It might be fun to start a thread of funny or stupid customer comments. I had a guy call me today and say " The water on the outside and inside of
the bucket lost one quarter inch in 24 hours, but the water dropped over one inch on the tile." I tried to not laugh and asked him if he's current
on his psych meds. He did seem to be aware that what he was saying is crazy talk. I asked him if anyone moved the line on the outside of the bucket.
Sir, please refill your bucket and pool to the lines and re-test.
Mark your tile too please.
Hap, that is hilarious.
Check this out....
Months ago I had arrived at a pool and was setting up my equipment. We require that the pool is filled up as close to normal as possible so I turned
the hose on and rested it near the shallow end steps. The customer was making small talk and then realized what I was doing with the water hose. I
told her I was filling the pool up about 3 more inches so I could check the tile line thoroughly. I told her that the normal water level is about
half way up the skimmer and pointed towards the skimmer at the other end of the pool in the deep end. She then says, and I am not kidding - I
couldn't believe it myself, "young man, do you want me to move the hose closer to the skimmer so that part of the pool will fill up faster?"
Holy smoke. I tried my best to not bust out laughing. I held it together and respectfully told her, "no, that's okay. The pool will fill up soon
enough. Thank you though."
a guy calls me and is confident he has a liner failure. He lost 12 inches of water during the winter (mind you this is an acceptable loss up here).
But is confident he has a liner failure. He doesn tcare, he just wants me there to scan his liner to tell him his new liner has failed. He has done no
pressure test, no bucket test, just wants me there. Ok. I dive the pool, guess what, no leak. He is still convinced he has liner leak. I set up the
bucket test to prove to him there is no leak. During hte night it did rain which made the test inconclusive. He calls me up to tell me the bucket
increased by half an inch, and the pool remained the same. That proves he has a liner leak because the pool, even though the level remained the same,
was lower than the bucket. I cant make this stuff up. 
You can't make it up. Stubborn customers drive me crazy.
Regarding the bucket test, how does rain negate the test? Won't the bucket get the same amount of rain relative to it's surface area as the pool?
That's the beauty of the bucket test, right?
In this business we have to think logically and when confronted by an emotional customer who "knows" that their pool is leaking it can be a real
challenge to apply the logic of the testing results indicating the pool is not leaking.
"Well then why do I have a crack in my kitchen floor?"
I used to tell them that leak detection was a process of elimination and that as factors were eliminated, the cost of answers would rise because we
eliminate the most obvious causes first. They might have to resort to hiring a soils engineer to test compaction, etc.
Also the brain is wired for cause and effect. (If something-then something) so if the pool does leak then that's what kiiled the tree in the front
yard.
Oh, and the question about the rain and the bucket test is a good one.
I told customers to repeat the test because evaporation is more consistant than rain. It can pour rain on the next block and just miss ours.
that guy called me, still thinks he has a leak. he says he is adding water each week about an inch or two. I dont think haldol will help this guy.
I had a plumbing leak one time and just as I got out my listening equipment. I had listened for about 10 minutes and heard a very loud leak under the
deck. Just as I was closing in, it started pouring down. I waited for about 1/2 hour for the rain to slow, but eventually told the customer I'd
come back at my nearest availability.
When I returned, the line held perfect. Pretty peculiar. Even more peculiar was that the customer was completely convinced that it was... here it
is... her ghost that fixed it! She went on to explain that ever since she purchased a certain piece of furniture in North Carolina, they've heard
sounds at night and weird stuff had happened around her house. She said it was a friendly ghost and would fix things that were clearly broken,
including hinges, an ice maker and a television. She was convinced of it and was unshaken by the completely crazy idea that a ghost was taking care
of underdeck plumbing repairs for her.
The ghost is now working full-time for me and is looking for a raise. That's a joke, the rest is true. Pretty crazy.
set up a bucket test for a woman yesterday. I asked her to MEASURE the loss of water in 24 hours. She called me and said about a PINKY. I asked her
to clarify how she measured the loss. She said that she put her pinky finger up by the tape on the pool and measured it that way. she also said she is
GUESTIMATING that would be about an inch.
Anyone want to take her on as a customer. I will refer her to you. Hands in the air.
| Quote: |
| Originally posted by trackerm I set up the bucket test to prove to him there is no leak. During the night it did rain... He calls me up to tell me the bucket increased by half an inch, and the pool remained the same. That proves he has a liner leak because the pool, even though the level remained the same, was lower than the bucket. I cant make this stuff up. |
actually jstinemire you are wrong. when it rains, the bucket test is invalidated. the test must be repeated. Just wanted to clarify that to you so that there are no misunderstandings . Any leak detector could of told you that. perhaps you didnt know that.
Trackerm, please explain why the bucket test would not be valid if it rains?
Looks like the start of a good discussion. No need to be defensive.
So, how is it that rain invalidates the bucket test, when the bucket and the pool lose and gain water at exactly the same rate based on environmental
conditions? If they didn't, then how is it that the small rain gauge in my garden can indicate the number if inches of rain I got in my entire
yard?
BTW, don't let the "Newbie" tag fool you. Take a look at my registration date. I've been at this a long time. Serviced and dove on pools in the
70's. Built them in the 80's. Bought one of the very first LeakTrac's from Lance, which is still in use. Swimming pool leak detection is all
I've done for many, many years.
Give me facts. Tell me why, not just "because I said so" followed by personal insults. I've been at this business way too long to even be phased
by such a baseless statement.
Also, it appears that ALD was also questioning your conclusion. Is he not a leak detector? What is his registration date? Hasn't he been doing
this for a while as well?
Perhaps we need to open a new topic where we can discuss the technicalities and truths of leak detections and dispel some of the misconceptions and
myths. I didn't post here to be argumentative or offensive, just to teach and to learn. I've also never had much patience for folks who get easily
offended when their conclusions are called into question. We can all learn from each other, and we need to, but we need to stick to the facts.
~~John~~
Tell you what. After reading Sdewolfe's post above about rain being less consistent than evaporation (at least, that's what he says tells
customers ), I'm going to put this theory to the test.
Next good rain we get, I'm going to place several buckets around the pool at fixed intervals to see if they are consistent or not, and I suggest we
all do the same so we can compare notes. As I said above, let's deal with the facts, and I'm willing to admit if I'm wrong.
~~John~~
who killed the dinosaurs and jfk. Its not relevent. You can do all the experimentation you want. make all the posts you want and proclaim you are
correct on all the topics. doesnt matter. this post started off being funny, about strange things that happen or funny comments people make during
leak detectionl. you have taken this to a whole new extreme and escalated it. what came first the chicken or the egg, answer, who cares. I am not
going to debate and argue with you on putting out 50 buckets and compare what we have.
once again, the subject was goffy funny comments, meant to instill humor NOT DEBATE.
nuff said.
Out of respect to the spirit of this thread, I tried to keep my first post short, sweet and non-offensive. You reacted emotionally, just as you have
in this last post.
So again, out of respect to Hap and the others, I'll open this up as a new thread. Nothing may come of it, but this is a issue that really does need
to be addressed.
NOW, "nuff said"...
had a customer in a especially dry and windy period call and ask for 2nd time in a week that he thought he had a recuuring leak.(a dr., mind you) reasonable f,right. to re assure him i stopped by and set up bucket test ,asked him to mnitor same and call. first call all ok. equal loss, week later he called again. told me the water in the deep end stayeed the same as his mark but that the shallow end had dropped 1/4 ". i asked how that compared to the bucket. he replied "oh i don't know i took the bucket out."
Years back I gave a lady a plastic bag full of lump alum to coagulate the fine particles and sink them to the pool floor for vacuuming. I told her to
place the alum in the skimmer, place the multiport valve on recirculate and run the pump overnight. She called the following day and told me the pool
looked the same. I went to the house (no one home) looked in the skimmer and saw the problem. I had assumed that when I told her to place the alum in
the basket that she would have taken the alum out of the plastic bag. But nooooo. It was still sealed in plastic.
How stupid of me not telling her to take the chemical out of the bag!
Had a customer that told me he was sorry the pool was cold, he went on to explain that he had taken the solar blanket off so that the rain could land
in the pool, I did not try to explain it to him, perhaps David Copperfield designed his solar blanket to repel raindrops!
Heard about the tea bag test ? You take a used tea bag and break it up in front of a pool fitting to see if it draws the debris toward it. This is
from a pool builder, I guess it works ok if the pipe is open ended!