Due to some bad judgement on my part my mower has ended up in our pond which is around an 1/8 acre. The mower is in around 12 feet of water and there is now some gas leakage showing on the surface. Will it evaporate or is there some way to get it off the surface? The mower had around 3 to 4 gallons in the tank. We have a couple divers coming to get it out since it is to deep for us to hook onto it. Thanks for any advise.

Wow! Thank god everybody is ok.

That's for sure. Didn't get wet either. Was off the mower and was stuck on a small mound of dirt and tried to push it forward a little but forgot that my turn wheels were headed downward towards the pond. All I could do was watch it as it rolled down hill and into the pond and sink out of sight. The neighbors will have something to due this afternoon. They can come and watch the divers do their job. May be a time for some food.

Hopefully most of that gas and oil will stay contained. I'm not sure how you would clean that besides maybe skimming it like they do the oil spills. Not sure if gas is thick enough for that though.

If it makes you feel any better, I had a long time client come in two days ago with a picture in his pocket, which he gave to me to try to identify.

I looked at it for a couple of minutes, remembered that he's in the lawn care business, and finally told him,

"Don, that looks like a zero turn mower at the bottom of a swimming pool", which is unfortunately exactly what it was.

I know this is irrelevant, but I feel compelled to ask: What kind of mower is it?

I'm glad no one was hurt. I think your pond will be fine, especially if they're removing it this afternoon........hard to say about the mower itself, though. I've had a few in that condition come through the shop.

The mower was a John Deere X360. Had it around 4 years.

My great uncle put his in the river about 10 years ago...My brother and I had to dive hook it and winch it out with the Jeep...

As for the mower...Change all the fluids as soon as you get it out of the pond and get it running ASAP...Fresh water will not hurt it as long as it doesn't have time to set...

Hope all work out for you...

You should be fine with the engine itself, after a couple of oil changes/flushes, and a new air filter. But the hydro trans might be another story. That X360 might have a drain plug, or it could be a sealed unit, which means that getting the water out of the trans without a complete teardown/disassembly will be problematic. A hydro runs hot, plenty hot enough to boil any water remaining inside, which creates steam pockets, or voids.....resulting in loss of motion once operating temps are reached.

I've had to replace units before due to being unable to get all the water out of them.

Thankfully everyone is ok.

Do you have a marine or boater supply store around?Usually they carry absorbent pillows that will absorb oil and fuel from bilges in boats and they work pretty well.Another thing we used to do is use good old dawn dish soap as a dispersant around the fuel dock,we would dilute it and put it in a spray bottle.One squirt will disperse a lot of gasoline.Although I doubt this is the most environmentally friendly solution but all the marinas have done it for years here.

72" Exmark not fun

Believe it or not it was once common practice on fish farms to kill predaceous air breathing insects by spraying a thin coating of diesel fuel on their ponds. Apparently the air breathing insects couldn't break the film.

What did you try to do?, Evil Knievel it!

Whups!

I rode a 13 hp Craftsman (blades turning) over a steeper than 2:1 slope, and bailed off it right before it hit the water. That was in about 4' of water. Yanked it out right away, drained/replaced all fluids/filters ASAP and fired it up. It was O.K. But, that was not a hydrostat trans.....

I wouldn't worry about the stuff on the water surface. It'll break down and disappear before you know it.

Glad that nobody got hurt.

That is true Cecil, but the downside is that the fry could not break thru this film barrier to get their gas bladders working correctly.

Notice right on the other side of the mower is a clump of grass, turns out it was a pile of dirt and I was already on a pretty steep bank then I had a sprayer on back just rolled right over Luckily I had time to bail out..

Thanks to all for your comments. Got right on it when we got it out of the pond. Drained the oil, replaced it and the filter. Drained the transaxle fluid but need to get a new filter and fluid tomorrow at the dealer. Was able to siphon most of the gas out and then drain what was left through the gas line. Should get it back to running by noon tomorrow. The trans axle had a drain plug with a filter so I hope I was able to get the water out.

I flipped mine over and finished mowing with it wasn't submerged either .. Smoked like crazy Coil went out the next day haven't had a problem since.. Full service getting done this weekend though.. Good luck with yours I'm sure you'll be fine..

Don't forget to remove the float bowl and drain the carb also.

Damn you guys live dangerously!

I was mowing along the pond this evening. I was being extra careful and going slow. But I also had a tractor with front wheel assist tractor which helps.

Hey Cecil, maybe you and I won't hold the UHOH record around here much longer.

When I was a kid, my buddy broke his leg badly (playin wiffleball!) and spent the summer with a cast from his ankle to his crotch. Used the ridiing mower to get around everywhere, even to go fishing at the pond up the road. Then one day, coming down the hill from the road, it slipped outa gear. The brakes were worthless and all he could do was hold on as it went faster and faster. When it was over, he was in the pond in water over his head.

So after he got himself out, he hopped a little further up the road to his girlfriend's house so she could bring her pickup down and he went back in, found it, and hooked a chain to it and they pulled it out.

Best part of it was he didn't get hurt, just scared. Worst part of it was they didn't get any pictures.

That sounds like the kind of character builder that I have spent my life doing. So far, the building is ongoing.

This all sounds expensive, but fun....lol

Will do. Thanks for the reminder.

I have almost put the tractor in the lake several times. Usually because the front tires slip on mud and wet grass and with no steering all you can do is brakes. Tractors don't stop on a dime. Had to tow them out of the mud right at the edge as a result.

And all these years, you guys have let me believe that I was the only one who did things like this.

Ken, I remember the 2nd pic, but not the first one! Why are the rear tires so smooth in the 2nd pic?

I'll bet you said a few choice words in both of those pictures, and I'll also bet that the center of the seat in the first pic is a bit pointed in the middle from all the puckering.

^^^ ^^^

I didn't put my riding mower in the pond but this was worse. I was bagging leaves with my mower when they bunched up around the hot muffler and the leaves caught fire. I run into the house and got a pan of water to throw on it but it didn't go out. So I went back for another pan of water but by then the fire was getting too big. Then the fire started to melt the plastic gas tank so I got the hect out of there. I went into the house to watch so I wouldn't be in a gas explosion, as the whole mower burned up in a big gasoline fire.

Yep..... I usually see a few mowers that burn up every fall. Gotta' watch when the leaves begin to roll up in front of the equipment, as that's usually where the muffler is located. most times, the fire happens after they shut the mower off and go inside....after a few minutes, it's a bonfire.

Trivia: leaves are suprisingly abrasive. I can always tell when someone has mulched their yard in late fall.....the underside of the deck will be scoured smooth, even shiny.

At least it wasn't this bad Ken:



Time to call for help!

I actually did something like that about 10-12 years ago, but with a smaller 4wd tractor than in the picture.

I decided to drain about a quarter acre pond on Labor Day weekend. The old pond probably had more than a foot of muck that needed to dry before I could work the pond. About the next February, the ground was pretty frozen. I put the box scraper on the tractor, thinking I could rip up some of the muck, and grade off the top of the old dam. The first 25_50 feet went perfectly. Then I broke through several inches of frozen muck. The tractor sunk up to the frame. That took a little bit of work to get freed.

Those who instinctively turn to prayer in matters of emergency should try to remember that the Deity will probably not consider "HOLY CRAP" to be a legitimate prayer.

Pretty much, Yep!