Please help the dummy out again!

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kri5tian

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Jun 13, 2016
62
Palm Harbor, Florida
Hi all. I made a boneheaded mistake. My pool water is currently below the skimmer. I am waiting on it to get below my light so I can putty the hole where the light cord exits the niche. I believe I have a leak in the pool in the niche/conduit junction, considering the water level has been decreasing by quite a bit ever since I replaced my light. I did not putty that hole when I replaced the light because I didn't think it was necessary. I was wrong.

Anyway, I was going to vacuum the pool...and silly me did not fill up the skimmer pipe. I figured that the pump would pull a little bit of air but that it would be alright. Well, the pump did not pull water from the hose. So, I turned the pump off and primed it. I filled up the skimmer line to the point where water was flowing through the skimmer. I also put plenty of water in the main drain line, but the basket before the pump would never overflow...the water level woudl always drop. So, I filled up the basket and quickly screwed the top back on and turned on the pump. Air came out of the filter exhaust...but quickly stopped flowing. So, repeated the priming steps a couple of times and finally got the pump working (off of the main drain)...but it only worked for a couple of minutes...then the water flow slowed to a halt and the pump pressure went back down. It starting getting dark, so I turned off the pump and quit.

Now for my questions: Should I just leave the pump off until the water drops below the light level and I'm able to patch up the hole? By doing that, I know the pool is going to turn green. Or, should I try to prime the pump again tomorrow when I come home from work? That way, I can at least keep the water relatively clean.

If you're wondering why I'm waiting for the water to drop below the light level, the answer is because it was extremely difficult for me to deal with the light the first time around. Without any snorkel gear, I kept having to hold my breath and work on it. Also, I think it would be much easier to path the leak if it's exposed to air.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Rather than fighting the pump I would manually add chlorine for the next day or two and brush the pool to "stir" everything. You should be able to keep the pool clean for several days by doing this.
 
Just to be clear, don't plug up the hole from which the electric wire exits the niche.....that is supposed to be open and the conduit behind the niche remains flooded.

If you have a bad joint where the conduit connects to the niche, then that needs to be fixed but don't seal the wire inside the conduit.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions! I'm hoping that when I'm finally able to return the water to its normal level, that I'll be able to get the pump going without must issue. I should have left well-enough alone, though, and delayed the vacuuming. Live and learn.

Also - does anybody think there will be a concern with me letting the pool leak to the point of getting below the light? The surrounding land should be able to handle it, right? Osmosis should spread that water throughout the neighborhood, right?
 
To drain it more quickly, put the vacuum in the pool and totally submerge the hose so that it completely fills with water. Then quickly pull the end of the hose that would connect to the skimmer out and over the side of the pool to the ground. Gravity should pull the water out. Just keep an eye on it because it's a pretty quick flow. You don't want to take out more than you have to.
 
Thanks for the tip, Jesse, but I don't want to tick off my neighbors and saturate their ground. I might give it a try and see how it goes, though. But, considering the water level has another 1.5' or so to go, there must be > 2K gallons that need to come out...and that sounds like a lot.

There MUST be a way for me to prime my pump again, considering it was working just fine when pulling from the main drain before I screwed up. Also, I don't understand why, when I try to fill up the basket just before the pump with water, it never fills up. The water I'm adding should be going down the PVC to the bottom of the pool, right? The pipe should eventually fill up, but it doesn't...hence why my pump won't pump water, right? I'm fundamentally missing something. Please school a poor, ignorant soul.
 

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I decided to open the valve that allows the water to bypass the filter and flow into the yard...just to check and see if there was water flow. Well, the water seems to be flowing pretty well. It's not that powerful, but it's flowing. You can see in the attached picture. So, the pump is at least pulling a constant supply of water from the main drain. So - why won't it pump through the filter and back to the pool? I cleaned the filter the other day, so I know it's not clogged up. Any advice?View attachment 53889
 
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