Leaking pond!!!!

[Vizerdrix]

OMG!!!  The pond is leaking!!!

Okay, enough with the dramatics.  This morning, Rob went to put something in the freezer, which happens to be in the basement right under the pond, and noticed a small damp circle on top of the freezer.  He looked up, and saw the wood in the supports was wet!

I bet you this is the most interesting and original excuse anyone has ever had to call in to work late.   We're busy siphoning out the pond right now.  We helped it along with buckets, but there's not enough left to keep doing that, thus we are taking a break.  After that, we'll remove the pond from there and dry everything off (me with a hair dryer, Rob with a heat gun downstairs).

Thank goodness I had a spare tank set-up and we were already planning on draining the thing!!!

[Brine]

Holy Hell that could have been totally disastrous. If you need help PM or call

[Vizerdrix]

Thanks Brian, That is very appreciated! 

I think we have everything under control now.  The pond is empty, and sitting on it's side with lots of towels underneath to soak up what is dribbling out.  Thank goodness it was a slow leak!!!

Took out the bottom layer of foam, and it's sitting on the basement floor drying.  The liner (which I was going to toss anyhow) is in the garage awaiting the Monday garbage pick-up.  It's a good thing I built it the way I did.  Totally modular.  And with screws.

Now, all that's left to do is to get it to dry a bit more, and dry up the floor.

Oh, and my boss laughed when I told him why I was going to be late.   At least he has a good sense of humour!

[washefuzzy]

Not good! I'm not even going to ask how much water that pond held!
I hope you recovered enough from bowling to be doing this. 

[Vizerdrix]

I think it had roughly about 150g.  I'd taken a bit out prior to that, or else it would have been closer to 175g!

So when I put the thing back in, I'm going to add a couple more safety features: another plastic liner on the floor, wrapping around the outside of the pond (under the exterior siding)!  And a "quick-drain" to the sink downstairs.  As it is, because of the foam absorbing a lot of the water and the silicone around all the joints and cracks, we avoided a MAJOR disaster. 

We have a fan blowing on the floor right now, to circulate the air and get it to dry a bit faster. 

I should get going to work.  I don't want to, but it's something that must be done.  That, and I need my paycheque.

[cora]

WOw the was a close one! Glad you got it sorted out before disaster struck! you could have had a huge problem! Lucky you!

[Vizerdrix]

We're now keeping our fingers crossed that the floor isn't damaged.  Rob spent the day spot-drying with his heat gun.  The pond itself is propped up on one side of the living room.  In a couple of days, we'll move it back to where it was sitting before, but still propped up.  Let everything air-dry well.

As a matter of coincidence, we got a flyer in the mail today explaining the changes to our water-damage clause in the house insurance!   I got a good laugh at that!

Thing that gets me though is why couldn't it wait a couple more days?!?  I was taking the silly thing down this weekend anyhow!!!

[washefuzzy]

That is so ironic that it leaked a couple of days before you where going to take it down.  It's a good thing you guys noticed it before going off to work. Still I hope the floor is going to be okay!
Man what a mess if all that water had had a chance to leak out. 
Things can only get better!  Right??

[The Pond Boy]

So again one building brom plasic or this time from pond liner?
Thanks,

The Pond Boy,
Greg Veldhuizen

[woodendude]

Wow, you certainly got lucky there, things could have been a lot worse. Curious though, why were you taking it down?




Derek

[beowulf]

Man if I ever built something like this and it leaked I think you would not be able to find my body after the wife was done with me 

[Brine]

Curious though, why were you taking it down?
Derek

Derek you can read some of the adventures of the indoor pond here. http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=24843.0

[Vizerdrix]

I'll be using pond liner this time.  Going to shop around and try to find the best price, even if I have to mail-order it in.

Beowulf, hubby was fully behind me in this project and enjoyed the pond a lot too, so no problems there.   I'm lucky in that he supports my hobbies (and I support his).  Mine are just messier (he collects pinball machines).

I'll probably be waiting until springtime to do this.  Don't have the time/funds for it right now.

[washefuzzy]

Hows the floor doing? Is it almost dried out.     

[Vizerdrix]

Hows the floor doing? Is it almost dried out.     

Salvageable.   A bit of buckling at the edges, but if it doesn't settle we can easily sand it down and re-varnish the area.

We keep stepping on the wet foam drying in the basement though!  UGH!   So I'm going around without socks.

[washefuzzy]

The fact that no fish where harmed in the "Big Leak" is really what counts!! 

[renadia]

Boy oh boy you have been so unlucky recently 


I am sending you good good fish Karma   

No more fish or fish releated for you 

Hope all is drying as it should

Diane

[KLKelly]

Vizi - I love your avatar!

[Vizerdrix]

<GRIN>  Thanks Karrie!  I'm still trying to figure out what yours is though.

And on topic, the floor has dried out fine, we don't seem to have any damage other than water staining in small areas of the ceiling in the basement.  We were lucky!  Thanks for the good Karma, Renadia!