Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Ice got me...

Do they make a glue that bonds PVC underwater? ....well i lost 1/2 my pond today..with brutal temps last few weeks the ice froze I'n my outflow pipe.. Ice rose and pulled pipe and snapped it at the 90 elbow.. Sad sight.. So much wrk lost.. The water level has dropped 8 ft , all ice kinda slid I'n and pulled my shoreline away.. Rock/ bank/ grass.. Pond is going to be about 10ft deep even after pipe break.. So i turned off shallow defuser and turn on deep defuser til spring i guess. I'll see what mess i have this spring.. Next year i will have a defuser near outflow pipe . My pond is 1/2 acre 19 ft deep with a spring feeding at 300 gallons a hour.. .... Btw... I have a secondary pond ( down river) that saved any fish that might have took the journey.. Any recommendations would be great..

Ohh man that sucks.. Take some pics I'm gonna be putting a riser on my pipe and never thought of this, all though it will be 1/2" steel pipe..

Sucks is about the best description I can think of.

Sounds weird to say, but very sorry for your loss.

Take and post some pics. This would be interesting and helpful to others.

Sorry to hear that. Part of the reason why my overflow is actually technically an emergency overflow. I once had a pipe through the dike for an overflow but my pond builder didn't bother to put a collar on it and water worked it's way around the pipe and I sprung a leak. When he came out to fix it I told him I wanted an emergency overflow that funneled into an above ground pipe. Works like a charm other than some five star moles that bored in the top couple of feet. Fixed that with some concrete.

James,
To answer your initial question, they do make a PVC cement that bonds in water. I can't recall its exact name but it is a deep blue color.

I wish i could post pics, I've tryed but i can't.. Cecil , i do have a 16 inch emergency spillway pipe.. Set at 4 iches above normal wAter level.. Ice just kept rising.. Then snapped outflow at elbow..

I was wondering about that happening. What's the best way to have outflow in a dam when you have a spring parts of the winter flowing into a pond. As long as the spring keeps flowing I am sure it would flow out of a stand pipe but most of the time they stop periodacly and then it would freeze around stand pipe. I am starting to lean towards having a cement overflow on the dam and no pipe.

I am curious as to how the water going down river affected the other pond, froze I presume too.

Did the water sit on top of the ice along with the escaped fish or did the ice come up readily??


I have ice fished with a couple iches of water on the ice but never seen fish on top, always thought that would be interesting.

I have bought the PVC cement that I "think" they call wet-set

Sorry to hear that Jamie. My emergency overflow is set at the highest level I want my pond to go which corresponds with the bottom edge of my pier. Ther is no pipe to freeze up except for the overflow pipe that starts a good 8 or 10 feet from the edge of the pond. Before that is a stone and grass lined ditch that leads into the pipe. Where the pipe starts is a concrete collar about 10 inches thick to keep water from flowing around the pipe even though it is mostly above ground. The pipe is only to direct flow into a highway ditch.

Fish mn, 10 inch outflow pipe for upper pond, and 10inch outflow pipe for secondary lower pond .. The lower pond banks and outflow pipe held and worked fine... WAter came I'n so fast , yes ice rose a little maybe a inch or two, but ice opened up where inflow was entering pond and about 4 ft around outflow pipe because the movement of water so fast... The prob i have now is this, the elevation of seconday pond is about 4 ft lower than upper pond..... But 90 I'n upper pond where it snapped is under water about a foot or two... So i think i will have to drain secondary pond to fix upper pond... My design flaw i guess. Lol... Not much a guy can do I'n -30 windshield temps.. Lol.....