My waterfall hates me!

[Waterbug]

Polyurethane can stick to liner, but that isn't something that it does very well even with clean liner. Some spots will stick very well, most doesn't. "Sealing" is not why foam is used. It is purely for filling voids so more water flows down the front of the falls where it's visible. People pay for electric, they don't want 75% of the water to flow behind rocks and not be visible. Foam is not used to fix leaks. Or I should say it shouldn't be used to fix leaks. There is of course always a possibility that shooting a little foam in just the right place will stop a leak. But there's even more likely the foam will cause more leaking.

But DIYers always reach for the goop and duct tape first. It works against them but seems to be irresistible.

 

[wispfox]

"Polyurethane can stick to liner, but that isn't something that it does very well even with clean liner"

Ah! Noted.

Well, it's currently running purely on some rocks sitting in the bottom, but mostly on the liner. Improving visible water will wait until after we see if this liner is good.

Thanks again!

 

[addy1]

I use the pl roofing goop, clean the liner with acetone, just a quick wipe, make sure it is dry apply the goop. Let it dry some before running water. Where I have used it, it has lasted through 3 winters so far. Still hold well.

The construction glue, polyurethane, did not work well for me either, pulls right off the liner, easily.

 

[Waterbug]

When building a waterfall I think it's easier and safer to just use liner. When you get into trying to fashion a water tight container using any kind of goop you're probably going to fail.

For example, you can lay a perfectly flat piece of liner down and then pile rocks on it and glue them down with whatever goop you like. And you can seal everything really well and build a water tight structure. Really hard, really expensive and probably not going to hold water.

Or instead of a flat liner you can form a kind of bowl shape out of liner so that any water in the liner can only escape into the pond. No bonding to liner is needed.

To me as soon as I hear a person say they're "sealing" a waterfall I know they're in trouble. Just like with roofs, people try to "seal" leaks. Doesn't normally work, or work for very long.

 

[wispfox]

So far, it looks like the liner is ok. Will likely see about adding some rocks and water-visibility-improving goop tomorrow.

Yay!

 

[addy1]

Great good luck today!

 

[wispfox]

Looks good so far! Will get a photo tomorrow, and watch to see that it continues to not leak.

Yay!

 

[sissy]

I used that spray rubber stuff on a stock tank that was cracked .I used one of those plantainers and went bigger and went bigger to hold more plants
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[sissy]

more plants clean it better

 

[wispfox]

Huh. I do appear to be losing water again, but I am not sure what rate to expect from evaporation from the waterfall itself! Last spring, it rained a whole lot more, so it's hard to compare with this year.

It _may_ be evaporation, as it's not amazingly fast (an inch a day, about? I'm guessing?).

And I still have to remember to get y'all a photo!

 

[sissy]

an inch a day seems like alot to me since it has not been that hot .Have you checked all your hoses for a leak .

 

[sissy]

Thats why I had to rebuild mine and found that the roots of my grasses had grown between the 2 liners and had pulled the seal loose between them .I decided to block off the fish from there and use it to hold more plants and since it is close to the same height as the pond it should not happen again .I hope .The liner for the pond itself goes up over a concrete block barrier and then the new liner goes over that and back into the pond .The over flow outlet would stop the water from getting to high to cause problems .

 

[wispfox]

Sissy: It's only been this much since I added rocks back in and added goop to make the waterfall more waterfall-y.

I _know_ the hoses are all fine, as this only happens with the waterfall.

Perhaps I shall try making the falls lower again.

 

[sissy]

are you getting a lot of splashing as that could cause the loss .Sounds like it could be just that .

 

[wispfox]

It's not splashing out of the pond as far as I can tell, but the air is dry enough that if it's frequent small amounts, I'd not be able to tell.

I've prevented any large and obvious escaping water splashes, though.