Hi there, I'm new to this forum and have read some great advice here. I'm currently running a Climatemaster Genesis HP in an open loop system giving and taking from a pond that has inlet and outlet streams that feed the pond. The streams run year-round. The intake pipe for the geo system is about 6-8 feet deep in the pond and I have been running clean for about 9 months now. The other day, the end of the pipe must have worked itself down into the pond floor and it became clogged. After about a day-an-a-half of mucking around, pardon the pun, I've got the system running well again. What's the best way to keep this from happening, moving forward? Is there some way I can put the end of the intake pipe in a 5 gallon bucket or something? The system runs anywhere from 6-9 GPM, depending on what speed I have the water-line pumps set at, so I'm not sure if a bucket is the way to go as it may pump it dry. But, if the bucket is completely submerged at that depth, it should be fine? As you can see, I'm spitballing, here. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, in advance. Regards, Barry bfuller@direct.ca
Re: Open Loop Pond System How about using a wellpoint, or perhaps an array of them? Wellpoint from HomeDepot is a 4' length of PVC with hundreds of very fine slits in the side of the pipe. Slits are razor-thin and no doubt designed to prevent sand uptake into a well pump. Gang a few together and see if it works.
Re: Open Loop Pond System Well points are highly prone to failure when not beded with a filter pack. Fine slits plug very easily with muck and silts. Expanding on Curts idea, why not jet the well points in on the pond shore to supply the water?
Re: Open Loop Pond System If your discharge was in the pond, you could just reverse flow occasionally with some inside valves to flush it out. But I'm unsure of your setup. No way we can pull off open loop surface water up here
Re: Open Loop Pond System Hi Urthbuoy, Actually I'm located in Mission, B.C. My pond is running right along-side the house on our property and we've had nice success with heating and cooling. The system I'm running gives back to the same pond it takes from. I was doing some clean-up around the property yesterday and found an old olive barrel and think I can fashion some way of suspending the end of the pipe within the enclosure of the barrel, then making a hollow in the pond floor and suspending that way. Say, I've got a 4-acre property up in the Savannah area about 50 kilometers from Kamloops, just the other side of the Tobiano Golf develpment. We are thinking of doing some work up there later in 2010. Do you do wells and/or septic? I think the well will have to be pretty deep, but the septic should be pretty easy in that terrain. Thanks, Barry bfuller@direct.ca
Re: Open Loop Pond System OK, I stand corrected. But I do know of some similar setups in Shuswap area that basically don't work during January/February. This is due to cold water temperatures and freezing if the system is run. So if you get ice, an open water surface loop is going to be "iffy". Tobiano - I know your area very well, but don't cross over in to the septic world, and the well world really is the driller's world in this area. But I do work with those guys often enough, I can pass off some recommendations if you would like. Feel free to contact me directly off this forum.
Re: Open Loop Pond System I have a similar setup where I fastened the end of the inlet pipe to a post underwater. Then I put a course screen mesh (from Home Depot) over the pipe inlet, and a 100 micron water filter (from another hardware store), with a clear housing, at the inlet of the geothermal pump. You can keep an eye on the filter and clean it when needed ... every 2 months or so in my case.
