Hi folks,
I have a 3600gal koi pond in my yard, came with the house. We have a large main pond, with skimmer box at the bottom (with pump inside) which feeds through buried 2” flex PVC up to a UV sterilizer and onward (through non-buried line) to a waterfall/collecting pool/stream and back into the main pond. It’s springtime so I’ve just cleaned the pond out, gotten everything back up and running...and begun the annual tradition of trying to find where the $%# leak is in my system. I’m in Pennsylvania btw.
I’ve gone through the usual steps (so many times) with shutting the pump off, isolating different parts of the system, and so far it appears to me that the falls is ok, the collecting pool is ok, and the stream is ok. I can see liner edge all around, and if i let the pond sit without the pump running, it stays full (so i assume no leak in the main liner).
My suspicion is that I’m leaking somewhere in the buried line that runs from the skimmer box to the UV sterilizer. There is a tree that has grown over the years and kind of lies over where I expect the line runs (I’ve never actually dug it up to look ...yet). I’m guessing that the roots are to blame. The system is old (we’ve been here 10 years and they installed it at least 10-15 years before that).
One thing I have noticed upon restarting the system is that i hear a gurgling/bubbling sound coming from within my UV sterilizer (Emperor Aquatics 25W system). There are no leaks from the UV unit itself nor the fittings to and from it. The UV unit does sit above ground, so I suspect that any air getting into the line is floating up into the top of the UV and getting stuck.
Does anybody have any similar experience with finding leaks in buried PVC line? Does my “gurgling UV” ring any bells and suggest that I’m right (or wrong)? Any tips on easily confirming that the buried line is the source? And then isolating the location? Obviously digging it all up will be the gold standard but in case my guess is wrong, I’d like to avoid all that labor.
Thanks for your support and assistance!
I have a 3600gal koi pond in my yard, came with the house. We have a large main pond, with skimmer box at the bottom (with pump inside) which feeds through buried 2” flex PVC up to a UV sterilizer and onward (through non-buried line) to a waterfall/collecting pool/stream and back into the main pond. It’s springtime so I’ve just cleaned the pond out, gotten everything back up and running...and begun the annual tradition of trying to find where the $%# leak is in my system. I’m in Pennsylvania btw.
I’ve gone through the usual steps (so many times) with shutting the pump off, isolating different parts of the system, and so far it appears to me that the falls is ok, the collecting pool is ok, and the stream is ok. I can see liner edge all around, and if i let the pond sit without the pump running, it stays full (so i assume no leak in the main liner).
My suspicion is that I’m leaking somewhere in the buried line that runs from the skimmer box to the UV sterilizer. There is a tree that has grown over the years and kind of lies over where I expect the line runs (I’ve never actually dug it up to look ...yet). I’m guessing that the roots are to blame. The system is old (we’ve been here 10 years and they installed it at least 10-15 years before that).
One thing I have noticed upon restarting the system is that i hear a gurgling/bubbling sound coming from within my UV sterilizer (Emperor Aquatics 25W system). There are no leaks from the UV unit itself nor the fittings to and from it. The UV unit does sit above ground, so I suspect that any air getting into the line is floating up into the top of the UV and getting stuck.
Does anybody have any similar experience with finding leaks in buried PVC line? Does my “gurgling UV” ring any bells and suggest that I’m right (or wrong)? Any tips on easily confirming that the buried line is the source? And then isolating the location? Obviously digging it all up will be the gold standard but in case my guess is wrong, I’d like to avoid all that labor.
Thanks for your support and assistance!
