8/24/21 Pool Fixed?

     I wasn't even sure if I would ever write the  words, but I think I might have fixed the pool, mostly by cycle of elimination.  I was sure the problem was either the skimmer box, where the water gets sucked back to the pump and filter outside the pool.  I then blocked this section off, but water still leaked, so I then figured the leak was somewhere else.  I then thought it had to be leaking at the inlet connection where the water comes back into the pool and I tried all sorts of tricks, going as far as using Flex tape in the Spring.  This seemed to work so I decided after the glue started falling apart that this is where I needed to focus my energy.  I bought this clay putty that I have used before to fill in cracks and places like around the light assembly.

    I bought four of these packages at Harbor Freight and I know it's a cheap tool place, but even the clay felt cheap.  It filled in but it didn't fill the inlets like I wanted.  I then procrastinated another couple weeks, only to see the pool water fall again to about where it always does.  At this point, I had given up, we were talking about spending $80,000-$100,000 to install a new pool and hot tub combo.  I really wanted to do this, mostly to get rid of this albatross, but I didn't want the $600 a month price tag.  I was discussing with Wife that I could put more of the clay putty, but it does cost like $6 a pack and I need another 4-6 of them.  She put it into perspective that if we spend even $50 on clay and we can stop the leak, it is nothing compared to the cost of a new pool.

    So I made the effort a couple weeks ago to plug the four water inlets entirely up, to completely eliminate the chance that this is the source of leakage.  I was heartbroken when after a day I could tell the water was still coming down, indicating that there was still a small leak.  Wife pointed out some cracks on the body of the fiberglass.  I ignored these because they didn't seem deep  enough to go all the way through, but since I didn't know where else to try and plug and I still had clay in my hands, I went along and plugged up these cracks.

    I guess they were the culprits, the water has remained as high and clean as it was Sunday afternoon and it feels so good to discover where the water had been leaking or at least stopping the flow of water outside of our pool.  If the pool is in good shape, then I need to now start worrying about the hot tub.  It did not want to work correctly like it used to before.  It used to have a lot of power and the last time I fired it up, it barely moved the water and the heater would not even stay on because the water flow was so light.