Hi all. Back with an update. So after fixing the spider gasket the leak still occurred. I called a local pool repair guy and explained everything to him. He asked about my eyeball return and I indicated I had a light return in place the apst few years instead of an eyeball. he said it was possible there could be a pressure issue somewhere and that I should replace the light with the eyeball and see if that fixed the issue. I did this last night and it didn't work.

However, I did notice what I will call a pressure "kickback" from the return line to the pool back into the Vari-Flo valve. I started up the pump and it started going, about 5-10 seconds in the where a "kickback" of pressure from the pool through the return line into the Vari-Flo valve, causing the handle to unseat/adjust, which I believe lifted the spider gasket and the seal is then broken. Thoughts on how to figure out where the pressure leak could be so I can fix this?

Kevin