When a Collin County pool keeps dropping, a pool skimmer crack is one of the first things I check. The skimmer sits at the waterline with one end tied to the pool shell and the other tied to the deck, so when the ground under the deck moves, it gets pulled two ways at once. Sometimes the plastic body cracks, but more often the throat pulls away from the shell and leaves a gap thin enough to miss. Either way the water’s going into the dirt behind your pool.
Where Skimmers Crack
A skimmer is a plastic box set into the pool wall. The opening you see from the water is the throat, and behind it the body drops down to a suction line that runs back to the equipment pad. The whole thing is usually wrapped in concrete, 3 to 4 feet down. We find leaks in four places:
- The throat joint, where the skimmer meets the shell. It’s sealed with plaster and hydraulic cement, and it’s what separates when people say the skimmer’s pulling away from the pool.
- The face plate and gasket around the opening. A worn gasket lets water slip behind the shell at the waterline.
- The body. Years of sun and pool chemicals make the plastic brittle. A crack low on the body leaks around the clock, while one above the water tends to pull air when the pump runs.
- The elbow underneath, where the suction line turns toward the equipment, buried in that concrete where you’ll never see it.
Why Skimmers Pull Away From the Pool
The shell is a heavy concrete bowl set deep in the ground, and the deck around it is a thin slab lying on top, where the clay soaks up the most rain and dries out the hardest in August. Across Collin County that’s expansive clay, the black clay that swells when it’s wet and shrinks when it dries, so the deck rides up and down with the weather while the shell moves much less.
The skimmer’s stuck between them. Its top is set into the deck and its throat is bonded to the shell, so when the deck lifts or settles, the joint at the throat takes the strain. Give it enough summers and that bond lets go. We see a lot of skimmers pulled away from the pool in Allen, and our page on pool repair in Allen explains why.
A leaking throat makes it worse, because that water collects in the clay behind the shell. A homeowner guide to shrink-swell soils from the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Geo-Institute lists leaking water lines as a localized source of water that can lead to localized foundation movement. It’s written about houses, but your deck sits on the same clay.
A Season-Long Skimmer Leak in Watters Crossing
From the field · Watters Crossing, Allen
By the time the Castillos in Watters Crossing called us, they’d been living with a drip at the skimmer since spring. The autofill kept up with it, so all summer it looked like a damp spot by the lid and a water bill that wouldn’t come down. By fall the deck beside the skimmer had settled enough that the lid didn’t sit flat. With the autofill off, the water dropped to the bottom of the skimmer opening and stopped there, and dye along the throat got drawn into a hairline gap where it had separated from the shell. We plugged the skimmer line and pressure tested it. The gauge held, so the pipe was fine, and we lowered the water and resealed the throat with hydraulic cement in one visit.
Signs Your Skimmer Is Leaking
Most skimmer leaks happen behind the shell where you can’t see them, so watch for these:
- The level keeps dropping to the bottom of the skimmer opening and holding there. That’s a strong clue, but a buried light conduit or pipe can stop a pool at that same height, so it’s where we start looking.
- There’s a gap around the lid, the lid won’t sit flat, or the deck next to the skimmer has cracked or dropped.
- You can see a thin dark line or gap where the plaster meets the skimmer face.
- Air bubbles keep coming out of the returns well after the pump starts.
- The soil behind the skimmer stays wet when it hasn’t rained.
None of those prove it on their own, which is why we dye test. Dye put right at a leaking joint gets pulled into the gap and disappears, and over a sound one it just drifts off. For more on reading where the water stops, see our page on a pool skimmer leaking.
How a Pool Skimmer Crack Gets Fixed
Besides the dye, we pressure test the skimmer line back to the equipment pad, because a leak in that pipe can look like a leak at the skimmer. If the line won’t hold pressure, we use listening equipment to find the break before anybody cuts concrete. The fix on our pool skimmer repair jobs depends on which part let go.
- Face plate or gasket. We replace the worn parts so the opening seals against the shell again, usually in a single visit.
- Separated throat. We reseal the joint with hydraulic cement and a proper bond to the shell, and the skimmer stays where it is. One visit covers most of these.
- Cracked body. Depending on where the crack is and how bad, we can sometimes repair it directly. If it’s past saving, the skimmer gets replaced, and that’s a big job: the deck around it comes out, we dig out the concrete it’s set in, disconnect the plumbing, set a new skimmer, pour new concrete, and match the deck. That can take 2 to 3 days.
How Much It Costs to Fix a Pool Skimmer Leak
HomeAdvisor’s pool repair cost guide says skimmer fixes run $50 to $300 with $175 as the average, replacing a leaky seal costs $100 to $130, and a full skimmer swap can run $1,200 or more. Fixr’s pool leak cost guide puts a leaking skimmer repair at $100 to $250.
To me those national figures read like gasket and face plate work. A throat that’s pulled away from a moving shell, or an elbow under 3 to 4 feet of concrete, takes more. Our repairs average about $2,500 overall. You’ll have a written diagnostic report and repair estimate the same day, and nothing gets started until you’ve seen the price.
If someone’s already quoted you a full replacement, ask what test showed the skimmer can’t be saved. Plenty of skimmers can be repaired where they sit.
What the 3-Year Seal Warranty Covers
Seal work on a skimmer throat falls under our 3-year seal warranty. If the skimmer line underneath needed a repair, that section of pipe carries our 3-year pipe warranty. Neither covers equipment leaks, weather or fire damage, or work another company does on the repair later. If you sell the house, both go to the buyer for the rest of their term with written notice within 30 days of closing. The full terms are on our warranty page.
What to Do Before You Call
Leave the gap alone for now. Putty or silicone from the pool store can cover the main leak and leave a bad gasket leaking behind it, and then you’re paying to fix the same skimmer twice.
Run the 24-Hour Tape Test while you wait. Turn the autofill off, put a piece of tape at the water line, and draw a line where the water sits. Then don’t add any water for 24 hours and check the tape. In summer a pool can lose about a quarter inch a day to evaporation, and anything past that likely means a leak.
If the tape test shows a leak, the level keeps settling at the skimmer, or the lid and deck around it have shifted, give us a call. If you’re in Allen, our leak detection team in Allen can find which part failed before anybody prices a repair. Outside Allen, the number is 214-972-3330.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I seal a pool skimmer that leaks?
Find the spot first, because a worn gasket, a separated throat, a cracked body, and a broken elbow underneath can all look the same from the deck, and each takes a different fix. Once dye testing shows where it is, a separated throat gets resealed with hydraulic cement bonded to the shell, and a worn gasket gets replaced.
Can a cracked skimmer be repaired, or does it need replacing?
Most of the time it can be repaired, especially when the problem’s the throat joint. We only recommend replacing the skimmer when the body’s cracked beyond repair or the whole assembly has failed, and we’ll show you what we found before you decide.
Do you have to drain the pool to fix a skimmer?
For a throat repair we usually lower the water below the skimmer opening. Replacing the whole skimmer is a bigger job, because the pool gets drained and the deck and concrete around the skimmer come out. You’ll know which one your pool needs before we put it on the schedule.
Dealing with a pool leak?
Call today to learn more about how we can help you stop your skimmer from leaking.
Mr. Pool Leak Repair serves Dallas, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Southlake, Fort Worth, and communities throughout the DFW metroplex.
