Plugged Pond Overflow Pipe

[rekees]

Harv

In order to fomulate a solution to a problem it's always best, if possible, to understand the root cause. I need to do some poking and proding into that pipe to figure out where the the blockage is located and what it consists of. That's the first step.

I have garden hoses galore but it never occurred to me to use them until you mentioned it. Thank you. The pond is in fact close enough to the house that it would be feasible to reach the pipe and connect the hose(s) to an outdoor faucet. May have to buy another hose or 2 to reach the pipe outlet but one can never own too many hoses. Never heard of those rubber bladder thingies but maybe if the blockage is mud that would work?

As far as Thomas' suggestion, maybe I could attach a fishing float to a strong nylon fishing line and send that thru first. Then use the fishing line to pull a stronger rope thru? Then the stronger rope could be used to pull tire chains or whatever thru to remove the blockage. I don't think the pressure cap technique would work since the pipe is only partially blocked.

Don't know about Roto-Rooter. Was thinking maybe the local hardware store would have a similiar device for rent? Will have to check it out. Live 50 miles from Cincinnati and know they have Rooter folks there. Probably cost an arm & a leg for them to do it but guess they could handle it?

Thanks for the picture. You really have some serious overflow drains for your pond, Harv! They could handle my whole 42 acre farm!! Yes, they are a "tad" larger than mine. I guess the 4" pipe on my pond was only designed to handle small rains? There is a spillway at the end of the dam that will handle overflow if the water level gets about a foot above the pipe. I agree that the pipe should have been bigger but it's too late to change that now without digging a huge trench thru the middle of the dam to replace it. The drainage area is two small valleys. Guess it's less than 5 acres? The previous owner said it rained so hard one time that water went over the spillway and there were fish in the pasture! Wonder what the cows thought about that!? hahahaha

Chuck in IN

 

[gerard]

ok so you're stuck with the 4 inch pipe. Try a 50 foot snake and see what you get. You might find that over time the first section of pipe acts as a settling chamber and fines and silt deposits and accumulates since the flow is not fast enough to carry them all the way through. (How "pitched" is the pipe??) If that's the case you ought to be able to clear it out with a combination snake and hose to flush everything through. A plumber with a power auger could take care of this in about an hour. Figure maybe $100?? They have augers with blades on the end that are the inside diameter of the pipe. They'll go through tree roots with no problem so a little mud would be simple. Might be the easiest route. You also may be able to rent them. Once you get it cleared I like the idea of leaving a small string (some 100lb test fishing line comes to mind) in place to use to pull through heavier rope in the future. Then I'd rig up a circular piece of wood a little smaller than the inside diameter of the pipe and use that to pull through once in a while if it fills up again. Guess it depends on how long it goes before stopping up.

 

[rekees]

gerard -

The pond was built 25 years ago so apparently that's how long it take for the pipe to become blocked? Really appreciate your suggestions and advice. Wasn't aware of the power auger tool and $100 would be worth not drowning. Need to find out location and extent of blockage then develop solution based on that knowledge.

After it's cleared I'm going to put a screen on the inlet to keep out the larger debris and if I can get a fishing line in there will do that also since a screen wont stop mud. Also read somewhere that the inlet should be cut back at an angle underneath for a few inches since that is suppose to help the flow rate. Hopefully, everything will be in working order this Spring. Oh the joys of rural living!

Did you ever notice that the more stuff you own the more it owns you!

Chuck in IN

 

[DFB]

Rekees, just one more possible option for your bag of tricks. Out my way the local volunteer fire depts. are more than willing to assist in clearing blockages in culvert pipes using their high pressure water pumps. Might be something to consider along with the garden hose idea. Good luck.

 

[gerard]

Don't know if it would be worth the trouble but digging it up in about the midpoint and putting in a vent stack would help increase the flow also. Wouldn't be hard to put in a tee with an 1 1/2 inch "chimney" to help vent it. You could also consider "marrying" some 4 inch perforated drain tile to the pond end, maybe 10 feet worth and using that as a "settling chamber". Then all you would have to do is clean that section. Of course if it took 25 years to clog I think I'd leave it alone!! (The volunteer fire dept is a great idea, they could get some serious flow through there. I'd rather "donate" the money to them than pay a plumber!)

 

[dmccarty]

Chuck,

Hopefully this is not something you have to worry about but....

Have you thought of liability if the overflow pipe is too small? If your dam fails is there enough water in it to damage anything below the pond? If not who cares! But if there is....

Where I used to own property there was a land owner that had several dams where not being maintained. His overflows were clogged and the dam faces were being erroded from overflowing water after heavy rains. We had a very expensive bridge downstream of his dams. The home owners association paid an engineer to look at this problem along with some other issues. He was very concerned that if the upstream dams failed the bridge would be washed out and half the people in the subdivision would not be able to get to their houses. As it was, some very heavy rains would cause river water to backup OVER the bridge preventing access. This never caused any damage just inconvience.

But the dam failures could wash out the bridge which I think cost 75,000 dollars to build a long time ago. Needless to say the home owners were very nervous about having to pay for a new bridge. Obviously, the dam failures would have cause the owner to be sued.

I had enough of that group of YaHoos and sold my lot a few years later!

Just food for thought...
Dan McCarty

 

[rekees]

Dan

Liability due to dam failure isn't something I have to worry about. I'm out in the boondocks so there aren't any bridges or homes to worry about. The pasture would get wet, the creek would rise, and I wouldn't have drinking water but that's about it.

There is a spillway that takes over when the water gets about a foot above the pipe. So there's no way the water can go over the dam no matter how hard it rains.

I would never live in a place that was subjected to the rules of a homeowner's association! Already subjected to county, state and federal laws so certainly don't need more rules! It okay for folks who like to see and be seen and keep up with the Jones but that's not who I am.

Chuck in IN

 

[dmccarty]

Chuck,

From your first notes I did not think the dam had anything down stream but I figured I would ask just to make sure.

The dams I worried about also had spillways but beavers had blocked them so they no longer worked. He was an idiot tree hugger type and did not want to bother the little critters. Heavy rains would then just wash over the face of his dams. Really dumb on his part.

That was my first and hopefully last dealing with a Home Owners Association. Well, my current property has a HOA but I own 10 of the 15 lots. Three of the five are owned by friends of ours. The owners of the other lots are in the south west and we get along just fine with the remaining owner. We are going to have to do something about road costs because they are not in the covenants. The subdivision never got built because the land perks real bad or not at all. So it was perfect for us to buy. Plus the price was real real real good!

What is funny, well you can either laugh or cry, so I'll laugh, is that one of the neighbors, but not in my HOA, is the exact same type of idiot that I had problems with in the last HOA. I guess it just does not matter, there are idiots not matter where you live....

She has given one of her neighbors a lot of grief because she thinks THEIR land is part of her lot. Her dogs poop all over these peoples property and chase your car when you drive by their house. This same bozo called the Sheriff about my timber operation which is really stupid since everything that was being done was legal and had nothing to do with her. Even if it had something to do with her its a civil matter and not criminal. I think she also called the law one day when I was target shooting as well. The icing on the cake is the yahoo wants to walk up my road for excercise. I guess you have to have one in every community. I sure seem to find 'em.

I wish I had the a little bit of money, maybe a .001% of Ted Turners, so I could just buy one 1,000 acre property..... Well I guess I would need a bigger tractor as well!

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[markcg2000]

<font color=blue>...she also called the law one day when I was target shooting ...</font color=blue>

Soooo, what was your target /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif?

<font color=green>mark</font color=green>

 

[dmccarty]

|...she also called the law one day when I was target |shooting ...
|
|Soooo, what was your target ?

It was a paper plate! I'll swear to the judge it was a paper plate!

The neighbor she is really annoyinglikes to target shoot as well. I'm sure he is reversing the annoyance factor.

I just wanna be left alone!

Later...
Dan