main drain will not stop leaking

[barneyh]

I had our IG pool opened a week ago and after backflushing a few times and adding more water to clear up pool, i noticed the water level would be low constantly, so i figured i had a leak in the liner. i checked the liner thorougly and found no leaks. i was quite puzzled, finally last night i looked at the main drain pipe that sticks out of the hill side and noticed water flowing out of the pipe i have never had water come out before. I have always had pool closed by my pool installer and they have alway opened it as well. the pool has two mains in bottom and a skimmer with one port for suction and one that is blocked off, i am not sure how you turn on the main drain because i don not see a valve for it. i called the pool co this morning and explained this to them and they had ne shut off the suction for the skimmer and asked if that had helped it did not. they are going to send someone monday to look at pool. what would cause this? what can i do to shut off main drain?

I am attaching a pic of my pool

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

I believe you are using the wrong term. The main drain is the intake for water in the bottom of the pool which goes directly to the pump. It has noting to do with draining, so it's somewhat misnamed. What's probably sticking out of the hillside is the waste line where your backwash water goes. If it's leaking water when you aren't on backwash or waste, you probably have a bad spider gasket in your multiport valve. This is a cheap, easy fix. If you want to stop the water loss while waiting for the pool service, you can go to a hardware store and get a test plug, which is an expandable rubber plug, to shut off the flow through the line. Just don't forget it's there and try to backwash.

 

[barneyh]

I have a backwash pipe that come directly off of the pump which you are refering to and it is not the pipe that is leaking the pipw that is leaking is abot a 5" I.D that is sticking out of the hill

 

[JohnT]

I have a backwash pipe that come directly off of the pump which you are refering to and it is not the pipe that is leaking the pipw that is leaking is abot a 5" I.D that is sticking out of the hill

That's probably your perimeter drain for the pool excavation. It is designed to remove groundwater from the hole the pool sits in. If the pool is leaking from the liner or the plumbing, you'd likely see water draining from this pipe. Sounds like you have a leak. If the pool didn't leak until it was opened, that points to a plumbing leak or liner damage that occurred since then.