Pool Leak?

As you can see I am a newbie in this area of expertise (Pools), Ill try to explain this to the best of my knowledge.

The pool is inground about 10x20 or so....9 feet deep at one end and probably 3-3.5 feet shallow at the other.

The filter is a Hayward S-200 HPS Filter (just changed over to fresh zeosand) and some secondary pump setup for a slide (but i don't think that is really important to my problem)

I just opened my pool last week and finally got around to starting to clean it (tons of leaves and algae in the pool, not sure it was ever cleaned or used last year) First I used dumped about 1/4 of the water through the waste port on the pump, that seemed fine just wanted to get some fresh water in there to try and dilute the algae. Next i dumped in about 2 lbs of shock but never ran through the filter (just used recirc on the vari-port?) yet as the sand still needed to be changed. Next day I went to the pool store got 5 more lbs. of shock and 100 lbs. of zeosand. Changed sand in filter, continued to fill pool with garden hose and ran the pump for about 12 hours. When I came home last night the water level was about 8 inches lower than when i left it (pump and garden hose both on). Now it seems the pump is leaking because all winter the water level did not go down. Could it be that one of the underground lines between the pump and the pool is damaged (there are very few air bubbles coming from the vac side of the pump..'the inlet??') If so how much trouble is it gonna be to fix this thing........i have access to shovels and backhoes. Also the pump is running at about 22-25 psi (depending on if the slide pump is working), is this safe? The pump says its rated for 50psi max but from other posts ive been reading i see people runninga bout 10-15 psi, what gives? Thanx In Advance and if I left something out that is important just let me know ill post it up.

Do you live in a cold climate where the ground freezes? It sounds like you recently moved into the house from your post. Do you know if the pool lines were winterized last season? When did you settle on the house and what info. did the seller provide regarding the condition of the pool.

I live in NJ, cold climate but not sure the ground freezes that MUCH?? I did recently move into the house (as a housemate) not owning the house. There was pink 'anti-freeze' put into the pump and skimmer (this is the part with the little door towards the top of the pool...correct?). My housemate did not provide much information about the pool (she does not know).

There was a cap in the return line for the pump.......DOH!!!!:confused: Uncapped it and now the pump runs around 10-15 psi depending on the slide pump. Gonna try and locate this leak...........I feel like quite the idiot:mad:

ok, so i found the leak but still have a problem. The gasket inside the vari-flow is not holding up and allowing the water to go into the filter and into the waste at the same time. Replaced the gasket ran it for a day and it blew again.......Anyone experience this before? The filter is running all over the place as far as psi...usually around 13-18 but sometimes it goes over 20 (i thought psi was supposed to go down as the filter clogged) anyway i run the backwash and rinse and that will bring the psi back down but still don't wanna replace gaskets all the time....what gives?

The pressure will increase as the filter clogs, it is harder to push the water through the filter. Would it be easier to drain the pool and start fresh? That is what I would do, but I don't have an inground pool, the water pressure on the outside of it could cave it in or float it, and I think it will depend on your location, how dry it is in your area, etc. I managed to close my pool correctly last year, and it opened flawlessly this year, but in previous years when I did not close it correctly, rather than spend hundreds of dollars on chemicals, I drained it. But I have an 18 foot above ground, so it is not to much of a big deal.

the pool is inground

i took it about halfway down, don't want to go any further because of the problem you mentioned (water level in the ground)

so i guess ill just replace the gasket and keep backwashing until it clears up i guess........will be tedious though........