What a hell-of-a-time to develop a leak in my pond.

[Beercan31]

Yep, What a hell-of-a-time to develop a leak in my pond. I am loosing abt 400+ gal a day and only have a reserve of 100gal that can be manually pumped back into the pond "IF" the freezing is at a minimum. so that means dragging out the hose, turn on the outside water, fill the pond, turn off the outside water drain the hose. its gotten to the point I don't even put the hose away any more. As of right now freezing has not been a problem, only slight ice build up in the lower section that comes and goes. pump runs 24-7, 2/3 of the flow goes back to the upper pond through a spa aerator, the rest goes to the upper waterfall. As of right now I can not see any fishers that might have opened up in the waterfall (boulders) but I do notice some wicking in some cracks.

right now I have everything shut down allowing the upper waterfall to drain back (hopefully) below the frost line, turn off the waterfall and restart the system. at least will let me know if the loss is in the waterfall pipe network.

 

[GBBUDD]

Yep, What a hell-of-a-time to develop a leak in my pond. I am loosing abt 400+ gal a day and only have a reserve of 100gal that can be manually pumped back into the pond "IF" the freezing is at a minimum. so that means dragging out the hose, turn on the outside water, fill the pond, turn off the outside water drain the hose. its gotten to the point I don't even put the hose away any more. As of right now freezing has not been a problem, only slight ice build up in the lower section that comes and goes. pump runs 24-7, 2/3 of the flow goes back to the upper pond through a spa aerator, the rest goes to the upper waterfall. As of right now I can not see any fishers that might have opened up in the waterfall (boulders) but I do notice some wicking in some cracks.

right now I have everything shut down allowing the upper waterfall to drain back (hopefully) below the frost line, turn off the waterfall and restart the system. at least will let me know if the loss is in the waterfall pipe network.

Or IF IT IS THE WATERFALL IT'S SELF. 90% of new ponds first leaks are the falls or a low edge. Wicking from epdm folds a close second.
another possibility is fabric wicking . Best thing to do if temps are that low is to shut down and keep an opening in the ice

 

[Beercan31]

Thank you for your response, Sir Budd. At this time I am not able to pressure test the pipe net work going to the waterfall. I do not have any EPDM in the waterfall section, its concrete and sealer between 2 giant boulders. I have the waterfall turned off and drained down to the pond level at this time. well at least I did in till the rain came and filled it back up. The waterfall has not dropped what so ever since the rain, so at best I may have a leak in the bottom of the waterfall or the spill way but at this time I can not physically see any defects. I will have to turn the fall back on tomorrow to prevent and freezing in the upper section.

I'm wondering if I'm experiencing massive evaporation, temps here have been all over the place. Pond temp has been between 38-42 deg and the air temps have been between 31-48 deg. I am/was running a very aggressive aerator that keeps the water surface in motion, not as a current but chop like without white caps.

 

[GBBUDD]

I think you said you were loosing 400 gallons a day . that's not evaporation.. First chance you get i'd think about pressure wasing see if there and cracks or separations from rocks. If you get a dry above freezing day. hARD SAYING NOT KNOWING BUT OFTEN IN A CASE LIKE THAT ITS WHERE VERTICAL SURFACES MEET HORIZONTAL OR BOULDERS WILL DEVELOPE SPIDER CRACKS. Sorry for caps

 

[Beercan31]

Sir Budd, You never have to apologize for fat fingers syndrome. I'm lucky to be able to spell "the" on a good day. I agree abt the spider cracking. I had the waterfall long enough to see if their (?) was/were any seepage below the fall, The area between the fall and pond abt 3ft. I did see some but not enough to account for the loss. The area just before the waterfall holds abt 29-30 gal and again did drop but very little and not enough to account for the loss. I agree with the overhaul of the upper section in the spring and pressure testing the inlet pipe. I might have a leak that only shows up while the pump is running. The maximum length of time I had the pump off was 3 days last spring/summer and the fish showed no signs of distress. I can NOT do that at this time. You once said and I agree wholeheartedly that it's very hard for water to freeze in motion. A frozen pipe at this point would be devastate me. I did start the waterfall back up today and it was frozen solid within 2" of the inlet pipe, abt 5-6in below the water line, I was sooo thankful after breaking 2-3in of ice off the surface and poking a few hole in the ice the water moved right away and eventually pushed the ice over the edge.

Thanks for hearing me out.

 

[Guestie]

I have resorted to bentonite clay to seal a dodgy leak.

It works !!!

Good luck ... I feel for you.

 

[Beercan31]

WELL???? It can only be said "It sucks to be me" after restarting the waterfall yesterday I dropped 4" in the second pond that holds at best 300gal, which tells me its a pressure leak and that line is near impossible to get to with out draining the main pond and lifting the EPDM.

*%$@ ME.