Detect pool leaks

[jdbravo]

Hi guys,


I have a small vinyl pool in my apartment, which is built on a platform. Underneath the platform, there is water that appears to be coming from the pool.

I measured the voltage generated by a 12-volt battery between the water under the platform and the pool, and I observed 10 volts on my multimeter. Could I conclude that there is a water leak?

Now, I know that it might be possible to locate the leak by measuring resistance. In theory, the resistance should be lower the closer the hole is to the vinyl.

It would be something similar to what they explain in this video:

Could you please explain how I could measure this resistance with my multimeter? In other words, how to connect the multimeter and the 12V battery?

There is another post very similar to this, https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/using-electric-field-to-detect-leak-in-pool.133253/ but it doesn't explain how can I measure it.

Thank you!

 

[danadak]

The multimeter has its own internal battery to measure resistance.

But compounding the problem is water not typically PH neutral, so you
have ongoing chemical reactions when you stick your probes in.

How to calculate the resistance measured between probes in water

I have read already quiet a lot about the conductivity of water/ fluids but I cannot find a formula to calculate the resistance between probes in a fluid. For example: use-water-as-a-conductor-for-a-

electronics.stackexchange.com

ShieldSquare Captcha

Regards, Dana.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

I assume your pool is "fresh water" with some sort of chlorine tablets so the resistance will be on the low end of "fresh water"

From Wikipedia

The electrical resistivity of water (0.2 Ω·m sea water, 2 to 200 Ω·m drinking water,

So, to find your leak, you can use your battery in series with your meter set to "amps" and attach a wire to a pole as...

You'll need a 10 to 33 ohm resistor (ideally). The lower the better but it will drain your battery faster when you're close to the leak. Also, it may drain so fast that you'll have trouble identifying what is a higher resistance area (more distal to the leak) vs a less charged battery able to supply less current. A nice circuit could be built but I assumed you want "easy".

• Wire from leaked puddle to resistor
• Resistor to battery (-)
• Meter ground (black wire) to Battery (+)
• Meter "amps" (red wire) to a wire attached to a pole (strip a short section of the wire taped to the pole.

Use the pole to scan across your pool as you look for a rise in current flow. You should be able to get within a meter or so of the leak if the leak is electrically commented to the puddle outside of the pool.

Note, this assumes you have a meter with a 1