Dumb luck or whatever you'd like to call it, I gave it ONE more try tonight. This time I elevated the elbow at the pond side more, so I had more slope across the top of the dam. I also tightened the #@*^ out of the Tee cap. 3 foot wrench on it and really leaned on it. Unscrewed the bottom and away she went!!! I should also note the water level is back to normal (Saturday level, when it worked last time) because we had a storm last night.
Now, I watched it flow for a bit, went back to the top, and there was a vortex forming on the top of the water, then it started sucking air down to the pipe.
I hurried up and attached a 4-5 foot piece of pipe (using a rubber boot) with a 45* angle facing down to the bottom of the pond. The straight section is clamped onto a slight angle, so this allowed me to get into deeper water.
However, still getting a small vortex. It wont be long, after it runs for a few hours or maybe a day and I'm sure it will air break. I don't know how to avoid this, short of running a 10ft instead of a 5 foot and angle it more into deeper water. I was trying to be careful not to hit the bottom but it drops off pretty quickly.
This also allowed me to figure out why the siphon STOPPED running after it ran for a day and a half. The first 24 hours or so, it was very windy out, choppy water, meant no vortex!! duh!! Monday, the winds died down and I think that's when the vortex formed and air broke the siphon. The water level was getting close to the inlet at that point.
I was just surprised to see a small vortex form, with that pipe probably over a foot deep in water, with an angled connection facing down.
I'll try to check it in the morning and see how it turns out.
