How to close (ignore) pool with leak?

[JoseJones]

A great unexpected summer of swimming, but the ol' watering hole is tired. Really tired.

I'm planning on refurbing the puppy this winter or spring, but right now my problem is there is a leak that will bring the water level below the skimmer and air gets into the system. I was thinking of cutting a small section (10 feet?) of vacuum hose and plugging that into the skimmer inlet so it's always submerged in water.

Does this seem like a sound idea, or am I totally out of the pond on this?

P.S.
I guess my sig doesn't mention where I am. Funny, I thought this place read my mind? Anyway, I"m in Northern California. Not too concerned of freezing weather, although we might get one or two nights below freezing. This is an In Ground pool.

 

[JasonLion]

If the water level keeps going down you will need to deal with the leak soon. If the water level stabilizes at a reasonable level you can put off dealing with the leak till later. The rest of my comments assume the water level stabilizes at a reasonable height.

You could "close" the pool, drain the plumbing and cover, and everything will be fine as long as the water level holds not too far below the skimmer.

Your vacuum hose idea could work, and allow you to leave the pool open, but you will need to seal the hose to the skimmer very carefully and not have any hose leaks or you will eventually lose prime.

 

[JoseJones]

OK. I feel really silly asking this but, wouldn't I need to drain the pool to drain the plumbing? I only have two items above the water line. The pump and filter. Oops. Three. I installed the Liquidator this summer.

When we bought the house in December. I had a local pool guy come out to give some advice. (Our first pool) Anyway, the pool was totally operational when we bought the house even though it really was in a poor state of health physically. The equipment runs like a champ, its just fuggle since tile is cracked and coping is busted, etc. He said if we weren't going to swim in it we'd be just as well off by adding some bleach once a month and run it for a couple hours a day. And to be honest, until it got nice out and the kids begged us to swim in it, I didn't think about if the water was below the skimmer or not. Now I guess I have a soft spot for thing and want to try to do what is right.

Yes. We intend to refurb (patch the leaks) the pool. I'm getting quotes now. I'm trying to talk myself into being the GC. I'm scared though.

....You could "close" the pool, drain the plumbing and cover, and everything will be fine as long as the water level holds not too far below the skimmer.

Your vacuum hose idea could work, and allow you to leave the pool open, but you will need to seal the hose to the skimmer very carefully and not have any hose leaks or you will eventually lose prime.

 

[JasonLion]

No, you don't need to drain the pool completely to drain the plumbing. In northern California all you would really need to do is drain to below the skimmer (which is happening anyway), plug the lines, drain the pump and filter, and add a little anti-freeze to the plumbing.