Suction side water leak

[Mnicholls]

I feel dumb for asking, but is this possible or common? Here's the background.

I've noticed water loss all summer long. There was a pretty big crack near the skimmer - which I had patched. But the water loss is still there. I did a bucket test and it quickly confirmed I was losing significant amount of water while the pump was running. And there was a small amount of air bubbles in my pump when it was running. When I turned the pump off for about 24 hours - no water loss.

I turned the Jandy valve for one skimmer off today. Surprise, surprise - no water loss (24 hours and running). Fortunately, this is the skimmer closest to my equipment pad.

But everything I read about suction side leaks deals with air leaks. I don't see any water leaks above ground but I'm going to dig just below the surface near my equipment pad to see if there's anything noteworthy. Any other thoughts on where else to check before bringing in some hired help?

Thanks!

 

[jblizzle]

More water loss with the pump on generally points to a return side leak, not a suction side leak ... so the isolation of turning the skimmer off and not losing water with the pump on is puzzling to me.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

That's what I'm thinking too.

 

[max2k]

coincidence? may be it was leaking to waste all this time?

 

[Mnicholls]

Whew, glad I'm not the only one. I am gonna see what happens the next two days with the skimmer off. Usually I will see significant water loss after that amount of time.