Suspect skimmer may be leaking

[b_blespo]

hello,

i am new to owning a pool. the house we recently bought has an inground pool with a vinyl liner. the pool is less than 5 years old. i suspect it is leaking. we are losing about 3.5 in per week. this is not because of splash out or backwashing.

i did the test with the bucket and the water level goes does much faster in the pool than what is in the bucket.

the only time the water level seems to not leak is when the level is below the skimmers.

i also tried the dye test around the lights, skimmers, return lines, steps and anywhere else i could try. i did not find a leak with this test. maybe i did not do it right.

anyway, where i am going with all of this that i was going to re-do the dye test in the skimmer vs. just outside where the skimmer meets the wall of the pool. i did a visual for cracks and then decided to feel around. this is when i realized that the 'ring' that the basket sits on is almost off. less than 25% per of the circumference is attached.

i have another skimmer and ths ring is attached all the way around and is not loose at all. is this normal? i shot some dye in there with the pump off but it did not go anywhere really. just diffused slowly.

not sure if this is the source of a leak or not but wanted to get some thoughts. i called the place the installed the pool to see whose skimmer was installed but got nowhere. the skimmer appears to be made of PVC.

can this be resealed with the same stuff that is used to glue PVC pipe? if so, do i need to drop the water below the level of this ring and let it dry before sealing?

thanks and sorry for the long post
brian