how come bottom drains are like 70 bucks, which already seems to be a ripoff, but then a bottom drain set up for an aerator is suddenly hundreds of dollars? i must be missing why an extra hole and some other minor differences cause the cost to jump that much.
bottom drain cost
- Thread starter damian
- Start date
look at everything within the pond HOBBY market, its all rediculous pricing compared to other industrys profit margins.
Look at a filter, its a box with some foam in, no unique crazy engineering in there, yet they charge massive prices.
Pond equipment is basicly a 'luxury' goods item, which you pay a premium for, much like the difference between budget own brand milkshakes, and imported fairtrade organic super healthy and tasty milkshakes for 10x the price, when they are in reality pretty much the same thing with no real added cost to manufacture, you are just paying for the 'luxury'.
Look at a filter, its a box with some foam in, no unique crazy engineering in there, yet they charge massive prices.
Pond equipment is basicly a 'luxury' goods item, which you pay a premium for, much like the difference between budget own brand milkshakes, and imported fairtrade organic super healthy and tasty milkshakes for 10x the price, when they are in reality pretty much the same thing with no real added cost to manufacture, you are just paying for the 'luxury'.
HTH
Howard
It is expensive in part because it is often a rich mans hobby.
The good news is that you can make most everything yourself with common plumbing parts.
The good news is that you can make most everything yourself with common plumbing parts.
sweet, a bottom drain is like a wedding cake!
HTH
Howard
damian said:
Hey good one!
But if you use EPDM liner you can make one the the cost of a stainless steel band clamp, a scrap of EPDM, and a plastic colander (noodle strainer).
so i went with a 3" bottom drain, but the savio bottom drain connection kit for the skimmer is 1.5". hopefully it won't screw things up too much to reduce from 3" to 1.5" at the skimmer.
fishin4cars
True friends just call me Larkin
It will reduce the flow rate by 66% I think is how it works out. It would seem it reduce by 50% but it's actually greater. Not sure why but there is a chart with flow rates that shows the difference. may want to drill out the skimmer to allow it to fit to a 3" connection otherwise your likely to get debris trapped in the 3" piping and can eventually cause clogging.
HTH
Howard
I know this is an old post but for a rubber liner one can do a DIY bottom drain with nothing more then a stainless pipe clamp and a bit of extra pond liner to protect the liner from the clamp.
Going in the way back machine...$70 bottom drain...might have something to do with the mold made for the injection molding machine costing about $15,000. The retailer takes 50%, other overhead and manufacturer has to sell about 1,000 units just to break even. Given the number of ponds being built with BD and number of manufacturers, sure not a business I would want to be in. I'd bet any manufacturer would be happy to sell anyone a million units for say $7 each. They'd even take you to dinner and probably get you a hooker too.
But yeah, I like DIY myself. I have the time and interest.
But yeah, I like DIY myself. I have the time and interest.
Yes.. it's also about the marketiing. The special graphics for the box that make it a "pond" product cost $$$. The inserts, directions, tech support, (if any), web page support, shipping and delivery to pond stores, etc. Shipping 6 bottom drains to a dealer costs a lot more per unit than shipping 20 pallets of bottom drains to someone. Most of these products are made overseas, usually you want to be able to ship a full shipping container for the best shipping prices. That can be a lot of drains. Then they have to be unpacked and reshipped to dealers or distributors.
If you actually saw the breakdown of individual units into the various components of manufacturing you'd be shocked. The actual "cost" of making most things is usually a very small part of the final cost. Usually just the difference between wholesale and retail is about a 100% mark-up. The actual manufacturing cost is probably less than 5-10% of the retail shelf price/unit.
Craig
If you actually saw the breakdown of individual units into the various components of manufacturing you'd be shocked. The actual "cost" of making most things is usually a very small part of the final cost. Usually just the difference between wholesale and retail is about a 100% mark-up. The actual manufacturing cost is probably less than 5-10% of the retail shelf price/unit.
Craig
HTH
Howard
I agree with Waterbug.
PVC pipe is a lot like lego brick or tinker toys. Even if you are not a DIY person you might surprise yourself at how easy it is to DIY it using this wonderful stuff. For air and some gravity feed water lines you can often get by without using glue.
PVC pipe is a lot like lego brick or tinker toys. Even if you are not a DIY person you might surprise yourself at how easy it is to DIY it using this wonderful stuff. For air and some gravity feed water lines you can often get by without using glue.
Bottom drains certainly seem high priced compared to other plumbing fittings, but then you won't find them at most plumbing stores either, so that's kind of an indication of just how much a specialty item they are. In fact, it has been my experience that most retail places that sell pond supplies don't even stock them, most of them don't even know what a bottom drain is. When asked about bottom drains they think I'm just wanting some method to drain my pond easily. I've only been in one place that confirmed they had a bottom drain in stock, and it was in a huge irrigation supply warehouse that had a huge stock of pond and water gardening supplies, and they only had one bottom drain in stock. The guy told me that it had been sitting on the self for years, and they'll be happy to move it at a substantial discount, and they probably wouldn't be restocking any more once it was sold. It was a 4" bottom drain, price tag was $125. It's probably still sitting on their shelf.
By far the vast majority of ponds use in pond submersible pumps, and those don't work very well with bottom drains. Of the few other ponds that use external pumps, most of them draw the water through a skimmer, and/or possibly some sort of underwater pre-filter. I've seen lots of pond around my locality, I have yet to see another pond in my area, beside mine, that was built with a bottom drain.
A wedding cake is not really a very good comparison, since everybody knows what a wedding cake is and what it's for, and has probably had at one at one time in their life, but a bottom drain! Often people who sell pond supplies don't even know what they are.
By far the vast majority of ponds use in pond submersible pumps, and those don't work very well with bottom drains. Of the few other ponds that use external pumps, most of them draw the water through a skimmer, and/or possibly some sort of underwater pre-filter. I've seen lots of pond around my locality, I have yet to see another pond in my area, beside mine, that was built with a bottom drain.
A wedding cake is not really a very good comparison, since everybody knows what a wedding cake is and what it's for, and has probably had at one at one time in their life, but a bottom drain! Often people who sell pond supplies don't even know what they are.
