Pond Boss
Posted By: Engineerly Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/13/09 11:46 PM
We need some expert advice!

Our subdivision has a roughly acre pond about 20 years old and the vertical pipe (12" corrugated) with the screen on top broke way below water level and our pond is almost dry now. It will rain some more tonight. How do we go about finding someone locally (Paulding County, GA) who has the equipment and know how to fix it properly? It is very mucky down there and we have not seen the end of the pipe yet. My neighbor has the idea to wait for it to drain completely and then build a concrete base around the broken pipe and then attach a new vertical section pipe or build a brick chimney up to where the water level should be, but it is deep mud mud and will constantly fill with water as soon as we try to dig around it. ANY advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ron
Posted By: Yolk Sac Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/14/09 12:01 AM
Hello Engineerly, and welcome. Interesting problem.

A couple questions:

When you say you haven't seen the end of the pipe, do you mean the section of the standpipe which remains, or the horizontal pipe leading through the dam?

How much silting has occurred? Or to rephrase, how deeply do you think the horizontal portion of the drain is buried?

It sounds from your brief description like it might be a whole lot of work to repair the original system, and if it has already corroded through once, it might do so again, unless you replace the whole shebang.

Could you put in an overflow pipe through the dam in another location, and obviate the need for the standpipe drainage setup? If so, you could potentially fill the remaining horizontal pipe with cement, and simply plug it up.

Anyway, welcome again, there are some people who really have some expertise in the area of your interest, and often log on in the early hours of the morn, so hold tight.
Posted By: Bob Lusk Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/14/09 12:15 AM
Three suggestions for you. Get in touch with Pond Dam Piping, Ltd.; 398 Eighth St.; Macon, GA, (800)333-2611 and speak with Keith Johnson. Tell him Bob Lusk, the "Pond Boss", told you to call. They can help you with any piping issue and refer you to contractors who can help solve the issues. Their website is http://www.ponddampiping.com or email Keith directly at kjohnson@ponddampiping.com.
Also, consider Southeastern Pipe & Drain Systems, P.O. Box 1282, 3800 Trolley Line Road, Aiken, SC, 29802 and visit with them. http://www.sepipe.net or email at sep021@sepipe.net or call (800)468-7564.
The third thing...get in touch with our good friends, Greg Grimes, with Aquatic Environmental Services, Ball Ground, Georgia. (770)735-3523 or email at greg@lakework.com. Also, visit with Southeastern Pond Management at http://www.sepond.com
Between all these good people, you should get some answers.
Posted By: Engineerly Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/14/09 01:15 AM
Thanks to both of you for the quick response and great information.

I think the standpipe is broken off at the elbow before it goes though the dam, and there is a small whirlpool above it. It looks like the heavily corroded standpipe is still partly attached and laying down in the water. We could move it but could not pull it up. I can't see the end of the pipe under the water (maybe still 2 ft above the end). The water is flowing fast though the pipe and dumping out the dryside of the dam so I don't think it is silted.

Good idea about putting a new pipe in, but we don't have the knowledge or tools to do that properly. Tommorrow I'll call one of those leads.

I don't think it is an emergency, no one is getting flooded and there is no visible erosion, but the poor bloody frogs and fishes are homeless :-) (or migrating downstream). The pond is actually about 2 or 3 acres and is shared by 10 homes so this is a highly visible project.

Thanks again.
Posted By: otto Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/14/09 08:20 AM
Can you get any pictures?
Posted By: Greg Grimes Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/14/09 11:45 AM
We have just last week repaired two pipes. Yours seems a little tougher fix. You have supplied good information and we have looked at three ponds also in paulding county. I know that was one of the harder hits areas during the flood. Leaning toward filling it with concrete via pressure grouting from the backside then installing a sihpon system.

However best to look at the site. I can tackle small repairs. The ones we did were on broken vertical pipes only 8" diamemter on one, pretty easy. On the other it was a 10" vertical and we sleeved it with 15 inch sdr-35 pvc pipe and about as much as two folks can manhandle. We used a 8 foot section. WHen talking 12" pipe you might get away with sleeve of 15" it boils down to how long a section we need to tackle. Keep in mind this is what we call a temporary fix meaning. Might last year or so. I know one is stil in place I did back in 1999. Like I said best to look at total replacement from description but let us know. I work with another guy I can send out if interested. thanks and good luck.
Posted By: Engineerly Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/14/09 01:06 PM
More (hopefully useful) info:

The main pipe that goes through the dam looks more heavy duty and more like 8". I'll upload some pictures this eve. I don't know how or why a 12" corrugated vertical section was attached to the pond side. After thinking about it, if the part of the main pipe exposed inside the dam has enough integrity, I bet we could just clamp/bolt a new elbow and vertical section and screen to it if we had the right materials and tools. We'd want it to be permanent.

Our homeowners' association is defunct so I don't know how we'd pay for it or who actually is responsible for it. So Greg, if your guy (or anybody) has time to come by and look at it and give us an estimate let me know by PM and I'll give you directions. It has to be fixed so we may just have to go door to door when we find out what it will take.

Although people do fish in it, to my knowledge it has never been stocked and there is zero interest in doing that since the fishermen are non-residents and actually a nuisance and invasion of privacy. We personally like to just look at it, watch the birds and turtles and listen to the frogs sing in the evening.

Thanks again,
Ron
Posted By: Engineerly Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/15/09 12:14 AM
Before anybody gets too excited about winning a major construction contract, a different neighbor just came by with a letter he's taking to all shoreline residents, wanting to raise funds and already has a contractor lined up. Apparently the potential contractor is one of our "Lakefront" homeowners who is renting his house out. He had repaired it before so supposedly has the know-how to reattach a new pipe. We're going to ask him to explain his plan.

So for what it's worth and in case it does not work out with this guy, here are the pictures I took today (descriptions below the pics):


A broad view of the mostly empty pond from our back yard with the dam on the far side. That little white dot on the right at the edge of the water is the screen that was on top of the pipe.


The pond side of the pipe, now underwater because someone tried to plug it with some carpet underlay. They must have pulled out or submerged the vertical section that was there last night. The whirlpool was about 8 feet out from the current edge. What do you think that Great Blue Heron is thinking right now?


The upside-down screen/trap. It looks like the bent rebar is supposed to sit inside the vertical pipe, so you get an idea how big it was.


The outlet pipe on the backside of the dam. I did not measure it but it looks like 8" (certainly not 12 or 6). The carpet on the other end is obviously restricting the flow very well, because yesterday this was a torrent.


The path on top of the dam. You can get a feel how wide/deep it is: barely able to drive a vehicle on.

So that's the end of the tour, I'll let y'all know if our current plan works out.

Thanks again,
Ron
Posted By: Greg Grimes Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/15/09 12:33 PM
Ron couple of thoughts. We have fixed many fixes that were not done properly. Feel free to pass by the renters plan and I will give you an opinion greg@lakework.com. It makes no sense to not to it right.

What you have is a common system, due to friction losss the standpipe is larger than the thru (horizontal) pipe. Looks like an 8/12 (or 8/10) system. The trash rack does as you say fit on the vertical 12 inch pipe it is still in workign order. The 8 inch pipe coming out the back seems to be in fairly good shape as well. Bolting it on rarely works to prevent all leaks. A small leak becomes a big issue when in a drought like we had last couple of years.

You got fish or the blue heron would not be there.
Posted By: Engineerly Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 10/17/09 03:26 PM
Greg,

We have a lakefront homeowners meeting today at 2:00 to bring up all the options. I'll pass on your contact info, but I have feeling it will be mostly to validate the engineering plan that is already started, get some kind of guarantee and start moving on it.

Thanks,
Ron
Posted By: Engineerly Re: Repairing Broken Pipe - 03/20/10 03:20 PM
It's been a while and the neighbor guy fixed it, but apparently did not put a screen cap thing on top. ?! That's what a different neighbor told me.

Crud must have gotten stuck at the elbow since the outlet pipe has about 1/6 flow coming out even though the pond water level is way higher than normal. The new pipe is 8" diameter.

So now we need two things:
1. A method for unplugging the pipe (fish-tape, roto rooter?)
2.A local source for a stainless steel (?) cap to go on top of the intake pipe.

I guess you get what you pay for: now we have to fix his repair job. :-\
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