Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Happy Birthday Omaha

Happy Birthday from all the loyal Omaha constituents on Bremer Pond!!

It's all coming together. I swear the PVC was talking to me the last time I was out there, but I didn't say anything for fear of a straight jacket reception.


Thanks again everyone for the birthday wishes. Had a great day yesterday...

Josh

Let me know when you are digging and I will come out and help if you want to bounce any contour or depth decisions off me. I think some minor humps midlake will help attract the YP for ice fishing. We could cover them with pvc trees or rock/concrete. I'm gone 7-24 to 7-31 but Aug is looking good timewise.

I hope we're ready to go by then. Supposed to rain off and on for a while here, but I'm hoping Sunday we can at least figure out a system that works for pumping out the water so we can use when the sky clears up again. I'm really stoked about the next phase (cover/habitat). That seems like one of the most enjoyable steps in the pond building process and I'm anxious as hell!

Happy belated birthday, bud!

Frustrations continue. Cannot get the pump to consistently take water for one reason or another. Just about ready to abandon this idea and try something else. Just don't know what at the moment. Only about a foot of water and it's not going anywhere, preventing us from resuming the dig.

Josh, pumps are really designed to push water, not suck it. Try getting the pump as close to the water level as possible, and see about digging a deeper hole where the pick-up is to prevent it from sucking air. Make double sure that all your suction lines are air tight - they will suck air a lot easier than water.

Or is it a "pump not running" problem? It isn't fun screwing around in this heat when the equipment is giving you fits.

I had it right on the water basically. Can't confirm that it was 100% air tight but it would move water periodically then stop. Not the engine the flow. Considering just diverting the water and work around it.

It sounds like it was loosing it's prime and regaining it (self-priming pump, right?)

When things cool down (man and machine ) take the connections apart on the suction side and make sure all the dirt and grit is out of them. I'm assuming that they are the banjo quick disconnect fittings? Are all the gaskets in place?

I had the same problem, and it was sucking water so fast that it created a vortex, letting air go all the way down to the hose. I ended up slowing down the pump to reduce the size of the vortex until I got the water lower.

The reason I brought it close to the water was to be able to use only one hose so there aren't any connections really to speak of except the one on the pump itself. Now that one could be part of the problem. I used a hose clamp to get it as tight as possibly and it still leaked a little bit. Not enough that I thought it would be a problem though.

So this is why some people call the professionals I'm thinking.

Omaha, even the pros have problems sometimes. Take the hose clamp loose, take the fitting apart. Re-install with a bit of silicone around the fitting and use 2 hose clamps, with the screw portion of the clamp 180° apart. (or just try putting on a 2nd clamp 180° apart from the first one)

I don't know if there's enough room for a second clamp, but I'll give that a shot. The more I think about it, the only thing it could be is that connection. Will have to correct that next time.

Omaha here's another possibility, I don't know how long your out let hose is but when you have longer runs and the hose changes elevation more than a few times you can get air locks in the high spots which increases back pressure, try to even out the hose as much as possible, if you still have problems put a short outlet on the pump to see if it's the pump or back pressure in the hose.
Just my 2 cents.

AP, I've had to do that with a long run of hose on the pump to get it (the pump) completely purged of air before re-connecting it to the long run.

Once I did that, the pump would pump water fast enough to push all the air out of the discharge hose (3" hose, 15,000gph pump)

Thanks AP. We had two hoses set up on the outlet going up the hill at first. I was considering that maybe it didn't like that much air ahead of it, so I pulled off one hose and laid it horizontal to the pump. Barely got a trickle most of the time. Other times it was full flow or nothing at all.

Yeah I guess you have a problem on the suction side, is the pump gas or electric?

Gas.

Ok now I know your frustration , I have a gas pump (which just collects dust) and it could be a real pain in the butt to get primed.
It probably doesn't help you much but if you could run power there or use a generator, a good size submersible pump could make things alot easier. Wish I was closer I have all that stuff.
Good luck hope you get things flowing.

I wish we could get power down there. Thanks AP.

Can you rent a generator?

I've got one you can borrow.

Put 'er in the mail Scott! I'll keep an eye out for it.

Gimme your FedEx account number and I'll make sure the gas and oil is drained.

I'll need it back in September tho.