Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Plugged Overflow pipe

My 2 acre pond was built in 1938, and over the years various sticks & branches have been sucked into the 10" metal overflow pipe and are now stuck about 16' down in the 90 degree elbow.
I have tried poking at it with a long pole, but not having any luck in unplugging it. Water level has risen and is now running over the bank. Any idea's on how I can get these sticks out and unplug the pipe? What kind of tool can I lower down to grab and pull the sticks out? Love my pond, but worried about the water running over the dirt berm.

For starters I have never have messed with one. I did read about a man in Kansas that got sucked into one. So whatever you do please be careful. Can you get to the other end of it? If so can it be unplugged from that end. My thoughts is I would wait til the water level went back down.

What was said about the over-flow being dangerous is very TRUE. You would have those TONS of excess water pushing against you. Don't do anything alone.

You won't like my idea. Navy had a portable 2C 2 man crewed dewatering pump. It could be used to pump water over the side or fight fires. Try to wash enough debris out from the downhill side, if you can find & rent a similar pump. If everything broke loose all of a sudden you would just get knock on your ___ real hard.

Try a small grappling hook on a chain or if you can find one - ice tongs with a chain on both handles.

Maybe you can start a siphon over the berm to get the water level down. Would be safer to work around.

This is a very smart idea so that when you get the plug opened up...you don't have a rush of water trying to suck you in.

I would be temped to use 18-20 foot of 1/2" pipe with a homemade auger bit on one end and a homemade crank handle on the other...like a old fashion wood bit, but 2 or 3" diameter. Drill it into the cluster and pull it back up..repeat. If it gets hung up, back it out and repeat until the plug is broken up. I would also be tempted to do as wb said AND pump the water out of the down pipe to see what is going on down there. Could be a stinking turtle...that would be hard to drill out.

I feel for you!

My theory would be to weld an adaptor on the outlet end and put air on it and blow it back outta there, obviously I think i would syphon it down to a safe level first so you have a chance to cut your adaptor loose. the biggest problem I see is tge age of the pipe, if thats original, installed in 38 it probably wont hold air. good luck and let us know what you wound up having to do.

On another thread someone got lucky using just a PVC pipe from the downhill side. Another suggested a pressure washer wand put in from the down side.