So we've got bids on the leak repair and resurfacing of our old concrete IGP and if all goes well they should be starting within about two weeks. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep the water level at least within an inch of the bottom of the tile.
This is what it looks like today, after I used the rake to scoop up as much of the birch pollen thingies as possible
Haven't run the filter in weeks because even if the water level is a couple inches above the skimmer, it sucks in so much air from the leaks (which the leak detection company said are primarily at the crack by the skimmer and at the pipe just behind the skimmer) that it hardly seems worthwhile, esp. if I have to keep adding water. I don't think I can adjust the vacuum to be coming just from the vacuum port and not the skimmer because the knob that probably at one time in history controlled that is pretty impossible to move and looks like this:
So my question is - am I making things significantly worse by not running the filter under these circumstances? The water level has been dropping about 2- 3" a week, and now that we're going to have to start using our water for irrigating, I'd like to minimize the amount of water I have to add to the pool without making its current issues worse, KWIM?
This is what it looks like today, after I used the rake to scoop up as much of the birch pollen thingies as possible


Haven't run the filter in weeks because even if the water level is a couple inches above the skimmer, it sucks in so much air from the leaks (which the leak detection company said are primarily at the crack by the skimmer and at the pipe just behind the skimmer) that it hardly seems worthwhile, esp. if I have to keep adding water. I don't think I can adjust the vacuum to be coming just from the vacuum port and not the skimmer because the knob that probably at one time in history controlled that is pretty impossible to move and looks like this:

So my question is - am I making things significantly worse by not running the filter under these circumstances? The water level has been dropping about 2- 3" a week, and now that we're going to have to start using our water for irrigating, I'd like to minimize the amount of water I have to add to the pool without making its current issues worse, KWIM?