Wylie Wilde wrote:

I got a local pond expert to give me his opinion on the pond. He checked
it out and said straight up - one of the submersible pumps wasn't working
and was probably burnt out and had to be replaced. Cost $350- installation
- including changing of pipes, etc.. $500.

You could hear the pump humming away in an erratic fashion but it wasn't
pumping water. Note- its not any bigger than my Eheim external pump.
That's about 40cm x 15cm big.

I don't know much about submersible pumps - but if they are anything like
external EHEIM aquarium pumps they should have an magnetic impeller
located inside which can be replaced for a $30.

The expert assured me that was not the case and again told me to replace
the pump and pipes.

I would suspect his diagnosis is good - and many submersibles are
epoxy-encased so that you can't fix anything _other_ than the impeller -
but his costs are a little steep. $350 for a submersible pump is on the
high end, but it depends how big it is. Why did he say the pipes need to be
changed?
--
derek