Finding leak in a pond

[Nikumba]

Hi,

Dad has a pond with a leak in it, he has found one hole where a heron has put his beak through it and we have repaired that, but still seems the water is dropping, anyone got ideas can find the leak? He lost around half a cm overnight.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

Kimbie

 

[rodders]

Wait till it stops, then look around the water line

 

[Nikumba]

Wait till it stops, then look around the water line

Not so easy, with evaporation, rain it can be hard to judge if the pond is going down via leak or weather

 

[dlockers]

Not so easy, with evaporation, rain it can be hard to judge if the pond is going down via leak or weather

Try the magical leak finder then. I mean wth...

 

[rodders]

Not so easy, with evaporation, rain it can be hard to judge if the pond is going down via leak or weather

Can't be that bad a leak then.....if it's only and slow as evaporation.....

 

[Nikumba]

Thanks for both of your useless inputs.

It is a bad leak, however as its near the bottom of the pond, there is not the wait of water pushing it out so its now becoming a slower leak, hence asking for suggestions.

 

[rodders]

You're welcome.....

I'm out.

 

[Pho]

Do you have any pumps/pipes etc that run outside the pond? I guess start with checking all those for leaks first.

Do your own research on this first, but I've heard of people using food dye or milk to help find the leak. The idea is you can clearly see it in the water so as it's drawn to the leak spot you'll be able to see.

I need to do the same in my pond; it sometimes loses way more than half a cm though. The liner must be around 20 years old and I believe this is the lifespan for them so I bet it's that though. Pain.

 

[NickK]

Typically it's extremely difficult to locate a puncture.

I had a leak in my existing liner pond that I inherited, turned out that a corner of the waterfall was made by patching a hole behind the liner. That failed and the pond emptied through that hole.

You could use some blanketweed powder and mix up a small solution then drip down and what the flow of current. However an inch overnight could be as simple as a return splashing water outside the pond that you would not even consider a leak. Depends on the volume.

 

[azazl187]

Take it out and cook it for your dinner. Problem solved!

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Not easy to find or fix. Probably better to just drain the pond and put in a new liner

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Not easy to find or fix. Probably better to just drain the pond and put in a new liner

+1.

 

[Nikumba]

It is looking like might replace the liner, the problem is its been in place for near 20 years, so the amount of landscaping to remove, block work etc so Dad is loathed to do it, but since we have had lots of rain and filled it up again.

If he does replace the liner I did say cut it out but leave 3" inches from the top then push the new liner behind it and glue the old liner over the top of it, not sure if that would work.

 

[NickK]

It is looking like might replace the liner, the problem is its been in place for near 20 years, so the amount of landscaping to remove, block work etc so Dad is loathed to do it, but since we have had lots of rain and filled it up again.

If he does replace the liner I did say cut it out but leave 3" inches from the top then push the new liner behind it and glue the old liner over the top of it, not sure if that would work.

that may work but the issue is liner folds as it’s put in. It’s unlikely that the folds will match up.