Detect pool leaks

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.




Regards, Dana.

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,

Click to expand...

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