Air in skimmer line; no suction

Re: Pump Not Pulling Enough Water To Run Properly

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Thanks Patl and Rangeball. My wife started this thread. We bought our house last year and are new to pool life. Our Filter is less than a year old but our pump motor is much older. We have an inground 18 x 36 vinyl lined pool. When we opened the pool our PSI was around 10-12. Now it is at 0 most of the time and the basket is half full. We had a pool company come out and he spent an hour looking over the filter and checking all the pipe couplings. I love to learn and have spent a few hours reading about pools. Too many questions right now but they told us we have a leak in our line from our skimmer to the pump. We don't lose any water so I find that hard to believe. Is taking the pump motor off difficult and will the shape of the impeller be obvious to a neophyte? The hose in the line and the impeller are my next two tries before breaking ground to fix this issue. We barely have enough suction to vacuum light dirt from the bottom and our jet back into the pool is weak with lots of air. Any advice is appreciated. Maybe by next year I will know what the heck we are doing with this hole in the ground.
Thanks,
Scott

Clogged pump impeller or clogged suction line (been vacuuming leaves?), bad pump-lid "O" ring, loose fitting at front of pump, bad "O" rings in any valves in front of the pump, leak in suction line under ground. These are some of the areas that might cause a problem as you are having. The symptoms are similar but the cause different.

Check for any drain plugs in the hair-and-lint pot that might be loose. If there is a connection between that and the main body of the pump, is there a bad gasket or loose bolts? A drain plug on the main pump body can sometimes result in this, though usually it results in a water leak.

Before you start digging, it might be better to call a leak-detection company so that they can pinpoint the problem.

Poolman,
Thanks for the suggestions. We are having a test on the line done today. The pump may be going or the line may be collapsing hence good pressure at first then a steady decline. We shall see.
ssbuswell