pond overflow???

[micaaronfl76]

hi all i am debating on doing a pond in my backwayrd this year that will be up against my house. my backyard has a decent incline away from the house but i am concerned about what getting into my basement if we should get a bad storm.

i had a pond designer come out who wanted a ton of money to do the pond. i would rather just do it myself but he mentioned a pond overflow. i searched good but couldnt find info on it. does anyone have a diagram on how that works?

 

[koiguy1969]

its just an outlet plumbed into the wall of the pond at the point you want your water level. if it rains the level wont change the excess water will go to wherever you plumb it to.

 

[micaaronfl76]

thanks koi guy do u have a pic of where it comes in on the pond?

 

[addy1]

I just a a low area in my liner, a 2 inch piece of pvc foamed into that low area, when the water gets too high it flows out of the pond. With my slope it just goes out into the field.

Some like koiguy put the pipe into the liner, with my build it was easier to just have a low spot, I just made sure the water flowed away from the pond and not under the liner, have a dry gravel stream bed for it.

I covered the end of the pvc with netting so the fish would not flow out also.

 

[micaaronfl76]

thanks guys its just hard for me to picture

 

[micaaronfl76]

can anyone post a picture or diagram of their overflow system

 

[shakaho]

You know the hole near the top of your bathroom sink where the water can flow out to keep the sink from overflowing? Now just picture a pipe going through that hole. That's an overflow pipe.

 

[micaaronfl76]

i got it now thanks

 

[micaaronfl76]

ok is this what you guys mean? if so also how do you usually discharge the water without it backing back up? i cant go to the street do to township restrictions.

 

[fishin4cars]

Lets see if I can try and help out here, First off, A drain and a overflow are two different things. A drain is normally at the bottom of the pond, gravity pushes water down the drain pipe and you pump it to where you want it to go. Over flow is where your water is going to go when it starts raining or your filling the pond and it's full to the brim. The lowest lever the water can escape is the over flow point. Now, If that's where you want the extra water to go then great no worry, My 300 gallon pond has a very slight lean to it, the back is lower than the front, the overflow was naturally in the back, When the pond fills it over flows and waters the plants behind it. Naturally overflowing, My 2500 gallon pond has a low spot where water would pour out into my back porch, I didn't want pond water on my porch, so I built up the side about a inch and I dug a small trench out on the opposite side and ran a 3' pipe to a shower drain. this way I had a screen so no fish could get out. and the water would flow into the yard.
Pic 1 is the pond that has natural draining, Simply it runs over the liner and under the wood edging and out the back.
Pic 2 is a shower drain on the big pond that shows the cover in place to keep the fish from escaping, Normally more hidden but I removed rocks for the pic.
Pic 3 is where it exits to the yard.

 

[micaaronfl76]

fishin thanks i think i got it now. sorry to be such a nag but the pond is going to be cornered against the house, hence my flooding concerns. the pond is most likely not going to be built up, basically filled to the brim of the grass line. just trying to figure out how water can and escape and where would drain it out.

 

[fishin4cars]

I'm having issues getting a pic to post showing where it comes out in the yard, Anyway, The pipe runs from the pond to the yard. Below that I had to dig a trench and install some drainage pipes,(which are buried under the rock and little bridge) I have four stack stacked in the first row 4" each x 8' long, added gravel, stacked another four of the same pipe on top of them, covered with gravel, I had to do this so I would have a sump for the water to go if it rains real hard as I have almost perfect flat property and nowhere for the water to go. I have a sump pump that I can lower down into this area and actually pump the water if we get a big storm come through. I have to do this because when we get a lot of rain the yard actually holds water and if I don't pump it away it can get back into the pond, This is a mistake in design. If I had thought about this more when I built the pond I would have built up the sides about four inches all the way around to allow of more room for run off from the pond. The higher the liner is from the actual spot the water is being dumped the better. This allows for your pipes to be run at a slight down angle allowing the water to get dumped farther away from the pond.

 

[fishin4cars]

basically then what you want to do is install one of these overflows on the side farthest away from the house. You may have to dig a trench to put the pipe in to get it to go where you want. the pipe must have a downward slope in order to drain. Don't skimp on your pipe sixe either, 2" minimum, I would recommend going 3"-4" if possible. My pond can handle 1" of rain per hour over flow rate with a 2" pipe and 2" of drop. I get water back into the pond without the sump pump running if it rains that hard for any longer than three hours or at a faster rate. Tropical storms are a NIGHTMARE for me!
There are other ways to fix the problem also, I'm just suggesting a simple gravity feed overflow, You can also put in a high level float switch to a pump and when the level gets so high a pump kicks on and pumps away what water is not needed. There aren't expensive and work, I've not used one on my pond but I installed one in my attic for the air conditioner drain pan.

 

[micaaronfl76]

thanks exactly where do u set the pipe into the pond if the pond is leveled with the ground?

would a dry well at the other end work? im concerned if the well gets filled it will backflow into the pond.

 

[fishin4cars]

can you get me a pic farther away from the pond so I can see more landscape in relation to the pond, also, where the lowest area is away from the house or where you would be thinking that the drain should go. I'll see if we can figure something feasible out.