route to find the exact point where it is losing water, so the paving comes up in one place and not five.
Why buried line leaks are specialist work
Pool shops and pool cleaners are good at the shell and the equipment. A buried line is plumbing, and finding a leak in it takes the same acoustic and pressure gear we use to find a burst under a house slab. Dig the wrong spot and you have lifted paving or cut concrete for nothing, then pay to put it back before starting again. That is why the detection fee exists as a separate stage: $300 to $600+ to mark the exact point, then a repair quote for that point alone. The detection fee is what stops the repair becoming an excavation of the whole pool surround.
What moves the price from $300 to $600+
- The number of lines to test. A simple pool with one skimmer and two returns is quicker than a pool with a spa, spillover, in-floor cleaning and a solar heating circuit
- Access. Lines under exposed soil are easier to listen along than lines under a tiled deck or a concrete slab
- How far the equipment sits from the pool, because every metre of buried pipe is a metre to test
- A pool that leaks only under certain conditions, such as with the pump on, which takes more setup to reproduce
- Older pools with plumbing that has been modified over the years and no plan of where the lines run
When several of those apply, detection exceeds $600, and we will tell you that on the phone from your description rather than surprising you on site.
What happens after we find it
You get the location marked, an explanation of what is leaking and why, and a separate quote for the repair. Some repairs are small, such as resealing a return fitting or replacing a short section of line and a joint. Some are bigger, such as a skimmer box that has to come out. Shell crack repair and resurfacing is pool builder territory rather than ours, and we will say so rather than take on work outside our trade. Buried line and fitting repairs are plumbing, and we quote them fixed once we can see the problem.
Pool dropping faster than the bucket? Call Hills Plumbing & Gas on 0472 657 042 or book through our Leak Detection service page. Tell Jieye what the bucket test showed and he will tell you where to start.