brrscuba
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![[*]](./images/corporate/default_icon.gif) posted on 27-5-12 at 04:45 PM |
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Earthquake - Broken Pipes?
I seem to be seeing a larger number of broken pipes and cracked gunite pools this spring. Could this be related to the east coast earthquake last
fall?
Anyone else experiencing this in the east?
Bruce
PoolRepairDiver.com
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pooldiverandrew
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| posted on 28-5-12 at 07:54 AM |
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Bruce, are you seeing these problems more from a particular builder? My experience this season so far is leaks are waaaay down, so far, and winter
seasonal damage is waay off. still there is no shortage of work.
while I do see plenty of cracks they are not always of the leaking type, as fotr broken pipes, have seen some, just not alot.
rough/scaled or crystals on the plaster is more common this year, and generally easy to remove, I think the mild winter/warmer spring helped that out
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brrscuba
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| posted on 28-5-12 at 11:28 AM |
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More cracked gunite and broken pipes across all builders I see, leak job volume up, way up actually
Bruce
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pooldiverandrew
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| posted on 28-5-12 at 06:07 PM |
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earthquake theory is a little far fetched by me and all the techs I deal with. 9 times out of 10 there is a more obvious reason for the broken pipe
around here.I would suspect there would have been waaay more damage in other areas , nonpool related before a pool would be affected. I do see cracks
in almost every plaster pool I am in, they are pretty typical, and I would say leak less frequently than the other things we repair, I am in both
gunite and shotcrete shells
I would have to say the dry conditions here over the last 8 months or so have magnified the leak scenarios, even with the current wet weather we are
still down on precipitation.
some guys do complain to me(half heartedly) that I do too good a job!!! however, I cover a very large amount of pools across a bunch of companies, and
leaks are just way down.... at least so far.but like I said tons of work otherwise
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jstinemire
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| posted on 4-6-12 at 01:00 AM |
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Bruce, I have seen quite a bit of damage from the earthquake, including plumbing, light conduit, shells, decking and sinkholes under liners!
Cold weather damage is down due to the mild winter, but there are still cases where I can point directly to the earthquake as the culprit.
Unfortunately it isn't covered by insurance unless the owner had an earthquake coverage rider on their policy.
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Sdewolfe
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| posted on 6-6-12 at 08:04 AM |
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Living and practicing leak detection in California, usa for many years. Champagne and steaks after every earthquake. Not to celebrate others' misery,
mind you.
Given that, we are in the scientific business of locating leaks with logic and persistence. Our tools help us eliminate all non leaks leaving us with
leak scenerio. Some of us repair leaks others don't. Invariably customer asks why pipe broke, liner tore, etc. We had to be diplomatic with the
answer in most cases because there were sometimes multiple parties involved in the outcome.
We would usually say "the evidence indicates so and so" because to announce with assurance that "A caused B" would require sometimes more
information than we had...soils condition, compaction rate, history of pool.
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ald101
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| posted on 13-8-12 at 07:01 PM |
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Here in Los Angeles we love and have a lot of shakers. Other than the big Northridge quake in '94 it's been my experience that either tree roots,
poor installation or a pool being bult on a severe hillside result in either structure or plumbing leaks. There was a class-action law suit in one
neighborhood that had one builder whoe recieved a batch of faulty fittings. Long story short, I found a total of at least 15 plumbing leaks in a three
year span. The original detection and repair was eight seperate leaks on the pool alone, nightmare!!
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