Pump not drawing water

[DJ13]

I'm trying to get my pool cleaned up for closing and this morning the pump stopped drawing water in. When off the pump basket fills with water (I assume it gets drawn back from the filter due to gravity) so on startup that water quickly gets sucked out but there no water gets drawn in. I've put a bucketful of water into the pump basket to help prime it and that water flows back down the pump input (towards the pool). When the pump starts up it sucks that water back in but quickly goes dry again. Thinking there could be a blockage in the pipe since the leaves really started to fall this week I took a garden hose, wrapped a rag around it and pushed water back from the pump to the skimmer; no debris was pushed out but the water did exit the skimmer. Is there anything else I could try to figure out what the issue could be before calling someone in to take a look?

The pump is a Hayward Super Pump and is probably pretty old but seems to be working ok up to this point. I also have a Jacuzzi Laser sand filter which I put to whirlpool (recirculate) while doing these tests. The pool only has the skimmer for suction and return, it's an Aqua-Genie and I only vacuum with the skimmer plate.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[zea3]

When the filter is set to filter and the pump is running do you feel anything coming out of the return? Have you backwashed and rinsed the filter lately? Did you check the pump impeller for debris?

 

[DJ13]

I checked the impeller and there doesn't seem to be any obstruction there. I haven't backwashed in a few weeks but there has been minimal use of the pool. I didn't check the output of the return since I didn't want to leave the pump running if no water was getting to it. I assume there wouldn't be though since there was no water was getting to the pump.

At this point should I just close the pool and look to repair the pump in the spring?