Skimmer gasket leaking/ Can I seal with Marine grade sealant to get us by?

[xraygal]

Good morning all,
Just opened our AG pool 15 days ago. There was a slight drip at the bottom of the skimmer along the outer wall. It more or less stops leaking when the pump is off. When the pump is running, by days end there is a little standing water around the base of the pool right under the skimmer. This must be fixed.
We have a Hayward wide mouth skimmer and we used a butterfly gasket for the install.
My husband does not want to drain the water below the skimmer to replace a gasket right now if we can help it. When we drain below the skimmer to close the pool we can certainly get new gaskets at that point.

For right now is there some sort of marine grade sealant we could use to stem the tide from the outside? Would that just push water between the wall and the liner?
I don't want to rust out the pool by waiting but we have to stop the leak and we don't want to drain any water.
Appreciate your advice! Thanks much in advance! Kristi

 

[cowboycasey]

check the screws, sometimes 1 or 2 are just not tight enough and it starts to leak, if they are all tight you can try silicone but it may or may not work

 

[alten78]

I had this problem a few years ago with the same skimmer, unfortunately, It didn't matter how much sealant, silicone, etc I added around the skimmer, water will work its way out. Hopefully its just a loose screw, but I ultimately had to drain and replace the gasket. Luckily, the skimmer box for me isn't all that far down so it wasn't like you have to drain half of the pool.

 

[xraygal]

Thank you both. Screws are tight. I did find a product at Lowes called "Fix It" . It is an epoxy putty and one of the reviews was from a guy who stopped a leak in the gasket on his skimmer. I'm going to give it a shot. If that does not work I think we have no choice but to drain below skimmer and replace the gasket. It's only 15 days old. We must have put it on incorrectly.

 

[Jamison04]

If it's a butterfly gasket than it just goes over the metal opening in wall. The liner is sandwiched between the gasket and the skimmer trim ring on the inside and the skimmer body of course goes against the gasket on the outside of the wall.

 

[xraygal]

Yes, it is a butterfly gasket bUT we have quite a leak towards the bottom of the plate

 

[banditig]

I fought that issue with new skimmer and butterfly gasket. Finally drained below skimmer and put new gasket with pure silicone from Home Depot on all surfaces. You don't want water between liner and wall, it will rust.

 

[xraygal]

Banditig, with a butterfly gasket could water get in between the liner and wall since it sits over both? So far the Fix It Stick is holding. It dried quickly and no drips seen for 5 hours now. I will reserve my five star rating until I know for sure it's going to hold

 

[banditig]

Banditig, with a butterfly gasket could water get in between the liner and wall since it sits over both? So far the Fix It Stick is holding. It dried quickly and no drips seen for 5 hours now. I will reserve my five star rating until I know for sure it's going to hold

Before winter you should redo it. Mine had water trapped inside the hollow parts of skimmer and froze the expansion cracked the housing. I posted pics a while ago. I finally have good seal now, pics posted here a few months ago