Gunite pool leak help

[17driver]

I have a question regarding a leak in a gunite pool. I have a 15 X 40 gunite pool that is losing right at an inch a day. The water level stops dropping right at the bottom of the lowest skimmer mouth. The skimmer bucket is still holding water all the way up to the level of the skimmer mouth. My question is with there still being water in the skimmer bucket, does that rule out a plumbing line leak? I would think if there was a leak in the line that all the water would drain out. I also don't have an equalization line. I looked around the skimmer and found no visible cracks and I shot some dye around the mouth and the skimmer bucket and could not tell much because the water is cloudy(can't run the pump because of the water level.) I also checked around the entire pool at the level where the water stops dropping and found no cracks. I had a pool guy come by and take a look and he said he wanted to first pressure test the skimmers and epoxy the pool lights. It did not quite make since because I would think if the lights were leaking the water line would drop to the level of the lights and if it was a leak in the skimmer line then the skimmer bucket would be empty. Just dont want to spend a ton of money for him to tell me that is not where the leak is when common sense is kinda telling me that already. Again all this is with the pump off. Any help would be appreciated.

[mas985]

I think you are on the right track. The leak should be where the water level stops.
You can rule out the return lines if the rate of water loss does not change with the pump on or off. And you can rule out the suction lines if you do not get a lot of air in the pump basket when the pump is running.

Skimmers are one area where leaks can develop so even though you haven't found anything yet, I would focus on that area. You may need to raise the water level some and then use the dye so you can actually see it exiting a gap somewhere.

[17driver]

Well I put epoxy all around the skimmer where it meets the concrete and it still leaks. I did it to both skimmers. I talked to the pool guy again and he said that if a light was leaking it could stop the water line at the skimmer. That doesn't make sense to me because I would think it would leak all the way down to the light. He said something about it could be leaking down to the water table and stabilizing. Could someone explain? I am filling it up everyday and it leaks at the same rate until it gets to the bottom of he skimmer mouth. Thanks

[mas985]

He is right about the water table but it would have to be very high water table. Basically, if the leak were at the light and the water table was at the skimmer, which I seriously doubt, then the pool would leak down to the same level as the water table. Water will always seek its own level and where the pressure is equalized. The skimmer is not that deep so if you dig a hole next to the pool to the same depth as the bottom of the skimmer and you don't see water, then the leak would be at the skimmer level and not the pool light level.

[waste]

Welcome to the Forum!

There may be something to the light conduit theory. IF the conduit happened to be buried at the same level as the bottom of the skimmer mouth and broke at that level, then you would only loose water to that level. I think it's unlikely, but is a possibility.