backyard pond with leak

Let it slowly leak out. It will stop leaking when the water line is just below the leak.

If you were to put some food color in the water, the leak should be easier to find once the water is gone. A gentle wipe should remove the color residue from everywhere except the leak area.

Another way to find the leaking liner spot would be to blow compressed air at the pool liner. Wherever the air leaks through the liner, the liner will move away from the ground Good luck.

Hi roadapple

First check the filter piping (if any) for leaks.

A friend of mine had a PVC lined pool. When he emptied it for inspection the "sock" shrank without the water to keep it down and it never settled back correctly. Incidentally his leak was at the solvent joints of the piping.

Does the pond have a submersible pump to circulate the water? Does the pond also have a balance tank? If the answer is yes to both, your friend may have a defective check valve. With a defective check valve, when a submersible pump is switched off, the water will be siphoned out of the pond into the balance tank and out the overflow pipe. I know this sounds rather unlikely, but I have ever personally encountered and rectified just such a case.

Add some salt to the pond, you should be able to take it up to 16 PPT without harming any inhabitants(unless there are delicate plants in it) this will stop the leak. If it does not once the pond drains itself you can lift the liner and see where the salt creep is. If you combine the food coloring idea with the salt you will find it in a jiffy... Just remember when lowering the salinity do it slow as possible...

To locate the leak, Put some food coloring into the water, as a tracer. A florescent dye ... just for kicks.Fill the pool in stages to determine at what water level it starts to leak.

The alternative is putting sand and small pebbles into the pool which may flow with the water to the leak and plug the leak. On hydroelectric dams we used horse manure and rolled up carpet and cinders to plug leaks around water control or stop gates and stop-logs.

The other possibility, is Thoroseal which is used on concrete block walls to stop leaking water while under outside pressure.

Another possibility is grout, put the powder in very thin and somehow very slowly fill the pond, the grout will set-up even under water.

Some of these may be temporary, if the pool liner is outdoors thru freeze-thaw cycles.

An alternative is to just paint the joints with a roofing sealer, as the joints are most likely where it leaks, unless there is fill and drain piping, then maybe there are piping leaks ? The dye will show where they leak also.

You might want to check the liner for creases & folds, a fold can cause a syphoning effect if it continues over the edge of the pond, thus emptying the pond of water to the depth of the start of the fold.

GA. I thought the plastic wrap was only good in gas tanks. Much better idea than my next try. A case of radiator sealer.

Put a little dye in the water that will highlight the tear when the water leaks out like a yeallow.

If it is almost all leaking out then it is most likely on the bottom of the lowest side.

Sorry did not have my glasses on. Thought it said POOL not pond.

I had a 2 ac fish pond dug with bull dozer and it leaked.

I got the leak stop in my fish pond by allow a girl to take her horse into it. The horse stired up all the black mud and silt which spread around the pond and sealed it good.

Now I have to work at keeping trees from growing around the pond espically within 20 ft of the dam because an old timer told me tree roots will destory a dam and make it leak.

I am not sure if the dyes will work as they tend to defuse through out the water.
You might try a fine power like Diatomaceous earth that does not dissolve in the water. You can find it at any pool supply store.
Stir it in and let it settle. It will turn your water a milky color until it does.
Then check in a day or two to see where you get an indication. Since most pond liners are black and the DE is white, it should be relatively easy to see.
It will not stop the leak but will detect it. It can be cleaned up easily afterwards.

Use sparingly as you don't want to cover the bottom but only very lightly coat it.

Just as a caution, I would remove any fish in the pond. It is not toxic but can be abrasive.

Good luck

A friend of mine had a pond that would empty over the course of a day, when the water was recirculating, but not when it was stagnent. This lead him to think the leak was in the waterfall area. It turned out that there was no leak in the liner or water fall but the inlet water pan at the top of the falls was tilted so a small amount of water would drip off under the pan (outside of the liner). Once we realigned the pan there was no water loss.

Let the water find it's level in the pond, then add a gallon or so.
depending upon the size of the pond.

Sprinkle the surface with a light powder, polystyrene beads, (even confetti)
and see the powder, or whatever, be drawn towards the leak.

You can seal the leak by a recommended method - but first look
under the leak because it is probably caused by a sharp object, flint
stone, scrap metal piece, etc. which is better removed.

It is also advisable to place an "underlining" there to prevent a recurrence,
especially around the same area. A small piece of lining, e.g doubled, would
probably suffice. Good luck.

Hope this helps.

jt.

Free web pages on http://www.mfnb.at

I would advise not to try the double liner for cushioning until you are positive that the former liner has a hole! By layering two liners one on top of another you risk the chance of water collecting between the liners and ballooning the liner out. This scenario was caused by a dammed run-off channel, but any water pooling above the bottom of the pool will have this potential.

If you have the patience, use a stethescope and you should hear a "whooshing," intensity will depend on the severity of the leak and proximity to the hole. This is often a last resort.

I like the idea of seeing where the water stops leaking at, that surely will tell you exactly whet level the leak is.

Another thing you can add bentonite to the pond,

http://www.jpself.com/bentonite.htm

Joe

Uncover no... Cover with "blue clay" instead.

See this thread:-

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/9243

An easy and flawless way to patch your liner is to mend it with pond pro 2000, DIY version of fixing leak of pond liner, easy to use and perfect for joining without trouble.