Suction side leak (PIC) am I close???

[Poconos]

Think you're on the right track. Water could be leaking along that horizontal pipe somewhere and following a path of least resistance to the hole. I assume that horiz pipe goes to a skimmer? You said you took a break and the hole then got water in it. Try draining the hole and running the pump to see if it refills with water while the pump is on. If it doesn't then the pipe is likely the problem. If not, maybe the skimmer. Curious if the water level in the hole stops at the level of the water in the pool. Best guesses for now.
Al
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[lmnharris]

It's had to tell, but I think the water in my hole is actually 6-12 inches lower than the pool level.

My skimmer is about 30 ft. from that hole and 3/4 of the line is under concrete. Do you think it's possible for water to travel that far and puddle up in my hole?

[Poconos]

Impossible to tell if water could travel that far from a leak. I doubt 30' but it depends on how the pipe was buried and the surrounding soil. If directly in the ground probably not. If buried in sand or something to protect it somewhat, maybe. Did you check if the hole fills with the pump running? Another question...In Oklahoma, what about freeze damage? Don't know the climate issues that well. My gut feeling is the leak is close to the hole. Wish I could be of more help.
Al

[lmnharris]

I kept digging farther back on the line yesterday, and I don't know what I touched but my puddles in the bottom of my hole stopped, but I'm still getting air in the pump.
I left the pump running yesterday for 4 hrs and didn't have one drop of water, then I just never got anymore water. This complicates my situation. Now I'm looking for an invisible air leak.
On top of that It rained last night last night and my dog removed my tarp from the hole and took it to her dog house. So now when I get home i have water to bail.

I really think this problem started at the end of last summer. I wasn't very educated about the pool and didn't really relize anything bad was happening with the bubbles.

[Sully]

The other pipe....... have you checked it for leaks? Water leaks can be funny at times, you think to yourself "an easy repair", but then spend half day tracking it down.

I might have over looked, but have you done a bucket test to see how much water your losing?

[lmnharris]

I'm not loosing water per say. I actually marked on my pool tile with dry erase and the water didn't move overnight, if so it was so slight I couldn't tell.

It does freeze in OK in the winter time. I don't know what the frostline is here, but I was golfing on Jan. 7th this past winter. It was really warm. My pool got no more than a very thin sheet of ice on top.
Guess since I'm home I'll go bail water and start digging some more.