Pump for standing water

Alan L. · Dec 4, 2004

I have a dip upstream of my pond that collects rain water since I had dirt work on the whole property. There are two good trees in the dip that will be killed when I finally fill it in with dirt, so I'm not real anxious to do that yet.

It would seem a short-term solution would be to get a gas powered pump to pump the water out of the dip and over the hump onto lower ground, and this should allow it to dry out faster. But I don't know what kind of pump I need, where to get it, or how much it would cost. Any information or recommendations owuld be appreciated.

The area of the dip is proabably 100 feet long by 20 feet wide by 4-6 inches deep at times, it varies. I need to move it uphill about a foot or two and about 50 to 100 feet away from the low spot to get it over the "hump".

Egon · Dec 4, 2004

Have you considered setting up a siphon arrangement. No need for a pump ?

Could you dig a trench ? Put plasyic pipe in trench and cover?

For pumps a trash pump would work just fine as head pressure are no prblem.

Egon

Bird · Dec 4, 2004

Alan, I used to have a little Homelite 2-stroke pump with a 1" inlet hose and strainer that came with an adapter for any garden hose on the outlet; small, cheap, very light weight and we used it for everything from pumping out a septic tank to draining a pond and putting out fires. The only drawback I ever saw to it was that it would only run about 40 minutes on a tank of gas. I think Homelite has been bought out now by another company, but those little pumps should still be available.

have_blue · Dec 4, 2004

If possible, jusd dig a 1' deep 6-8' wide wide ditch and drain it.

If that's impossible, sometimes trees can survive a 6" overlay of soil, depending on how sandy the soil is.

beenthere · Dec 4, 2004

Is there a reason the 'dip' is there? (I first read that sentence and thought you had a neighbor that was upstream, and referring to him as a 'dip' /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif ). Maybe the 'dip' was the one doing your pond landscaping and he needs to come back to finish it so the rain water goes to your pond naturally.

A pump sounds like a temporary fix, but don't really know what you have in mind for the future of the 'dip' (water hole /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

rambler · Dec 6, 2004

I'd sure try to tile (drain) it out underground, not waste time & money on a pump & hose you need to fool with.

Can you cut a trench from the low part of the ditch to the pond, or does something prevent that? Obviously this dip is not _the_ low spot on the property, or it would be the pond & the current pond would be 'the dip'. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

--->Paul

Alan L. · Dec 7, 2004

Thanks for the suggestions. I need to get a picture to show the situation. Yes, its the dirt man that caused the trouble, since he dug the pond and built the road. Its all on him.

Between the "dip" and the pond is my road, which is raised 18 - 24". There is a culvert under the road and the water is supposed to drain off everything above the road into the culvert, and on the other side of the road, into the pond. The problem is that this "dip" is slightly lower than the culvert so it does not all drain out. So a ditch won't work because I can only go two places with it, the culvert and the other way toward the creek (then water would all drain to the creek and away from the pond). A pipe drain is a possibility, but filling it up with dirt is better although it would be expensive and might kill the 2 trees.

I just thought of a pump as a short-term solution while sitting here in the loblolly of wintertime when I couldn't do any of the other stuff anyway. I get tired of seeing that standing water.

There might be a way to put in a drain that I could plug when I don't want water to go that direction, and quite possibly a 4" drain would not hurt anyway, as the water is going to go toward the path of least resistance, and that would be into the culvert and into the pond.

Looks like ultimately I'm just going to have to put the dirt in there, put some gravel around the trees and hope they live.

Joe1 · Dec 7, 2004

Sounds like you're going to fill in that dip anyway, it would seem that the cheapest and most efficient way would be to simply raise the level of the dip with whatever fill you would eventually use until it is higher than the culvert and will drain into that.

fishman · Dec 7, 2004

In my line of work, I use small water pumps quite a bit, from the 2-stroke units Bird mentioned, up to 5 hp units that pump quite a bit of water. In my opinion, Egon's suggestion is the best. If you can run a couple of sections of garden hose from the deepest part of the dip over the hump and down the other side a few feet lower than the bottom of the dip, it will drain out in a day or two, I'd bet.

Some things to make your life easier. Fill the hose at your spigot and seal both ends so the water doesn't come out. Then place the hose, undo the top plug, then the bottom. This will start your siphon. A screen on the upper end will help keep trash from plugging the hose. I'd make a "basket of wire mesh that allows the hose to be on the bottom, but prevents leaves from getting to it. Make sure the hose is weighted down to so it doesn't float up.

That would be the most economical approach. Otherwise, I highly recommend the Honda line of pumps. You could probably get by with the WX10, which has a 2hp 4 stroke engine and uses a standard garden hose for the outlet. Suction hose, etc., included, and costs under $300. I've got two, with one as a spare, but I can't start to kill the first one. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

rambler · Dec 9, 2004

The problem with the pump: You need to go out & fiddle with it every time it rains. They don't suck clean, you will need to create a sump at the low spot. The hose & pump will be in the way for mowing & all that.... It will cost near $500 to get the pump & hose & all....

You can rent a trencher for $100 here, cut your trench, drop in a few 100 feet of 4" plastic drain tile (even 2"), put some good gravel over the end of the drain tile up to the bottom of the dip so it drains well/ fast, and have about the same money invested - but no more fuss ever, no additional costs, the water can be directed to fill your pond but it will get filtered by the gravel, no lawn clippings - leaves - muck. Your trees will be saved for all time.

Those trenchers can go 4' deep tho 2' is more fun, so you can get through the driveway, & make the rest of it pretty easily.

Just how I would do it. But then, I farm for a living in really wet southern Minnesota, and have several miles of drain tile under my small farm - used to the concept. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

--->Paul