I woke up this morning to my DH telling me the pond wasn't running. I went out to investigate the situation and, sure enough, the pump wasn't on. I think my pump may have burned out. I checked the RFI outlet it's plugged into and also the circuit breaker. Did not think to check to see if the lights were working, so I'm going back out to see if they work. If so, I will need a new pump :( I guess it runs about $100 for just the pump, but I'll have to figure out what size to get (our pond was an 11ft X 17ft kit). Then there is draining off the water to install it...
Pond problems...
Thats a bummer! How are the fish doing? Take the width x length x depth x 7.5 and that will give you the gallons of water in the pond. Your pond water should push through at least once an hour. Also the height of the waterfall will also reduce the water flow. Example, 11x16x2x7.5=2,640gal., witha 3ft. waterfall. I use a pump thats 2900gph. Nice flow off waterfall. This pump cost me $390.00. Good Luck!Patrick
I checked the lights and they work. Also tried plugging and unplugging the pump to see if the plug prongs just weren't making contact with the outlet. Didn't help:( It's still not running... Anybody got any other ideas to try?
Ouch, Patrick--$390!?!??? I hope it was gold plated. I'm not even going to try to figure out what size pump to get. I've got part of the pond that's only 6" deep, another part that's 22" deep, then the waterfall...but we didn't use the entire 11X17 feet. We cut off parts of the liner (I wanted a very natural looking pond, which I think I got). Hiring someone else is sounding better all the time! Think I might just give them a jingle tomorrow morning.
Mine does that...........I take the filter out and spray it with the water hose.....fixes it everytime.Hope this works for you.
I just put new filters in not long ago, but I'll see if it needs cleaning. It will for sure once that pump gets going again. I yanked all the mint out that I could and some of the Bacopa--it filled a 30 gal. trash can by the time I was done. There are lots of little leaves floating around in there right now.
Butterfly, mine does that too and it seems to happen right after I clean the filters. I did purchase another pump. **sigh** But my hubby likes to take things apart to figure out how they work and when he took the old one apart the only problem was a small rock in the "works" of the pump. Once he took that out it worked fine. Sorry but I don't know where the rock actually was. Perhaps it's either that or those roots. Either way I hope you find the problem....
Good Luck!!
"T" :)
I cleaned out the filters and lucky thing I did. I had two Golden Club seeds (Orontium aquaticum) that had floated in there and were anchored in the filter starting to sprout. I carefully pulled them out and rinsed the filter. It wasn't too dirty.
Talked to the pond people today. I totally forgot about having hooked the pump up to a power stake and then running it to the GFI outlet. Maybe I'll get lucky and the powerstake died/fried on me. I'll crawl back there tomorrow to see. Otherwise, it's about $400 for a new pump and $75 service fee on top plus a little labor for removal/installation of the pump :(
My pump has quit a few times and since it is an impeller pump all I have had to do it to clean the impeller and it runs again. If yours is submersible I don't know what the problem is though. I use an above ground pump.
Mine is the submersed kind. Still need to crawl through the bushes to check this out. Hopefully this weekend or I guess the contractor I hired will have to check (I'm having eye surgery early Monday AM and any gardening, bending down, heavy lifting and such is a no no for a while--boo hoo!)
I cleared the way to the powerstake and checked it out. The little red power light is on, so it appears to still have power going to it and the plugs are in there good and tight. Gonna have to fork over the $ for a new pump I'm afraid. I was so hopeful that maybe I could get off cheap on this one. Didn't need this on top of doctor bills. Good thing I've got disability insurance to pay my salary while I'm out.
((((((BflyGardnr)))))))) So sorry about your pump problems. It never misses when you are down to have more stuff hit ya. The sun will be shining again soon though in your life.
Thanks, Ponditis. You are sure right about that--hit you when you're down. I think I've had my share now with the laparotomy, cataract surgery, several pricey car repairs, and now the pond pump. "Murphy" can leave my place at any time now...
Butterfly,
An easy and inexpsendive check on a submersible pump is have someone check acoss the two hot prongs of the pump cord with an ohm meter. If there is no reading then the coil windings inside the pump are melted open. A very low reading shows a short circuit, indicating a bad pump. Take the pump out and plug it in, if there is a humming sound then the pump impeller is porbably plug. This can easily be cleaned and the pump should work again.
cblunk jr, thanks for your suggestions. The pump is currently plugged in and has electricity. It's not making any sound. We don't have an ohm meter to check it with anyway. I hired the pond company to come fix it. They were going to check some of that stuff for me.
One more thing to try before you give up: Turn the flow knob ALL the way to HIGH and see if it takes off. If it does, you can readjust it and keep an eye on it for awhile. Sometimes those little nooks and crannies get gunked up, and the 'high' setting will force the crud out sometimes.
Pump was DOA. Dead, dead, dead. The pond company replaced it today. I'm waiting for the bill...it will be at least $400.
ouch I hate when that happens!!!! But at least you will have your pond working again.
Yes, ouch. But, yeah, the pond is working. It's too quiet out there withouth the pond running. The frogs were out there singing away tonight, so I guess they were happy it was fixed, too.
lol :>)
I wish the bullfrogs would sing at times other than breeding season. Or maybe I don't because they sure are LOUD. lol
Bill arrived today and I was pleasantly surprised. No service charge, just $400 for the pump and $28 for sales tax. I did a bit of trouble shooting and cleared out all the plants/brush that they would have otherwise had to deal with. It could've been much worse. So nice to hear the running water again. You don't realize how much sound it puts out until it's off. Music to my ears :)
Great that they didn't charge you a service fee. Not too many that won't charge that sevice fee these days and when they don't charge they sure earn your loyalty.
This is the company installed the pond and has done a couple of repairs in the past for me. They've done a nice job. About the only complaint I have at all is that they were a little shy of level when they dug the pond. They didn't verify that it was level, so the end near the house is a little higher than the end by the sidewalk. I can live with that.
Too bad they didn't level it though. Makes keeping it full much easier in most of them.
I know that trick for next time!
Sorry to here about your pump. I have a small company that was a hobby. Now I've done 8 ponds this year. That's on weekends after my regular job. I just love this pond stuff. I have a pump job this week, on a pond I install last year about this time. I'll chack everything, sometimes the GFI plug even goes bad. Had that happen and that was an easy fix, maybe that's got something to do with my day job,(General Electrical Foreman). Anyway I'll post a picture of that pond soon.