CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[combatwombat]

1st batch of pond plants are in. Thanks @addy1 ! Bought a cheap-o used firepit to to test proof of concept. If it works, I'll have a nice one custom fabbed from heavy gauge steel that fits to space better. Would like something lower profile, but not sure how to do achieve that while protecting the pump vault below. And the pathway around the deck is almost done.

 

[SarahT]

1st batch of pond plants are in. Thanks @addy1 ! Bought a cheap-o used firepit to to test proof of concept. If it works, I'll have a nice one custom fabbed from heavy gauge steel that fits to space better. Would like something lower profile, but not sure how to do achieve that while protecting the pump vault below. And the pathway around the deck is almost done.

Looking good.
I would not put a fire pit over the plastic vault cover, even if you use a fire pit pad or heat shield under it. If your intent is to hide the vault cover, I'd suggest use a fiberglass (lighter weight so you can remove it for access to the vault) "thing", like a sculpture, piece of art, planting pot as an alternative, or even a moveable tray with rocks in it.

 

[combatwombat]

I would not put a fire pit over the plastic vault cover,

I wouldn't, either. But I'm going to anyway. Haha. It's just too perfect of a spot. I'll figure it out somehow. Another idea I had—that would be a major pain in the ass to do now but not hard had I thought of it before finishing the patio— is to actually cut the pump vault down 8-12" and frame a little half-circle retaining wall around it to hold the gravel back. Then you could have a very low-profile fire pit that is plenty far enough away from the top of the pit.

 

[Lisak1]

Our dog found out how hot it gets under the fire pit when he snuggled up under it. The answer is "hot enough to start a dog on fire". HE WAS FINE... but nothing smells quite like burning dog hair.

For real though - I've seen far too many cases of houses starting on fire or even just siding melting from too close of proximity to an outdoor grill to think this is a good idea. An acquaintance of ours actually burned his whole house down when he dumped hot coals into a metal trash can on his deck. He had done it for years, but for whatever reason that one time something stayed too hot for too long and the house was gone in a matter of minutes. Without some kind of insulating cover over the vault lid, I just think you're asking for trouble.

Just an opinion though - I know you'll approach it with caution and good reasoning!

 

[j.w]

@combatwombat my hubby is a welder and he made these stainless steel covers that fit over our septic tank lids that are just like yours. Ours were cracked as they were several inches underground and the riding lawnmower was too heavy for them. Now they have these covers over them and all is good. I know you can't put yours under ground now but you could do the same above ground and fill the lid w/rocks and then maybe have some rock around the outer edge to hide it. You could also have the steel round things edges made higher up so it doesn't fit too close to your cover giving you more space between the plastic cover and the steel cover and there is prolly a type of material that is fire proof that you could cut and put in between them also. Just an idea if you know a welder. He made handles for ours for easy lifting when we have to dig the dirt off and lift the plate off easy. We had the septic covers put down under the earth when they were put in due to the ugliness of them being right in our front yard. Now you don't see them and it's not that big of a deal to dig the dirt off to have the septic tank pumped which we only have had done once in 22 years!

 

[j.w]

@combatwombat oops after I wrote that above I talked to my hubby and he said don't do it! Don't put anything hot over that septic lid w/a stainless cover or not as septic tanks produce methane gas and if there is any kind of even a small leak coming up that whole thing could explode! So he suggests strongly that you not even try it at all!

 

[j.w]

Maybe just put a nice big pot w/a plant in it over that septic lid

 

[combatwombat]

@Lisak1: Yikes! Glad Fido was ok. Those are all totally valid concerns, but my situation is a way less risk than all of those scenarios. This fire pit will not be burning the house down. It's 30' away. And I think I've figured this out already. Going to replace the plastic lid with 3" thick concrete one and that should pretty much solve the problem.

@j.w: Good call. But this isn't a septic tank. It's the pump vault on the pond. No methane gas...

 

[GBBUDD]

CREATE AN AIR GAP ABOVE THE COVER THENcover the cap with flag stone or similar even metal and a second airgap to the firepit

 

[Lisak1]

An air gap was my thought too - just don't have the heat directly over the plastic lid.

I didn't think you'd burn your house down - just an anecdote about how we often underestimate the power of fire! We had a fire pit with a lid that we would use to put out the fire. 24 hours later you could pull off the lid and puff on it and the fire would restart just from the hot coals. Fire likes to win!

 

[combatwombat]

An air gap was my thought too - just don't have the heat directly over the plastic lid.

I didn't think you'd burn your house down - just an anecdote about how we often underestimate the power of fire! We had a fire pit with a lid that we would use to put out the fire. 24 hours later you could pull off the lid and puff on it and the fire would restart just from the hot coals. Fire likes to win!

My wife saved our neighbor’s house from burning down a year ago. Bug zapper fell into their recycling bin. Flames had just spread to the siding when she walked by and noticed.

 

[Lisak1]

Crazy! The house across the street from us burned a number of years ago. The heat from that fire was so hot that the siding on the houses on either side just melted like frosting on a cake. We couldn't even stand in our front yard and watch - it was like an inferno. It was really sobering to watch the firefighters have to just back off and watch it burn until the heat subsided enough that they could get close enough to try to knock it back.

 

[addy1]

Current hubby had his previous house burn to the ground. The inspectors think something electrical. ATF had to check it out as his house was over 500k. He said it was unreal to watch it burn, lost their 3 dogs in the fire, but none of their kids.

 

[combatwombat]

Another little update. Thanks, @addy1 for the purge plants. The bog is as full as it's going to get for now. Probably going to have to redo some bog plumbing next year as I cannot shut down the pump for the winter without losing a foot of water in the bog. Whoops. Maybe I'll just keep it running year round and forget about it. Will see how ambitious I feel in the Spring.

 

[addy1]

Very nice their lives were saved!
The rest in the woods. A huge pile!
They should take off.

I shut my system down, but the bog does not go dry. Water drains down to the top of the gravel level. The plants start growing way before I turn the bog back on in the spring.