Project Pond- A Work in Progress.

We are planning on introducing some fish, a bit later in the spring once the plants are a little more established. It has been a really sunny day today and I have seen our first froggy! we currently have a fountain in the corner of the "L" to circulate the water. When the weather gets a little warmer, the other half is going to build a rockery in the far end near the fence, to create a secondary waterfall

 

Have you got any updated pics??

 

I like it! Very unusual!! Just watch out if you go out after you've had a few!! How deep is it?

 

So, today brings a brief update and a desperate plea for help! The pond is finished, the patio is laid, we have plants, and we have a waterfall and a fountain at the other end. During the "summer" we experienced during March, we lost a couple of inches of water over a few days. I thought nothing of it, just topped it up abit, putting it down to the heat and evaporation. I think you can see where this is going... Since the hose pipe ban in April, we have had nothing but rain. Pretty much constantly, with a few days of sunshine over the last week. Being the observant critter that I am, I hadn't given it a second thought that the pond hadn't spilled over once during the downpours. I mentioned to my partner that I thought it may be leaking and was told I was being paranoid. Until, on one of the warmer evenings last week, he decided he would top it up to the top as there was rather a lot of liner showing. He left the house for twenty minutes to come and pick me up from work. During that time, we had lost a good two inches of water. So I feel, the split, would be around the top somewhere. It doesn't lose water past a certain level. To reline it, would be a massive job. As it is, it's taken a year to reach this point. Due to the number of folds we have had to put in the liner there is no way we'd be able to locate the leak if it is quite small. I have one or two ideas of how it may have got there. But the pond is very close to the house and I am very paranoid about our foundations being washed away- guess we should have thought about this before we started digging- lesson learnt! Anyway, this morning, after two days of very heavy rainfall, i have noticed there are hairline cracks in two of the paving slabs on the waters edge on the righthand side of the patio. So now i am very concerned. I am on emptying the pond for a bit and i am determined to try and find the slit. Is there anything I can paint on the liner to seal it, if the slit is not too big? if i empty it and the weather gets warmer, will be damage the liner?? any advice happily received. even if it means filling it in, i'm that scared

 

Hi there.

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I think the priority here is to find the leak, whatever that takes. Once found, it's quite easy to fix, look here.. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...d+liner+repair+kit&sprefix=pond+liner,aps,240

Try not to stress too much... Good luck

Cheers...Freddy

 

Yes, quite right

 

One way of finding where a leak is, is to pour a small dollop of milk into the water and watch where it goes. You might have to pull up an armchair to watch though.

 

Thanks all I am being slightly dramatic I know. Panic ridden because the water is so close to the house. When the water level drops to its lowest there is usually about 7 inches of liner exposed, it generally doesnt drop more than that unless we have had a really hot day, which makes me think the slit is close to the top. However when we were building the water fall two of the slate boulders dropped into one end of it to the bottom (2.5 ft) And I wonder if they may have gauged it but I'd guess it would drain a lot quicker than it does.

 

You'd be surprised.........don't forget water has to find it's own level. That water may be filling the inside of your ditch which would be slow because of the pressure of the water on the inside of the pond..........what I am saying it may equate at that 7 inch level of liner exposed........sounds like further investigation is needed.

 

Finding the leak

I would go with the milk idea, it does work provided you don't put in too much at once and you are near the leak. (so don't put it in the middle, put it near the edge)

As for the slates that fell during construction it is possible they are the cause especially if they fell edge first, but to be honest, I doubt it.

Also check for any damp / wet areas, it may be the waterfall that has a leak. (Doubt it) but you could always prove it by diverting the water fall feed to directly into the pool.

Don't refill the pool until you have found the leak, because as has been said, where the water level stops, that is where the puncture is.


Repair

There is no "paint" you can use on a flexible liner to repair it, you need to "attach a patch" but you don't have to buy a kit. You can cut off a piece of existing liner from under a paving slab (or any other hidden place). You then clean both the area where the puncture is, and the patch, stick the patch over it with genuine silicone sealant and leave to dry.


Push comes to shove

If you can't find the leak you can go the painful method, take the liner out, hang it over a washing line and look for daylight, it only needs a pinprick size hole to cause problems. (it's better than filling it in)


Cause

You should try and find what the cause of the puncture was to prevent it from happening again. If it helps I once found small "score lines" around a tiny hole in a liner, took ages to figure it out. Turned out to be the pump used for a big jet had a broken grille on the under side, the pump was sucking up the liner and the impeller fixing bolt was wearing a hole in the liner. Repaired holes, new pump, no leak.

 

So Lollyb, how's it going now ? Lot's of good info above.
I've had lots of ponds and any leaks I have had with lined ones have all been fixed. One pond level was dropping only when I had my waterfall on ! Turned out the top of my filter wasn't on properly. The filter was heavily screened with planting so not to obvious to spot ! I assume your water level stills drops when your waterfall is off ?
Next liner leak was fixed by glueing a piece of repair rubber to both the inside and outside of the liner. It was just a matter of easing the liner away from the hole when it was empty so I could get at both sides. I found the place of the tear by the dropped water level.
Another leak was from the bottom of a pond. Although the pond didn't empty there was a muddy silt on the bottom of the pond which made me suspect 'dirty' water was forcing itself back through the rip. I emptied this pond and again put a rubber/glue seal over it. Just the inside of the liner this time.
Don't get too stressed out. Just find the leak and either attempt to repair it or replace the liner with a more heavy rating perhaps when you have the funds.
Report back when you can.
gazania

 

Any news Lollyb?