Suction Side Leak found?

[3mar67]

Hi, I've been chasing a suction side leak, which I thought I had isolated to my suction side Jandy valve. I was wrong. I have churning water and bubbles in my pump basket, but I have found that if I pour a half bucket or so of water on the ground below where my suction pipes (main drain and skimmer) come up out of the ground at my equipment pad, the bubbles and churning stop, and the water in the pump basket appears calm as it should. Does this mean I have a leak under ground but near the surface? Is the water temporarily sealing the leak? After about 3 days, the bubbles and churning start again. Anyone ever hear of anything like this? Thanks.

The red circle in the pic shows where I pour the water...

 

[JohnT]

Good chance you have a leak there. Usually you have 90s right there below the ground, and they often crack. I've even seen them left un-glued.

 

[Bama Rambler]

What happens if you select one or the other side? Do the bubbles stop. Not that it makes much difference, just trying to help you figure out which side is leaking.

 

[3mar67]

I appreciate the replies. There are far less bubbles if I select main drain only.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Looks like it's diggin time!

 

[3mar67]

Well, I did some digging and isolated the suction side leak to the skimmer pipe. Main drain runs fine.
Just to make sure, I filled the hole in the ground with water, and sure enough the leak stopped.
I have added a couple of pictures which I believe show that my underground pipes are black poly?
Is that correct? And the elbows are fastened to the poly with 2 clamps.
Is this the best way to connect the rigid elbow to the black pipe?
I have taken apart the leaky connection and removed the clamps, in order to inspect for breaks.
Should I just clean everything up and re-connect with 2 new clamps?
Thanks.......

 

[Bama Rambler]

They had the right fittings. Looks like you need to dig back past the damaged section and use pvc from there out.

 

[duraleigh]

Just my opinion, but it would be very disappointing to me to find my pool plumbed in black poly and clamp fittings.

Do you have a pic that shows the proximity of your pool to your equip pad? I wonder if that black poly is a "patch" that doesn't, hopefully, run all the way to the pool.

 

[3mar67]

They had the right fittings. Looks like you need to dig back past the damaged section and use pvc from there out.

The pipe isn't damaged, it was leaking at the elbow because it seems the clamps weren't tight enough.
I have new clamps which I'll try.

 

[3mar67]

Just my opinion, but it would be very disappointing to me to find my pool plumbed in black poly and clamp fittings.

Do you have a pic that shows the proximity of your pool to your equip pad? I wonder if that black poly is a "patch" that doesn't, hopefully, run all the way to the pool.

The pool was built in the 1980s...I'm guessing black poly is what was used.
The near side of the pool is 20 feet from the equipment pad.

 

[duraleigh]

That blue or purple primer wasn't around in the 80's I don't think so I'll bet that adapter was added later. Is this an IG plaster pool?

How close could you get to a skimmer to see if the poly is attached to the skimmers?

 

[3mar67]

That blue or purple primer wasn't around in the 80's I don't think so I'll bet that adapter was added later. Is this an IG plaster pool?

Yeah, everything in front of the poly pipes has been redone.
The pool has a vinyl liner.

 

[3mar67]

I replaced the two clamps and tightened them with a screwdriver....still had air being sucked in.
So I tightened them further with a socket wrench and that solved the problem.
The pump is no longer sucking in air.
While I was at it, I tightened all the other clamps as well, including the return lines.
I left the pipes exposed overnight so I could check them this morning.
So far, so good.
I'll cover them with dirt in a couple of days if everything holds.