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Old 11-07-2009, 12:35 AM posted to rec.ponds.moderated
Phyllis and Jim Phyllis and Jim is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Dec 2006
Posts: 880
Default Pump blockage - Cleaning the 'deep well' - Plant explosion

Last year, i did not clean out the debris in thew bottom of our deep
well (7' old septic tank). The pump sits down there on a cinder block
and two sideways bricks. Yesterday, the pump flowe stopped! Pump
failure after 13 years? Makes sense.

The pump is in its own 5 gal bucket with a million 1/2" holes to
prevent big stuff from getting in. It is also installed so that I
only need to disconnect compression PVC joints to bring it to the
surface. I went down to check it out.

When I brought the pump to the surface, it was clogged. Once I
cleaned it out, it pumped really well.

I pulled 3 bushels of pine needles and some rocks moved by the koi out
of our baskets from the deep well. That is the price on not cleaning
last year!

All flows well now. In fact, i can see that the flow is stronger than
a few days ago, so the blockage has been coming on.

Never again will I omit the annual cleaning. Saves me having to pull
the pump.

I have to admit, however, that it is nice to be in a pool in the 95
degree weather.

The plants are really taking off. The hyacinths have grown to their
18" height in the berm ponds, so I pulled a few bushels of them for
compost. Thta permits the others to pull nutrients from the pond. We
now have 64 sq ft of hyacinth, 126 sq ft of water celery, 32 sq ft of
parrots feather in the berm ponds and one leg of the main pond. The
lilies cover about half the open pool.

Jim