The pond dig has begun!

[sissy]

I have never heard of that happening are you sure it's calcium .I have somewhat hard water but never had a problem with my pumps having any calcium on them .Not sure I have ever heard of anyone having calcium problems either with there ponds .Sorry you had such a bad trip ,seems like my bad luck is rubbing off on you geeze I hope not .Seems like when everything is going right the bad luck just snicks in .Well at least your back safe and sound even with all that happening .Hope your luck gets better .

 

[CountryEscape]

Sissy, yes you had really bad luck with your neighbor's dog lately, too! Hope all is going well now and no more muddy problems. I wondered, too, if it was calcium, or maybe something that he scraped off of both sides that needed to have been left there! It looked extremely uniform to me ... hope he didn't scrape off something that was needed! Maybe it just got hot from stuff building up around the outside of it, which I cleaned off. Maybe, also, just opening the housing and cleaning it off would have let it start back up. The pump was really tight and would not turn freely, but after he scraped it off, it turned freely. We'll see if it happens again, hopefully not!

 

[addy1]

Good luck country, with your pump. I would take it back, since it has failed once, swap for a new one, or refund for a different pump. We have a cheap hf one for our stream, but it handles the high head pressure. The first one quit after one week, we got it running again it quit again. Had hf take it back, now have a new hf one and no problems. I would not trust it imho.

 

[CountryEscape]

Good point, probably should not wait for it to fail again, but worry that now that it's working, they may not take it back. Got it at Menards. Will check out my receipt and decide from there. Probably have a 30 day warranty, then might have to return to company and wait for warranty repairs. In the meantime, I'm going to look at Laguna's on-line tonight again.

 

[sissy]

You can check online for pumps there are a lot of places selling pumps really cheap .I would not wait return it no matter what .I found some interesting stuff online like at big als .com has an air stone that provides oxygen to indoor tank for a month with no pump .Wonder why they don't make them for a pond ,in an emergency it would work .And also at pondepot.com they have cheaper prices on pumps

 

[addy1]

Good point, probably should not wait for it to fail again, but worry that now that it's working, they may not take it back. Got it at Menards. Will check out my receipt and decide from there. Probably have a 30 day warranty, then might have to return to company and wait for warranty repairs. In the meantime, I'm going to look at Laguna's on-line tonight again.

My hf was out of the 30 day warranty, but the pump had a year warranty. They replaced with a new one for me without question.

Take it in and just tell them it has been running for two weeks and failed.

 

[sissy]

To me if a pump fails never trust that it is not going to happen again .Murphy's law remember it well.Gut instinct says take it back where you bought it .I had that happen with a pump I had ,it stopped working and then you would shake it and it would work .Lucky I got the extended warranty at harbor freight for 5 dollars they replace it no questions asked .To be honest some of it was my fault that the pump did that I think ,anyways because that's when aggie knocked the pump over in the winter and water got low in the pond and think it may have started to overheat .I told them that and they said no matter what they replace it .I always ask even online they never tell you sometimes they offer extended warranties and for the extra couple of bucks why not .

 

[CountryEscape]

Good point, Sissy, on getting the extended warranty. I never do that on anything, but for a pump, maybe I should! I plan to find another pump online (hopefully have time to check on them tonight, thanks for the websites to search on) and once I get that, will take the other one back. My other Sunterra is only for 1600 gph, and it's running the skimmer into the plant bog. So far so good and that one could quit and it would not be as bad as the main pump!
Oh, and I said calcium, but meant lime. DUH!!! I'm still not convinced that it was lime, though, so will see what it looks like when I return it. Boyfriend said don't tell them he scraped it off, as maybe it was supposed to be there.

 

[fishin4cars]

Pumps are one piece of equipment that if you can get extended warranty, do it! I have had many pumps through the years, I've bought some that lasted 6 months and died, got an exact replacement and it last for a few years, Average lifespan for submersible pumps, maybe two years. a few longer but not many. The more you can keep from getting to the pump the longer it will last. But having extended warranties pays for itself better than 50% of the time.
NOTE: Most of the pumps I have used to date were bought at Lowes, Home Depot,and Used pumps from pond stores. So My experiences may and do not reflect the lifespan of all pumps,

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Country Escape, I have a suntera pump also from Menards. I have had it three years and it works well. Sometimes the housing or the prefilter gets clogged up and the water slows to a trickle until I clean it. I cleaned mine tonight and found a baby dragon/damsel fly in the bucket I was cleaning it in. At first I thought is was a baby fish because you could see the tail, but then when I saw the legs I figured it was something else!

 

[addy1]

You mean fish don't have legs! darn been saving the wrong things......................lol

 

[CountryEscape]

Addy, you're so silly.
ComeKeith, yes, if I had been home last week, I likely would have noticed the pump losing power, and cleaned it. But, since I was gone, it got clogged and quit instead. I will keep and eye on it and make sure to clean it off before leaving for even 2-3 days from now on. It was clogged up pretty much, but not totally when we pulled it. Maybe 70% clogged, but I guess that made it work too hard and it got hot and stopped.
I've ordered a Laguna 4200 pump, so will have it as a back up if nothing else. If this pump quits again in the next week or so, and is not clogged, I will return it. I know that I need to maintain them, so will watch for that! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[sissy]

on big als website they do have a limescale remover for ponds and it is not expensive .I am buying all my air stones there I cannot believe there prices .Since you have no fish and don't have to worry about that it would be safer removing it now than later .I don't know of a natural limescale remover .If you have horses and use pdz in there stalls that is zeolite and is used for ponds also .

 

[j.w]

I buy my fish food and pumps from Big Als and even cat things etc. there.

 

[sissy]

I just bought air stones from big als. The ones big enough for ponds are expensive and he is the cheapest for them .I like the blue round ones the most .They work great except when you accidently step on them LOL