Thursday, 27 Jul 2017
The fountain sits on a gravel bed covered in river rock. The gravel bed helps filter the recycling water before it gets to the pump. It sits in a pit dug in the shape of a figure 8 with the fountain more or less centered in the bottom of the 8 and the pump assembly buried in the top of the 8. The pit is lined with a water proof liner. The water should last two or three weeks before needing to be replenished. It’s been lasting two or three days.
I replaced the liner once before. The only liner I could find was pretty thin. It didn’t last very long. This time instead of a tear I found that roots had poked through the liner in many places about 4-5 inches below the top of the gravel. They spread out through the gravel and did a good job of sucking up the water. I ordered a thicker liner instead of relying on what I could find at local stores. I’ve enough to double it up (I think). I’m also going to keep the existing liner in place to help protect the new liner.
Fountain lifted
Emptying the reservoir
Removed gravel
The fountain is heavy. Last time I did this I didn’t have proper lift straps. These straps can handle something like 5,000 pounds. No worries. The ladder will give way long before that :)
Once the fountain was hoisted high enough I slid some 2x4 under it with the ends of the 2x4 resting on some 4x4 to keep the fountain above the level of the gravel pit. I only partially lowered the fountain onto the 2x4. I want the extra support before I go putting my hands under there.
Down to the liner
That’s all for today
I removed all of the gravel and tried to dig a out a bit more room in the section of the figure 8 where the pump and pump filter (a bucket with holes in it and some filter material) sit. I couldn’t make it much deeper as an irrigation pipe goes right through the middle of the hole.
In the coming days I’ll patch the holes with some duct tape to keep roots out before laying down the new liner. That’s the plan, anyway.
Friday, 28 Jul 2017
Finished
It took all afternoon to finish the fountain maintenance. I was too busy (and messy) to stop and take pictures. This is the end result.
I started by patching some of the holes in the old liner with some duct tape as planned. The old liner is being kept as a protection layer. I’m hoping it will minimize wear on the new liner. I installed two layers of 45 mil thicl pond liner. The previous liner was about 12 mil thick. The combination of old liner plus two layers of new gives me about 1/10". I’m hoping that will keep the roots away for a while.