Somehow everything that was planned for today has been done, with some serious hick ups.
The pond was drained as planned to make it safe to remove the vortexes(1&2) without fear of a collapse at the back, the water was dropped 2 foot for this:
Then the FF got dissembled and vortex 2 removed, replacing the bracing as we went(me and Mrs Y). then the 4'' connector to 4'' connector was welded onto the new length of pipe.
Then it came to vortex one, now we knew the slide valve leaked the only question was how much and the answer was a lot. As I hate welding 4'' at the best of times, the prospect of doing it with running water was too much to worry about. Now the 90 that comes up from the ground was worked out that it was at least a foot over the bottom of the pond, so the only option was to drain it some more:
When it finally stopped leaking we were down to 8'' of water in the pond hence the above post. At this time I had to abandon all hopes of watching the rest of the race and 'crack on'( a uk slang term for getting on with it).
Vortex one was removed everything was measured for the cutting of the new pipe and the welding was done to the big boy.
At this point I have to point out although I've had it good authority that all the joins were sound, Mrs Y insisted that all welds were re-done an hour later externally with the magic epoxy
.
At this point dan 'next door' turned up and the 4'' to 4'' was welded on to the old 90, dan at one end pushing, me in the hole twisting and Mrs Y holding the 90.
During this time and fish appeared and everything, all looked ok apart from the kohaku that had abrasions on one side, I'll need to get it jabbed although the wife did feed them and they ate a little despite me going on about ammonia:
Then the big boi was added on via the screw socket:
Then I left Dan 'next door' to brace up the old pit whilst I mixed the concrete for the new one:
The new bracing in, this will be filled in once the pipework is proved to be sound, which it will be and the brace will hold everything in the mean time.
We are now re-filling the pond, 9000 liters an hour out, about 50 going back in which is a good thing as the fish will have time to adjust, it will still be filling tomorrow but at least although it's a pain I'll have fresh and clean water to start up the system with which should be going in tomorrow if I've got any energy left. For now, open wine light cigarette and watch the race on the net as I missed it
Here's the picture I sent off for expert analysis:
The pond was drained as planned to make it safe to remove the vortexes(1&2) without fear of a collapse at the back, the water was dropped 2 foot for this:
Then the FF got dissembled and vortex 2 removed, replacing the bracing as we went(me and Mrs Y). then the 4'' connector to 4'' connector was welded onto the new length of pipe.
Then it came to vortex one, now we knew the slide valve leaked the only question was how much and the answer was a lot. As I hate welding 4'' at the best of times, the prospect of doing it with running water was too much to worry about. Now the 90 that comes up from the ground was worked out that it was at least a foot over the bottom of the pond, so the only option was to drain it some more:
When it finally stopped leaking we were down to 8'' of water in the pond hence the above post. At this time I had to abandon all hopes of watching the rest of the race and 'crack on'( a uk slang term for getting on with it).
Vortex one was removed everything was measured for the cutting of the new pipe and the welding was done to the big boy.
At this point I have to point out although I've had it good authority that all the joins were sound, Mrs Y insisted that all welds were re-done an hour later externally with the magic epoxy
.At this point dan 'next door' turned up and the 4'' to 4'' was welded on to the old 90, dan at one end pushing, me in the hole twisting and Mrs Y holding the 90.
During this time and fish appeared and everything, all looked ok apart from the kohaku that had abrasions on one side, I'll need to get it jabbed although the wife did feed them and they ate a little despite me going on about ammonia:
Then the big boi was added on via the screw socket:
Then I left Dan 'next door' to brace up the old pit whilst I mixed the concrete for the new one:
The new bracing in, this will be filled in once the pipework is proved to be sound, which it will be and the brace will hold everything in the mean time.
We are now re-filling the pond, 9000 liters an hour out, about 50 going back in which is a good thing as the fish will have time to adjust, it will still be filling tomorrow but at least although it's a pain I'll have fresh and clean water to start up the system with which should be going in tomorrow if I've got any energy left. For now, open wine light cigarette and watch the race on the net as I missed it
Here's the picture I sent off for expert analysis:
Fish are still up and still feeding, which reminds me I need to go and tie the wife to her chair(not as it's sounds I'm upstairs typing and she's downstairs feeding the bloody fish)!