Help! I lost prime on pump after pool people set it up!

The pool company just opened our pool and got the equipment working, including priming our pump. After they left, I was manually vacuuming to "waste" with the main drain closed and one of the two skimmers closed The other skimmer was the one I used to vacuum. The pump basket was full of leaves, so I turned off the pump, but couldn't open the lid. I figured hubby could help the next day. I disconnected the vacuum hose, but did not reopen the main drain or skimmer. Then I left to take kids to soccer. When I came home, hubby opened the pump basket, cleaned out the leaves, put the lid on, and started the pump. I was down by the pool waiting for water to come out of the returns. Nothing came out. Then I remembered that I still had the main drain and one skimmer closed. Would that have screwed things up?

We immediately stopped the pump, and I reopened the valves. However, we cannot get the pump to prime. We filled the pump basket with water, it stays full (which isn't normal, it usually gets sucked away quickly), put on the lid, opened the DE filter gauge to vent it, started it up, and the water gets sucked out of the pump basket but new water won't come in.

We only did this for two minutes at a time before putting in more water. I know you can ruin the pump seal if you run it too long without water. Does anyone know what could have happened? Are we just not giving it enough time to prime? I know the pool guy said ours is tough because it's higher than the pool. Or, did I not give it enough time to circulate after the pool people started it up? Because once I got the vacuum set up (maybe 2-3 minutes) I switched the multiport to waste. I'm so confused because I don't know what I did wrong. I don't know if they will come out without me paying them again.

Update--After thinking it through, I believe that I must have leaves clogged in my skimmer line, since I vacuumed directly into the skimmer hole without something to catch the leaves. Consequently, the main drain and second skimmer pipes can't send their water because all three pipes converge into one line that enters the pump. Unfortunately, the skimmer line I used is the final one to enter the pump. So I am imagining a clog of leaves near the pump entrance that is blocking everything. How would I get it out?

Your setup sounds similar to mine. I usually leave the main drain 1/2 open during this process. I also never suck leaves thru the piping and just let the pool cleaner pick up the leaves for what its worth before using vacuum hose... I think if you open all the valves and have a garden hose to fill pump basket couple times you will get it going again.. May take a few times of opening lid, filling with water, and closing of the lid to get her going. If it hasn't caught in 30 seconds I shut down and do again.... Good luck!

Success! Hubby and I went back out and discovered that the mysterious clear glass with a lid right before the pump basket is actually something you pop off to get out debris. It opened right up, we cleaned out a huge amount of leaves, and followed our normal pump priming process using only the main drain and closing the skimmers. After about 5 frantic minutes, the main drain started flowing and I was able to SLOWLY open up the skimmer lines without losing prime. I guess I had a TON of air in the lines because the system had been trying to vacuum without good flow due to the leaves. Lesson learned: no vacuuming without a way to catch the leaves!