Help wanted: Pump CONSTANTLY clogs

"scs0" wrote in message
ups.com...
My pump constantly clogs up. In fact just today I hooked up a new pre-
screen to the filter and the damn pump was choking within an hour of
hooking the new thing up. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, this
pump constantly clogs up.

It sounds like a few problems. First what is clogging the intake? Leaves?
Partly rotted pond plants? Slime algae?

Use the protector that comes with the pump: it clogs.
Use the protector that comes with the pump and place the entire thing
into a large container wrapped in porch screening: it clogs.
Suck the water through a filter with filter media: it clogs
Suck the water through a filter without media: it floats
Add rocks to the empty pre-filter: Live Oak leaves squeeze through the
cracks and clog the filter.

The leaves should be netted out before you start your pump in spring.
Window screen is too fine if there's a lot of debris in your pond. What
works for us is to use two of those black plant baskets wired rim to rim
like a big clam - with the pump inside. Cut a hole in the bottom of one for
the hose and electrical cord to emerge. These will not clog for a long,
long time unless, as I said your pond is full of debris. If your pond had a
load of partly rotted plant debris and leaves you may want to just go ahead
and drain it down, clean out the mass of trash and start again. Other
people may suggest other ways to deal with it.

Clog, clog, clog. Day after day, month after month, year after year.
I'm sick of it. All I ever do with my pond is repair that damn
clogged pump.


I'd like to know what the hell I need to do to put on the front of
this thing to keep it from clogging up, but I'd really like to know
why I am apparently the only person on the planet that has this
problem. No matter what pond supply store I look at they never have
any reasonable pre-screens for pumps. Most don't have anything at
all! Apparently this is not a big deal for people, but it's an
incredibly huge deal for me. This problem has resulted in fish deaths
on me in the past when the damn pump stopped in the middle of a hot
August night.


I also need ideas for what to do with my problem of having
incompatible equipment. Every damn pond thing that I own uses a
different sized tube, and even my filter uses one size on the input
and another size on the outflows. This is also driving me nuts
because I always have to do this stupid little dance to get things to
connect to each other.

I go through the same old stupid little dance getting things to fit. It's
one of those irritations of life....

Thanks for any ideas, including ideas for a new pump that pumps at
least 3000GPH and doesn't cost a fortune to run let me know.

Right now I have Microlift 02 releaser in my pond because I've given
up on getting this nonsense to work.


--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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