New Member / Owner

No direct experience but what about the mulitvalve? Is it a side mount? What setting did you have it on when the filter was being cleaned?
The only valve I have is on the skimmer/side port line to the pump.

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I had it closed to the pump before opening the unions to prevent water from coming back down. No valves on the returns.
 
Just did the math. Somehow I lost 4-5k gallons in a space of 4-5 hours while my filter was unconnected. I’m trying to put more in but I have no idea if I’m still losing water. Very frustrating.

Just timed my hose. Fills a 5-gallon bucket in 58 seconds. Going to take about 12 hours to fill the pool back up, assuming it’s not still losing water.

Edit: about 7”, not 12”, just measured. Eyes playing tricks on me. So about 2.5k gallons. About 7-8 hours.
 
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Going to get some back ground knowledge to help someone figure this out:
-when you back wash your filter where does the water go?

-All you did was turn that valve to stop the flow of water then opened the filter to take the sand out correct?
 
Going to get some back ground knowledge to help someone figure this out:
-when you back wash your filter where does the water go?

-All you did was turn that valve to stop the flow of water then opened the filter to take the sand out correct?
- Backwash goes to a pipe that then goes underground, I suspect to the sewers.

- Turned off pump. Closed Jandy valve that blocks both suction lines to pump. Removed unions from waste line, pump line, and line to heater to remove the multivalve and piping on top of the filter. Cleaned out filter by shop-vacing out the sand, washing it one shop-vac bucket at a time in a wheelbarrow, removed standpipe and laterals to inspect, put everything back, noticed pool had lost 8” or so of water over the 4-5 hours spent cleaning.
 
So only possible explanations I can think of:

- I accidentally left multiport valve on some sort of waste setting or valve was broken and it was low this morning and I just didn’t notice. Unlikely as water was well below the skimmer and the skimmer was the only thing on after my toying with them yesterday.

- A leak in my vinyl that just coincidentally happened when I was doing the work today. Also unlikely.

- Some sort of massive suction side leak in the side port, or return leak in the return lines. (Can’t be in skimmer as water went down well below the skimmer.) Seems most likely.

I’m refilling it now. Will leave pump and system closed and see if water has dropped tomorrow morning. If not, will open pump lid and leave off to see if system drops from that. If it does I will put my winter plugs in both returns and the main drain, refill, see if it loses then. If not, undo one each night and see what is causing the drop.

Will probably end up with a swamp by the time I’m done without the pump running but will figure it out within a few days. If it’s a return.....that will need to get fixed and be expensive. If it’s the side port I guess I can just leave it capped.
 
Im a little foggy. Did the pool drop while the pump was running? or when you had it turned off and the filter was apart?
While it was apart, I am 99% sure. There’s a chance it dropped that much the night before and I failed to notice, but very low. Too many things would have had to have been wrong for that to be the case.
 

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Here is hoping it was the filter handle in the wrong place but don't think that was it as you would have noticed the low water! That sure would be the easy one to fix though.

Do you have any kind of submersible pump? If not you can get a cheap one from Harbor Freight. That way you can mix the water that way when you add chlorine. Right after you add the chlorine you brush the pool and have that pump running to mix the water.

I will be checking in later today to see what you find when you get up! Hoping it is the water right at that tape. That was a VERY smart way to make the level. NO question of where it was when you left it.
 
Lost 3.5” or about 1250 gallons overnight, about 7-8 hours.

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Ran the pump using the side port for suction long enough to put in about 10-12ppm FC of bleach. Turned off the pump and plugged up the side suction port and both returns. Changed tape level.

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Put some water in and tape on a bucket as well. Expecting a cooler day here but then we can account for evaporation. Time to see if the leak is in the pool or the plumbing.

If leak is in the plumbing, do they have snake cameras that work on pool plumbing with the sharp corners and skinny pipes?
 
It looked like it stopped at the bottom of the skimmer to me. I guess it's something else!
If the pool maintains levels with plugs in I will plug the skimmer and test that alongside the others with one-at-a-time removals. Just because there’s a leak somewhere else doesn’t mean the skimmer couldn’t also be having issues!
 
Stopped at home on lunch to check in on it. It’s down another 2” in four hours. Plugging returns and the suction-side skimmer didn’t make a difference. It’s still dropping. So the leak is in the pool and not the plumbing.

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I guess now I put a hose into it after work and let it start filling a bit as I drop food coloring around the edges of the pool. Just standard grocery store food coloring? Red to see easier I assume?
 
I just did the math, and it looks like I’m working out to losing about 3 gallons every minute! You’d think a leak like that would jump out at you…
 

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