Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Siphon system buried

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and need some advice on my problem and possible solution. I recently purchased a piece of property that has a 4 to 5 acre pond that is spring fed and is full year round. From what I learned, the dam was repaired and a concrete overflow was installed about 15 years ago. A 12" siphon system was also installed to control the level of the pond. The siphon system has not work since I purchased the pond and with all of the rain during the first of this year I came close to loosing to pond dam. I have used a go pro camera to investigate what is wrong with the inlet portion of the system and it appears that the pipe is buried.

My thought is to use 4" corrugated pipe as a vacuum system to suck the mud and soil from around the siphon system pipe. The pipe is about 7 to 8 feet under water.

What are your thoughts or suggestions on fixing my problem?

Thanks in advance,

Dean

You do NOT want to be anywhere near that pipe when it frees up and starts flowing water. Maybe take some pipe and start your own siphon over the spillway or the dam. Drain the water down and then just dig it out with a shovel.

I appreciate your concern Warren, the pond is currently at a level that is below the horizontal pipe the goes through the top of the dam. Therefore, there should not be any massive flowing of water during the vacuuming process. Do you have any advice on creating a vacuum using the 4" corrugated pipe? I also plan on attaching a pipe, like 1/2" EMT to the suction end of the 4" pipe to use as a sort of handle to direct the 4" pipe where I want it. What I am attempting to do is dredge the mud from around the pipe sort of like they do at Mexico Beach if anyone is familiar with that process.

I'm sure that all of this is as clear as muddy water. Lol

Dean

Why a vacuum? Have you tried to use a pump and blow the junk out under pressure?

Can you get a septic pumper truck to the area? Or, at least close enough to run their hoses?

I'm not very familiar with the siphon systems and it sounds like the inlet is just buried. This probably means the inlet pipe also has muck built up in it.

Use the pumper truck to get all the mud from around the inlet and as much from the inside as possible. Then use a trash pump and smaller hose as a water jet to flush the inlet pipe out.

Does the system have plumbing that extends above the dam soils that can be used as a cleanout port?

I too think the siphon pipe itself is plugged with mud. If you can take a 3" semi trash pump, fire it up and feed the hose in from the downstream side to flush the plugged pipe. Once the pipe is cleaned out hopefully there will be some rain to fill the pond more and flush the dirt away from the inlet side.

There is no good way to seal corrugated pipe to use it without sucking a LOT of air through any of the connecting fittings, and that air breaks the siphon..

If still want to use flex pipe to suck the dirt away, they make suction hose for the semi trash pumps that use banjo fittings to seal and connect to a banjo fitting on rigid pipe. .

I have attempted to blow the muck away using a homemade water jet type of apparatus with no luck. I appears that the entire inlet end is buried under mud and muck. By siphoning, all of the mud and material should be removed. I feel that the siphon that I am planing on using would do the same thing as the pump truck that you suggested without the cost. Also, would they be able to reach out 16 to 20 feet out into the water and vacuum the bottom that is 7 to 8 feet deep?

essup,

I have a 2" trash pump and I hooked it to the tee at the top of the dam and closed off the outlet pipe in an attempt to force water out through the inlet. I got nothing. When I released the plugged end of the outlet pipe I assumed that the section from a 12" pipe would break something free, nothing changed.

In reference to your comment about the corrugated pipe, I can buy a 100' roll and won't have any fittings therefore no air leaks to beak the siphon. I plan on making a handle to hold the end of the corrugated pipe so that I can operate it from inside a john boat. If I just keep breaking up the mud and muck, the vacuum created from the hose should suck it up.

Dean

This is an example of my system:


http://www.georgialandsales.com/blogspot/?p=145

Hi Dean,

I'm planning on installing the same system on a much smaller pond (0.2ac). I'm concerned with this clogging like yours did. Do you know what is on the end of your inlet pipe? Is it just open to the water or does it have some type of trash rack on it? What size pipe are you using (4", 6", other)?

I used a 100' corrugated pipe to drain/siphon my pond recently. It worked really well. Drained in one day. It was easy to start while the pond was high, but restarting when the pond was lower was very difficult.

KY Pond,

I finally was able to determine what the problem with the system is. It is buried under mud. Also, the pipe was not installed correctly therefore I will be adding a 22 degree elbow and a 3' piece of pipe with holes drilled into it to get the pipe off of the bottom of the pond. The installer did not cap the end of the pipe, he drilled a couple holes in and made a rebar grill out of 4 pieces of rebar. This is 12" pipe so I'm not sure what the rebar was supposed to stop. My pond has 5 to 6 acres of surface, spring few and has a lot of water entering from other areas.

I did not try the corrugated pipe idea. Just got in with a shovel and dug around to find out what the issue was.


Dean

Good to hear you got it working. Mine is just 3" and I cut a slot in the bottom of the pipe and capped the end. I tied a rope to it so I could pull it back and forth over the muck. Worked pretty good until I took an extended break got covered with muck and it sealed up and I could not move it. Finally got it dug out so if we get enough rain to fill this winter I can get back at it. It's amazing that it can seal up a pipe but a pond still leaks through it