Anyone Use a Trash Pumpt to Clean pond?

[scesnick]

I believe Palmerdad has the same situation I have where keeping the water is not an issue. We can simply refill the pond with creek water in no time. So, the container would not be needed. It sounds like he also has a slope to pump the sediment over also.

I have thought about the secondary pump to break up the sediment to make it pump easier.

 

[jinman]

I believe Palmerdad has the same situation I have where keeping the water is not an issue. We can simply refill the pond with creek water in no time. So, the container would not be needed. It sounds like he also has a slope to pump the sediment over also.

I have thought about the secondary pump to break up the sediment to make it pump easier.

If you have a slope and an unlimited supply of water, why not start a siphon and just let the pond clean itself?

My guess is the spoils will build up and become a problem no matter how you move them out of the pond. I'd have to see the surrounding area, but I think you will get tired of waiting on a very slow process.

 

[palmerdad]

Well, I guess the only way we'll know is to try. I know it's not going to be a simple or quick fix. But with the slope and the endless supply of water (and a whole week off work which it sounds like I'll need) perhaps I'll be able to get something done. If anyone has any more ideas between now and July 4th week or experience with diaphragm pumps or such I'll be checking back. I will let you all know how it goes.

Here is a link to the same pump that the rental company has.

http://www.eprotool.com/pumps-diaphragm-wacker-diaphragm-trash-pump-p-6789.html

 

[leonz]

You will find on the first day that the suction line will create a large pressure gradient and when the mud breaks loose the the pressure gradient will become less evident until you bury it in the muck and this will be an endless process.

You still have time to rent or order a small pressure pump from Northern Tool or one of the online pump sellers or a Honda pump dealer.

You could use a heavy truck tube to create a platform to secure the suction strainer below the water level where the inlet line of the pressure pump will always be in clear water.



If you use the presssure pump you can add a 20 foot section of schedule 80 plastic pipe to the hose and push it into the floor of the pond to jet the mud and clay out with the pump and the diaphram pump will pull the loose dirt and clay out of the pond as you are jetting it to the suction strainer of the diaphram pump for disposal.

I dont want to spend your money I want help you solve this problem the easy way.

 

[leonz]

I would love to find one of those companies in my general area.

Dredging, used dredges, small dredge, sand dredging, lake management, dredges, from MudCat.com

 

[palmerdad]

I like your thinking on a second pump. I wonder if I could rent a second pump, maybe the trash pump and shoot that down into the muck.

 

[leonz]

I would be cost effective for you to buy a one inch pressure pump from a Honda Pump Dealer as they are not that expensive.

A trash pump delivers flow and volume from a low suction head; it will not scour as you need to do with your pond.

The more wash water you have to work with allows you more efficiency where in the purchase of a second pressure pump would be very cost effective as it will scour more material near the suction screen of the diaphram pump.

BTW find a dealer that rents the "Rupp Sand Piper" pumps for this job as a sand piper does not require priming each time you prepare to pump.

The cylinder that is in front of the pumping chamber requires you to fill it with water to prime the pump as a foot valve would only clog and the pump would go dry and tear the diaphram which in this case is very expensive as it is a single diaphram pump where the sand pipers have twin diaphrams.

You may need to rent a very small gas powered air compressor
(air nailer size) or use one if you have one as it will be more efficient than the single mechanical diaphram pump because it pumps half as efficiently as the sand piper with two diaphrams.

The Sand Piper can be run dry without damaging it as well where the other primed diaphram pump will destroy the rubber diaphram it uses because it must be wetted to operate properly to avoid damaging it. :thumbsup:

 

[jinman]

I like your thinking on a second pump. I wonder if I could rent a second pump, maybe the trash pump and shoot that down into the muck.

Now you are talkin'.:thumbsup: A 2nd pump or a mechanical device to stir up mud and vegetation will aid your process tremendously. Even so, this is a huge job when you consider that you will probably move 8 to 10 cubic feet of water for every cubic foot of solids. The best thing you have going for you is the pond is 20' wide by 45' long. reaching across 20' is possible, especially if you have a small float or boat to launch. Like Leonz, I want you to be successful. That's a darn nice pump you are planning to rent and having a 2nd pump to keep solids in suspension may be just the ticket. I suspect handling two pumps at once may be a job for an octopus, so having some help would sure be handy. I don't think this is going to be a one-man operation.

If this works, I won't eat my TBN hat, but I'll sure be your #1 cheerleader.

 

[leonz]

I have a nice pond that is spring fed that we swim in every summer. The kids love it. It is very old though and is getting pretty full of silt. I have posted here in the past about using a trash pump to clean it out but still haven't got around to it. Well, since the kids are a bit bigger now the wife is on me to clean it out this spring.


A pump would be ALOT cheaper than draining the pond and excavating it. Also, I am worried that the dozer would screw it up and hit shale or something on the bottom and the pond would no longer hold water. This pond is the focal point of my property. It is right in front of our house and if it was just a dry pit, that would not be good.

Has anyone used a pump (diaphragm or trash) to clean out a pond? I was wondering how well it worked. Or maybe even an agitator pump?

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Catching up,

Did the pond cleaning go as you hoped?

 

[palmerdad]

I rented the 3" Diaphragm pump and it did move the sludge. I found the best technique was to put the intake screen head in a milk crate on its side and pull a section of the sludgy mud into it and sort of rub it around on the screen of the pump intake hose until it was all sucked up along with the water and then repeat. If you didn't keep rubbing your hands around on the screen intake the leaves and sticks would pretty quickly just form a block on all the little holes of the screen. I was tempted to take the screen head off and just see if the pump could suck the sludge right up though the 3" tube but I didn't want to wreck the pump or something. As it was I had to stop every 1/2 hour or so and take off the one end of the pump to clear out a few small sticks that had impeded a flap on the outtake side and had stopped the pump from sucking. My problem was that I didn't devote enough time to it. I had the pump for a week (and had the week off work) but spent a lot of the time doing things with the family. I got enough sludge removed to put a few trout in and are enjoying feeding them. I didn't get everything done I had hoped for. It still seems that there should be a pump that can just put a hose in the mud and suck. I did a quote from SRS (Sediment Removal Solutions) who said their divers could remove a foot of mud in a 1/8 acre in a day for $2500 I believe it was. (I could be off on the acreage) I also got a quote from a company with a vacuum truck that could have sucked out the muck. The problem with that is that they would have to haul everything off site for processing since their truck would have had oil byproducts in it previously and they would risk contamininating my property by just discharging on site so the cost would have gotten too high.