Pump Plugged up...What do you think?

We are NOT diy'ers at all. And generally are clueless on how to fix things.
So I throwing out a problem and
what we think may be wrong to see if you all think we are on the right
track.
We have a sump pump (ya I know expensive to run) that powers our waterfall.
It is only a year old with about 2 1/2 months 24/7 running time last summer
and about the same this summer. It is off during the winter.The waterfall
pump shut down and has in fact only a trickle of water coming down. At
first I thought the pump had just shut off maybe a circut was tripped or
something. I thought the trickle was just the top tier of the waterfall
draining down. Anyway, I checked the circuit breakers and moved the ones to
the waterfall back and forth essentially turned the pump off/on. The
waterfall than had a little more water coming down but no where near the
volume that is normal. Not even half the volume. I look at the pressurized
filter and it was not readying the usual 5 psi that it does when normal flow
is there. We are thinking something is obstructing the water between the
pump and filter would that be a good guess. Since the pump is fairly new and
and industrial pump we don't think the pump is the problem. What do you
think? Anything else we should look at?
Sorry if this seems like dumb questions, like I said we are clueless on
fixing things.



Goldlexus

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 10:30:27 CST, "Goldlexus" <>
wrote:

>We are NOT diy'ers at all. And generally are clueless on how to fix things.
>So I throwing out a problem and
>what we think may be wrong to see if you all think we are on the right
>track.
>We have a sump pump (ya I know expensive to run) that powers our waterfall.
>It is only a year old with about 2 1/2 months 24/7 running time last summer
>and about the same this summer. It is off during the winter.The waterfall
>pump shut down and has in fact only a trickle of water coming down. At
>first I thought the pump had just shut off maybe a circut was tripped or
>something. I thought the trickle was just the top tier of the waterfall
>draining down. Anyway, I checked the circuit breakers and moved the ones to
>the waterfall back and forth essentially turned the pump off/on. The
>waterfall than had a little more water coming down but no where near the
>volume that is normal. Not even half the volume. I look at the pressurized
>filter and it was not readying the usual 5 psi that it does when normal flow
>is there. We are thinking something is obstructing the water between the
>pump and filter would that be a good guess. Since the pump is fairly new and
>and industrial pump we don't think the pump is the problem. What do you
>think? Anything else we should look at?
>Sorry if this seems like dumb questions, like I said we are clueless on
>fixing things.

Is the pump protected in the pond, or just bare? ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

It is kinda protected. It has a lot of rocks around it, the suction hole is
on the bottom of the pump not the kind that sticks out the side, it has a
gutter gauard around it to keep fish from getting sucked up. So far we have
moved a lot of rocks around it, we were unable to get fully under the pump
but thought maybe it was cleared enough. We plugged in the pump and it has
more water volume than before but not where it should be. The pressurized
filter usually reads just under 5 psi, when we plugged it back in just now
it read just a little over 3 psi. Prior to clearing somethings around it it
read barely 2 psi. So we are on the right track I think just didn't get it
all maybe. I don't know In the meantime the pipe that comes to the top
of the filter has a sprung a pin whole leak so we need to fix that. So we
have the pump off until we can get in there a clear more rocks and repair
the pin whole leak. BTW while we had the filter apart we sprayed water thru'
the pipe back into the pump to hopefully push out what ever may be there.
Our pump is a sump pump and is suppose to handle solids up to 2".
"~ jan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 10:30:27 CST, "Goldlexus" <>
> wrote:
>
>>We are NOT diy'ers at all. And generally are clueless on how to fix
>>things.
>>So I throwing out a problem and
>>what we think may be wrong to see if you all think we are on the right
>>track.
>>We have a sump pump (ya I know expensive to run) that powers our
>>waterfall.
>>It is only a year old with about 2 1/2 months 24/7 running time last
>>summer
>>and about the same this summer. It is off during the winter.The waterfall
>>pump shut down and has in fact only a trickle of water coming down. At
>>first I thought the pump had just shut off maybe a circut was tripped or
>>something. I thought the trickle was just the top tier of the waterfall
>>draining down. Anyway, I checked the circuit breakers and moved the ones
>>to
>>the waterfall back and forth essentially turned the pump off/on. The
>>waterfall than had a little more water coming down but no where near the
>>volume that is normal. Not even half the volume. I look at the pressurized
>>filter and it was not readying the usual 5 psi that it does when normal
>>flow
>>is there. We are thinking something is obstructing the water between the
>>pump and filter would that be a good guess. Since the pump is fairly new
>>and
>>and industrial pump we don't think the pump is the problem. What do you
>>think? Anything else we should look at?
>>Sorry if this seems like dumb questions, like I said we are clueless on
>>fixing things.
>
> Is the pump protected in the pond, or just bare? ~ jan
> ------------
> Zone 7a, SE Washington State
> Ponds: www.jjspond.us
>

Sounds like you will want to take a good look at the pump itself and
at the pipes to the filter. I gather your backflush was successful?
Does water flow freely to the pump? Can you see it flow freely out of
the pipe! If so, the pump is likely to be your problem. Not news,
eh.

Good luck.

Jim

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 12:57:59 CST, "Goldlexus" <>
wrote:

>It is kinda protected. It has a lot of rocks around it, the suction hole is
>on the bottom of the pump not the kind that sticks out the side, it has a
>gutter gauard around it to keep fish from getting sucked up. So far we have
>moved a lot of rocks around it, we were unable to get fully under the pump
>but thought maybe it was cleared enough. We plugged in the pump and it has
>more water volume than before but not where it should be. The pressurized
>filter usually reads just under 5 psi, when we plugged it back in just now
>it read just a little over 3 psi. Prior to clearing somethings around it it
>read barely 2 psi. So we are on the right track I think just didn't get it
>all maybe. I don't know In the meantime the pipe that comes to the top
>of the filter has a sprung a pin whole leak so we need to fix that. So we
>have the pump off until we can get in there a clear more rocks and repair
>the pin whole leak. BTW while we had the filter apart we sprayed water thru'
>the pipe back into the pump to hopefully push out what ever may be there.
>Our pump is a sump pump and is suppose to handle solids up to 2".

If you have to pull the pump out, and I'd suggest you do. Clear the area
around the impeller. Then put the pump in something like this:

http://users.owt.com/jjspond/koipond/photos/set1/09.jpg

Even though the pump can handle solids, a 2" rock, snail shell or fish
parts could clog it or slow it down. The mesh baskets give lots of surface
area. I've had the lily pond one done like this for 2-3 years now, and
haven't had a need to pull it out of the pond. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

We can't see much of anything. It is a submersible pump and the pond water
is pretty cloudy now. I am thinking if it is the pump than there would not
have been any change to the water flow from the trickle we had at less than
2psi to a more vigorous flow we got after clearing rocks and such and
getting a little more than 3psi almost 4 psi. It is almost pumping water
like it should but not quite. I would think no matter what we did if a
trickle is what we go before a trickle is what we would get after. Does that
make sense?


"Phyllis and Jim" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Sounds like you will want to take a good look at the pump itself and
> at the pipes to the filter. I gather your backflush was successful?
> Does water flow freely to the pump? Can you see it flow freely out of
> the pipe! If so, the pump is likely to be your problem. Not news,
> eh.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Jim
>

Pulling the pump isn't easy. Unfortuantely it was plumbed (is that the right
word?) in to the pipe line and not with a cupling that you just unscrew
Pulling to pump out means draining the pond and sawing the pipe.
I can't imagine what is blocking the flow. One time, before we put this
gutter guard around the pump, a large goldfish got sucked in, went thru' the
pressurized filter and came shooting out at the top of the waterfall. Poor
guy died about 5 mins. after his trip. That is when we discovered that there
wasn't any screening or anything. So we improvised a basket around the pump
using gutter guards bent into a box shape. No more fish taking a trip up the
falls.
We will play around with it some more when the water settles some. We can
not see a thing now. Meanwhile I am pretty bummed out not knowing for sure
that it is just an obstruction. It sure seems like it might be since we are
did get more water volume/flow out that before we started clearing things
out. Like I said before if the pump itself was having problems it still
would have the same problem even after clearing out rocks. Right?

"~ jan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 12:57:59 CST, "Goldlexus" <>
> wrote:
>
>>It is kinda protected. It has a lot of rocks around it, the suction hole
>>is
>>on the bottom of the pump not the kind that sticks out the side, it has a
>>gutter gauard around it to keep fish from getting sucked up. So far we
>>have
>>moved a lot of rocks around it, we were unable to get fully under the pump
>>but thought maybe it was cleared enough. We plugged in the pump and it has
>>more water volume than before but not where it should be. The pressurized
>>filter usually reads just under 5 psi, when we plugged it back in just now
>>it read just a little over 3 psi. Prior to clearing somethings around it
>>it
>>read barely 2 psi. So we are on the right track I think just didn't get it
>>all maybe. I don't know In the meantime the pipe that comes to the top
>>of the filter has a sprung a pin whole leak so we need to fix that. So we
>>have the pump off until we can get in there a clear more rocks and repair
>>the pin whole leak. BTW while we had the filter apart we sprayed water
>>thru'
>>the pipe back into the pump to hopefully push out what ever may be there.
>>Our pump is a sump pump and is suppose to handle solids up to 2".
>
> If you have to pull the pump out, and I'd suggest you do. Clear the area
> around the impeller. Then put the pump in something like this:
>
> http://users.owt.com/jjspond/koipond/photos/set1/09.jpg
>
> Even though the pump can handle solids, a 2" rock, snail shell or fish
> parts could clog it or slow it down. The mesh baskets give lots of surface
> area. I've had the lily pond one done like this for 2-3 years now, and
> haven't had a need to pull it out of the pond. ~ jan
> ------------
> Zone 7a, SE Washington State
> Ponds: www.jjspond.us
>

We have pvc pipe and a screw on/off coupling. Could you cut your pipe
and add a screw coupling. It can't last forever and will need repair
at some time. Why not make a step now that will serve you in the
future.

Good luck

Jim

We will probably do just that. It will be MUCH easier. Last year when we
replaced the pump we hired someone to do it (like I said we are not diy'ers
and know nothing about plumbing) He didn't have the coupling so he just did
it permenantly. A real bummer now.
"Phyllis and Jim" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> We have pvc pipe and a screw on/off coupling. Could you cut your pipe
> and add a screw coupling. It can't last forever and will need repair
> at some time. Why not make a step now that will serve you in the
> future.
>
> Good luck
>
> Jim
>

We will probably do just that. It will be MUCH easier. Last year when we
replaced the pump we hired someone to do it (like I said we are not diy'ers
and know nothing about plumbing) He didn't have the coupling so he just did
it permenantly. A real bummer now.
"Phyllis and Jim" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> We have pvc pipe and a screw on/off coupling. Could you cut your pipe
> and add a screw coupling. It can't last forever and will need repair
> at some time. Why not make a step now that will serve you in the
> future.
>
> Good luck
>
> Jim
>