Don't Have a Seizure! (Garden Ponds & Water Features in general)

Member Name: Aspen

Product:	Garden Ponds & Water Features in general
Date:	06/05/01 (799 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A little preventative maintenance can save a fortune in the long run.

Disadvantages: None.

Just a quickie.

In the hope that my experience can prevent someone out there burning out a pump motor, and incurring the expense of a replacement.

I’ve put this in a general category, because although it is about pond pumps, this little lesson applies to all pumps, rather than any particular make or model

I recently constructed a water feature for a client, not of the preformed variety (Boo! Hiss!), but built lovingly by hand, stone by granite stone, bound by suitably-waterproofed mortar. The pump was a Blagdon P4000, if I remember correctly, but the make is irrelevant here. It was installed in a concealed sump at the base of the structure, and supplied water to the top pool of four, at a head of about 2.5 metres.

On the day of reckoning, it worked perfectly, cascading over four pebble-filled granite pools and disappearing back into the hidden sump below.

(Mind you, I could write a book about the jobs which went wrong!)

Anyway, a few weeks later, the client called to say the pump had stopped. Eh?

Momentary panic re. guarantees, warranties etc.


But it was a problem easily solved. It could happen to anyone, even you. And it maybe already has.

Did you know that a pond pump gets coated in limescale, just like the element of a kettle? If you live in a hard-water area, your pump will slowly scale up and lose efficiency, until one day it simply stops turning. The danger then is, if you don’t spot it quickly enough, it will burn out the motor. Then you have a real problem.

Preventative maintenance is the answer. If yours is high pH, or alkaline, or limey water, use a kettle descaling product to soak the spindle of your pump once a year or so. Most pumps (Blagdon and Lotus, certainly) have motor covers which just twist off or unclip. REMEMBER TO DISCONNECT THE ELECTRICITY FIRST!

With the cover off, you will see one small central bolt. Undo this, remembering tha
t it will almost certainly have a left-handed thread. Draw out the spindle, descale, rinse, reassemble.

All ready to go again, without the risk of burning out the motor.


And why did mine seize up so soon after installation?

Fresh cement.

The thing was up and running before the mortar was properly cured, or “Gorn orf” as Tommy from Ground Farce would say. So all the alkaline efflorescence from the cement made the water so limey it was almost white. And the innards of the pump were as encrusted as the barnacly hull of a Spanish Galleon.


Another lesson learned.

Summary: