Pool Leak Detection in Sarasota

A Sarasota pool that is losing more than about a quarter inch a day is leaking, not evaporating. Half an inch is normal at the peak of summer with no screen over the water. Anything faster than that, or any loss that keeps up through a rainy week, has somewhere to go.

We find it with pressure testing, dye testing and acoustic listening, in that order, and we do not start digging on a guess. You get a written report of where the leak is and what fixing it costs.

Run the bucket test first, it costs nothing

Before you pay anyone, spend a day ruling out evaporation:

1. Fill a bucket with pool water and stand it on the second step, so the water inside and outside are at the same temperature.
2. Mark the water line inside the bucket and on the pool wall.
3. Leave the pump running on its normal schedule and come back in 24 hours.
4. If both dropped the same, that is evaporation. If the pool dropped further, you have a leak.

Do it again with the pump off. If the loss slows right down with the pump off, the leak is on the pressure side, returns, the heater, the filter or the pad. If it loses just as fast either way, it is more likely the shell, the skimmer throat or the light niche.

Where Sarasota pools actually leak

After enough calls in this county the list gets short:

• The skimmer throat. The joint between the plastic skimmer and the concrete shell separates as the deck moves. Very common on pools from the 80s and 90s.
• The light niche. The conduit entry behind the fixture wicks water out and down the wall. Often shows up as a wet patch on the deck, not as a visible crack.
• Return and main-drain fittings. The threaded collar cracks or the sealant behind the eyeball fails.
• Underground plumbing. Usually a joint rather than the pipe itself, and usually where the run turns. This is the expensive one and the one worth testing for properly before you touch the deck.
• The equipment pad. Pump lid o-rings, unions, the filter clamp band and the heater’s inlet/outlet. Cheap to fix and easy to mistake for a pool leak.
• Shell cracks. Rarer than people fear. A structural crack usually comes with other symptoms, tile lifting, coping movement, a step pulling away.

Why the high water table matters here

Much of Sarasota west of I-75 sits on sand with the water table close under it. That cuts two ways. A leak drains away without ever showing as a wet spot, so you cannot find it by walking the yard. And a pool that has been drained to chase a leak can float if the hydrostatic relief valve is not opened and the ground water is high. We do not drain a pool to look for a leak unless the testing says we have to.

What detection costs, and what the repair costs after it

Detection is a job in itself: it takes a few hours, specific equipment and the willingness to say “it is not leaking” when it is not.

Sarasota County, October 2026.

Job	Typical range
Full leak detection, pressure, dye and listening	$275–$650
Equipment-pad leak: o-ring, union or clamp band	$150–$450
Skimmer throat repair	$400–$1,200
Light niche or conduit seal	$350–$900
Return or main-drain fitting	$400–$1,100
Underground plumbing repair, including deck work	$400–$2,800

These prices are estimates. What a pool repair costs depends on the part that failed, how buried it is and what it is attached to. Detection is its own charge, and it comes off the price when we fix the leak we find.

Detection comes off the repair bill when we do the repair. Full workings and the sources behind each figure are on the cost page.