We are just finishing up construction on a two acre levee pond in southern Louisiana. It was planned with NRCS guidance who recommended a 12 inch siphon spillway. We used a standard siphon kit from Pond Dam Piping Ltd. No problem with these guys. They had reasonable prices and provided prompt delivery.
The issue I have is with the Brain Surgeon/"Pond Guy" who installed the siphon. Luckily, I spotted him getting ready to lay the inlet and outlet at the same level. So, I stopped him, telling him that the inlet needs to be 4-5 feet higher than the outlet. Well, he argues with me saying that's nonsense, that the sole determining siphoning factor is the difference in height between the high water level in the pond and the outlet, that I want the inlet to be at the bottom of the pond to draw the "dead water" but goes on to say "no problem, I'll do whatever you ask".
So I go back later that afternoon and find The inlet on the absolute bottom of the pond. The horizontal pipe through the dam was laid in correctly, but something looks funky on the outlet side. The outlet appears to be at the same exact level as the inlet???!!??. I go look inside the outlet (which is at the same level as the inlet)and look down the pipe and he has it going about 6 feet underground before it elbows back up.
"I put the outlet 6 feet below the inlet, just like you said!"
Anyone have any advice? I doubt the guy has the basic competency to fix the problem. What I'm thinking is going out there after he's, gone, and cut out about a 6-7 foot length of the pond side slope pipe and then re-attach with a coupling to bring the intake up to an appropriate level.
I wonder if this may be a common problem with construction. Certainly, my dirt guy didn't get an "A" in high school science. I've read a few posts on here from people noticing that their siphons never seem to move much water. In fact, I might have been authoring a post like that a year from now if I hadn't spotted this construction error.
