Newbie--Help me find out what is happening and donation will be made if problem solved

[GBBUDD]

have you looked at the skimmer it's self emptied it and see if it is cracked?

get a shop vac out there suck up the water and dig under it .

but you should also take a good look at where the liner is attached to the skimmer dry it and throw a bead of caulk on it if the water slows down then you know it's the mount.

 

[salpatel]

Ok. It appears when the water source is turned off, it is still leaking but just not as fast...see below.

have you looked at the skimmer it's self emptied it and see if it is cracked?

get a shop vac out there suck up the water and dig under it .

but you should also take a good look at where the liner is attached to the skimmer dry it and throw a bead of caulk on it if the water slows down then you know it's the mount.

Thanks. GBBUDD. I will empty out the skimmer and look for a leak. The caulking idea sounds good too. Are you suggesting that I keep digging the hole I dug until I get below the bottom of the skimmer?

 

[GBBUDD]

Sorry to say i am. Then you'll know if its the skimmer its self has a crack / easy to do putting the pumps in those things.

Or you'll see if it's coming from the front, that I suspect is the problem as the termination strip on the front has probably failed.

 

[GBBUDD]

Ok. It appears when the water source is turned off, it is still leaking but just not as fast...see below.
View attachment 158703

Thanks. GBBUDD. I will empty out the skimmer and look for a leak. The caulking idea sounds good too. Are you suggesting that I keep digging the hole I dug until I get below the bottom of the skimmer?

I don't remember seeing one picture of the opening of the skimmer where the water goes in to it.

 

[salpatel]

Happy 4th of July to the people on the left side of the "pond"! Condolences to those on the right side of the "pond"

I want to post an update. So, took a close look at the front plate on the skimmer. It clearly looked like it needed replacement as some of the screws at the bottom had rotted away. I drained the skimmer box and there was no leak in there that I could see. I took out the old housing with the plate, removed the rotted screws, old silicone and replaced it. I had to buy new similar sized screws (I don't know exactly what type of skimmer I have). I cleaned that whole area and put in loctite S30 polyurethane sealant for roof and chimneys (b/c some guy on youtube said he liked it). Others seem to put black silicone, but some said that is not as strong as polyurethane. In any case, everything is back on. I couldn't put new holes into the liner where the screw went in and tried my best to align the liner so that the screws go straight through the old hole in the liner. I'm not sure if every screw went through the original hole, but used lots of sealant just in case it needed to punch through and create another hole or make the exisiting hole larger. I let everything dry overnight.

I've started filling the water again and we'll see tonight if this fixes it.

 

[RMaynard]

Good luck!

 

[salpatel]

Ouch, that didn't work either after spending the day sealing the front plate. I gave up and am now calling a pro to put in a new skimmer.

 

[Lisak1]

Now this is my kind of fix! haha! Sorry it came to this, but you gave it your best. At least you know what it's NOT.

When you say "pro"... have you seen this guys work?

The screws on the skimmer faceplate rotting out is a known issue - I saw a guy post a whole video ranting about a certain pond company not being willing to rebuild his pond for him because the skimmer faceplate screws failed. In his case, the screws snapped off but he couldn't get them out of the holes to put in new screws.

I mean, he was right on the one hand, but totally off base on the other! If you're building a product where the screws are meant to be in contact with water 24/7/365 for years on end, use screws that won't rot out.