DIY Pond Drain-Siphon

[@rustyshackleford6791]

My brother had the same problem with his pond drain. Only it was just clogged with debris. We tried and tried to unclog the main drain but couldn't. Then, we saw your video and decided to try your siphon system. We had plenty of 1 1/4" pvc so we used that. went to lowes and bought thr same fittings as in your video. Put it all together and primed it, opened the ball valve on the drain side and it works perfectly! Thank You for the idea!

[@Wallabydam]

I tried as well to repair the drain without draining the entire pond with no luck. With the way the dam is laid out and amount of fall. It ususlly takes about 4 to 5 days depending on how saturated the surrounding fields are and water that leaches into my pond. I have a emergency spillway but do not like it because erosion, I hope all works for you just as well as it has for me, and your welcome ! Have a great weekend.

[@Wallabydam]

By the way, make sure to put something like chicken wire on the pipe that sits inside the pond. Turtles and fish or debris always gets caught up in the pipe and will stop your siphon,

[@rustyshackleford6791]

@@Wallabydam i didnt out any sort of screen on the end but we will do that. thanks again.

[@mikecohen2132]

Thanks for the video, we were in shock that it worked the first time. Its been running strong for about 4 hours so far. We have a 2 acre pond and we ending up putting one of the 10ftx3in pipes into the pond. We put two 10ftx3in pipes across the path with the clean out valve between these two and then we put three 10ftx3in pipes going down into the overflow area. We have a few beavers in the pond and I'm thinking that they blocked the overflow pipe. We purchased a "Bar Guard for Surface Outlet Pipe" that we plan on putting on the top of the overflow pipe once the pond drains down enough for us to get access to the pipe.

[@Wallabydam]

Mike Cohen as long as the 2 pipes across the top are either level or on a slight down grade along with your 3 fall pipes it should work great. I'm excited for your success, I was going to buy 3 inch pipe to replace my 2 inch pipes, because we have had for the past week several inches of rain and of course the pond had to overflow thru a spillway we put in years ago, but I'd much rather it go thru a pipe to reduce any erosion caused by water, thanks for letting me know about your success , that's great news!

[@cuica643]

hello ... just wanted to say thanks for answering some questions .... I now have a 6" siphon draining a 15 acre lake to work on the docks! all is working great .... went with a 6x6x2 cleanout tee and a check valve .... a tennis ball is plugging the 2" !! haha ... works perfectly! what a relief! thanks again!

[@Wallabydam]

Thats great to hear ! it nice because it uses no fuel or noisey engine, glad to hear its working great for your situation, And your Welcome, the tennis ball is funny to hear about, but if it works then so be it ! lol..

[@johnm.evangelis693]

Great video, you learn something every day, you never know how all these videos might help someone's situation...

[@Wallabydam]

John thanks. your right. learning is a powerful tool

[@danielrose1392]

This siphon works because of the huge drop compared to the small incline. Any air left ist just sucked out. For applications where the incline is closer (but still smaller) you might need a second valve at the inflow. This allows to fill the whole pipe with water.

[@Wallabydam]

Daniel Rose well said.

[@mikeames3028]

Thank you for making this video, you might have saved what was left of my dam. We've been getting a lot of rain in Texas & I don't live full time on my property, so a lot of the back side of my dam has washed out. I started the siphon last Saturday, but had to leave till next weekend. Either way, I know how to do it now, appreciate the time you took to educate me. Mike

[@Wallabydam]

No problem! good thing about these as long as you have a intake screen to keep fish or turtles from being stuck in the pipe along with any debris. It will run without need for power like gas pumps. And no noise close to one. Pipe sizing helps to move alot of water so keep that in mind.

[@PAKLEH_01]

maybe there was a misunderstanding for me and I'm sorry for what I didn't understand, I was just asking for example the youtubers made a hydraulic pump which turned out to be just a hoax entitled free energy, I mean just to clarify whether the water below can be raised to the top without a machine, please enlighten and have no other purpose than to ask. thank you for everything and i like this chanel.

[@jonathanamborn6197]

going to give it a try this weekend. I had same issue, overflow pipe was rusted out so I filled it with concrete one summer when pond was low. Pond also has a 2" galvanized pipe that went to a live stock watering trough below the dam. the end of this was damaged and it leaks so I need to lower the level of my 2.5 acre pond by about 6 feet to make repairs to the 2" pipe and dig a new overflow pipe into the dam, going with HDPE this time. Your siphon technique looks like answer to get the water down so I can repair my pond.

[@Wallabydam]

Well I hope this helps. Works great for me. Takes a few minutes to start it. Does the job.

[@TheRecoveryRanger]

Thank u so much! That is awesome and helps me A LOT! i need to drain a pond that i didn't even have before the rains. 1/2 acre completed flooded. Make more of these videos, u have some great ideas!

[@Wallabydam]

Thank you Miles. Just make sure you do not have any air leaks in your system or it will not create enough vacuum to start the siphon I just walked in from starting the siphon for my pond a little bit ago because of the heavy rains that we have received and I had a small air leak in it made it to where I had to try three times to start the siphon only because I don't glue all my joints together but I did use some window caulking putty to put around the scene in stop the air leak so I could actually start the siphon.. I'm glad this was helpful for you, and good luck on any of your future endeavors..

[@medaanjaneyulu1668]

Dr.miles how many running flow time use

[@Wallabydam]

My biggest hill is to find something reliable for outside weather, generator wise, pending on the rain we get, I have about 15 acres of land the funnels into my pond from surrounding land, and when it gets to the point where it overflow through the emergency spillway, it would normally take about 5 days through the siphon pipe 24hours a day, before get gets to normal levels, Im looking into it, would be very cool project!

[@tomlehmann5557]

This is awesome. I have a retention pond on my farm and the steel pipe is clogged. Maybe a turtle got stuck in there idk. I was gonna buy a pump. Not now.

[@Wallabydam]

I had several turtles stuck in mine over the years and would be a pain in the rear. My advice is use something like chicken wire on the pond side of the siphoning pipe or u may end up restarting the whole process, they will be nosing around the suction side of it and get caught and stop it til the suction breaks. Goodluck with your project!

[@Prabuvirus]

Exactly the same. Which I am looking for. Thanks for sharing.

[@Wallabydam]

Welcome

[@R0gerUFC]

Wow.....impressive....thanks for sharing Sir.

[@Wallabydam]

Appreciate the compliment, thank you

[@fergferguson7370]

Do you need a filter screen on the end of the pipe? Couldn’t hurt I guess..

[@Wallabydam]

On the pond side I drilled one inch holes on 12 inches of the dip pipe that goes in the pond, I left the end of the inlet pipe open for maximum flow, but if there were a accidental blockage at the tip of the inlet or pond side, the one inch holes I mentioned earlier would allow for water to continue, I used a screen for some time but it made for a problem with debris blocking the inlet at times.. hope this helps.

[@dandi5998]

DIY hydro system. 2 large water dam. 1 Siphon out and the other 1 Siphon in some distance away. Self running dual mini power stations, irregardless of height.

[@Briar2002]

I'm considering a property that has a tiny watering hole that I believe to be risky for stagnant water. About 6 feet away is a very minimal flowing (trickle really) creek. I ran across this and think I might try this to drain the watering hole and do some work on it to make it into a natural swimming pond for my girls. I'm just not sure how to keep it from returning to a stagnant state again. I'm assuming a pump to cycle the water out like a swimming pool?

[@Wallabydam]

Water runoff that enters into this watering hole or small pond could contribute to foul water spending on what organisms, and or bacteria that can be picked up along the way heading into your pond, it is my understanding that it is better for your pond to transfer or exchange water by pulling water couple feet from the bottom ( pending how deep your pond is ) but you can do one of a few things to help slow or eliminate this but you may need to take extra measures in conjunction, Air stone, a air stone would help oxygenate your water using a small pump and air line, tiny bubbles emitting from the stone and help slow processes of stagnate water, OR you can use a fountain that will circulate water by means of sucking water from the pond and spraying into the air back into the pond which can help oxygenate water and help prevent stagnant water, people have used pumps that circulate water but in conjunction with a ultraviolet light that can kill some of the nasties in the water, but the best way is plenty of water to (exchange) enough water in your pond and help by displacing enough to (flush) out the nasties, some of the items I mentioned earlier are sometimes used in some fish ponds,, but there is so many variables for every situation, as silly as it sounds you may be able to use pool shock or chlorine that would kill off alot of nasty stuff in stagnant water, but I mean at that point you still have to check water and ph. Might as well just get a pool at this point 🤔 these are ideas, im sure someone may have better solutions, but your idea sounds great, wouldn't it be great to have a watering hole clean and maybe a short stone wall around the edge, I hope some of this helps. I dont have a definite answer for you but it sounds like you may have something potential, if I can be any further assistance plz let me know. 😁

[@nagoorbashabheemanapati9438]

When we pour water in the pipe the valve on one side is closed but the other side of the pipe closed or opened or opened both the sides at a time after pouring water.. please tell me...

[@Wallabydam]

Valve is CLOSED on OUTPUT end, fill pipe with water,make sure pipe intake is in pond, then open output valve, video shows everything.

[@noriega327]

Hi nice 👋 Question do have a check valve on the other in ? Thanks for your information.

[@Wallabydam]

I only use one shutoff ball valve at the end, I keep it closed, then walk to top of dam and fill entire pipe with pond water using a bucket. Once pipe is fully filled. I just open that valve. I believe a check valve will slow the flow and decrease the volume of water, so for that reason I just use open piping on intake/pond side.

[@noriega327]

Thank you. Very good 👌

[@TheWilker25]

what do you put on the other end of syphon pipe, one way valve?, nothing?

[@JustAnotherHo]

I live on a hill, back yard is like 20 feet above the front of my land. Gonna try this for my garden pond with garden hoses (pump has failed and I just want to get rid of it, it came with the house)

[@Wallabydam]

I hope it works to your expectations, and thanks for viewing my video.

[@RogerF]

Thank you! This will help me syphon water from my creek to make a small pond.

[@Wallabydam]

Wisconsin Northwoods Your Welcome ! Hope it works as good for you as it does for me !

[@Salmagundiii]

Wow. I'm surprised for a pond that big they only used a 4" drain...seems like it would need at least 6 if not 10. Of course depends on where you are in the country and how prune to heavy rain you are. I know a pond smaller than that in Virginia that has a 10" pipe.

[@Wallabydam]

Several years ago I looked up our property on USGS, and the pond was shown on some old aerial photos back in the 1930s. I'm guessing it was ok for use back then or it was money issue for property owner possibly, it shown its age and slowly rusting away, I wish it had at least a 6 inch pipe, but we do have a spillway to keep the dam safe.

[@Dumb-Ass_Mechanic]

Can’t you add a shut off valve on the metal pipe, where you placed the block of wood? You then can manually drain the pond when needed.

[@Wallabydam]

Yes. I could, but the cost of a shut off valve is exspensive for a 4 inch pipe, also there is no flange which means a shut off valve would have to somehow clamp around the existing pipe. It would need to be brass for corrosion as well. So needless to say I spent a lot less money, but I always have to prime before use. It sucks but it works.

[@msVickie1964]

Thank You so much ..... This is exactly what I needed

[@Wallabydam]

Your Welcome !

[@Drew-in-NoDak]

weld a bugger pipe over the smaller one with a valve drill out the wood block and use your new valve to controll the water

[@ggesdsdsdsd]

Nice, could you make it flow back into the pond? This seems alot better than using a ram pump!!

[@Wallabydam]

I have a emergency spill way, not concrete tho, and it only works when the water is up about 2 feet from the top of the dam, which is scary, I will not use or repair the old drain, i guess i could dig the spillway a little deeper, so it flows sooner im just afraid of errosion to the land, if i had the money for concrete, i would do it in a heartbeat! lol.... Thank you for stopping in and your thoughts on it.

[@ggesdsdsdsd]

Actually you could make the water flow into a ram pump then have it flow into a water turbine generator then back into the pond, seems crazy but i think it would work.

[@Lerr777]

Is this moving water from bottom to top?

[@curiouslygeorgeous]

Will this automatically start pulling again once the water levels ride above the pipe? My pond pipe is not moving water fast enough when we get rains around 4". If I want the pond to remain at a set level, I just need the set the pipe at the height of where I want the water to be, correct? And after water fills the tube and picks up speed it should cause suction? Any help is appreciated!

[@Wallabydam]

Water would have to be at the level of the highest part of your siphon in order for it to actually start itself, which would most likely washing over your levy/dam, basically you would have to get a pipe put in the dam at the level of water that you want to keep within your pond or lake.

[@curiouslygeorgeous]

@@Wallabydam okay, that completely makes sense. I've got a buddy who owns and operates an excavator. Thank you!!

[@Wallabydam]

@@curiouslygeorgeous sounds good. If you do take that route, installing the pipe within the dam at the level you want, make sure to use/pour a concrete bulkhead around the pipe slightly within the dam on the pond side to eliminate water seeping between pipe and soil and causing erosion and possibly dam failure, hope all goes well for you 😎

[@curiouslygeorgeous]

@@Wallabydam that's a good point! I'm also going to put concrete riprap in the back. Hope it goes well too, because I can't believe some of the quotes I'm getting on this. I just don't see this being a $10,000 project. Thanks so much for the replies!

[@Wallabydam]

@@curiouslygeorgeous you're welcome if you drop a message back on here and let me know how everything goes!

[@Wallabydam]

one end is up inside the pond below the water , the exiting end has a ball valve, when filling up the pipe you make sure it is closed, you fill the pipe up top in the middle where i have the clean out tee, you will loose some water to the pond but most should fill the long pipe on the hill, your pipe exiting the pond should be at least double in length, and should be filled to the top, before opening the ball valve at the exiting end, once you open it, it should start to pull vacuum and drain,

[@lsticker1144]

Hi, thanks for the video and I'll be glad if you could clarify my doubt Q 1 Do the water needs to be filled in only the exit side or both to the pond side as well. Q 2 Can we used this method in ringwell too to sucked out the water Please enlightened me with your bright knowledge. Thanks and eagerly waiting From tuibuang village, manipur India

[@Wallabydam]

L Sticker it wouldn't hurt to have it filled completely it would make starting the siphon easier. but you need at least 3/4 of the length of pipe full. and it helps to have the exit at least 10 feet below water level depending on the drop or slop it is on and length of pipe. there are many factors depending on your situation. and I don't quite understand your second question. hope some of this helps

[@Prabuvirus]

Q1. Can we use NRV at the suction point. Q2. What should be the minimum distance from source to destination and minimum height of the suction & Discharge.

[@Wallabydam]

That will be something you will have to figure out for your specific application, depending on diameter of pipe, elevation of lift from suction point, length of pipe from suctioning point ,etc mine has to lift water up 4ft through a 2 inch pipe, then levels off for 10 ft. And down 30ft at roughly 35- 40 degree bank. Basically you need to make sure you have enough length of output piping so it has enough "water weight" to be able to pull enough suction to draw up water and continue a siphoning, hope this helps somewhat. Everyone has a different situation, you will need to figure what works for your application.

[@Prabuvirus]

@@Wallabydam Thank you

[@Wallabydam]

@@Prabuvirus sorry I could not be more helpful.

[@chriswalls5831]

Love the pond put some big catfish and bass in it few mud turtles

[@cuica643]

thanks for sharing! working on a slightly larger scale project like this right now (15 acre lake ... planning on 6" pipe) ..... do you have to cap the intake in addition to the output to fill the pipe and remove all the air? how much elevation change do you have between the intake and the crest of the siphon? mine is looking to be around 16 ft .... also, wondering if i will have to weight down the PVC in the intake section (i need to start with the pipe about 12 ft under the water and 50 ft from the dam to get the desired drop in water level) ... thanks again!

[@Wallabydam]

You would have to use a valve to keep water from going back into the pond while you fill the pipe, UNLESS You put a T-Y at the corner of your pipe that heads down hill, and put a clean-out cap on the top of the T-Y fitting, then you can just pour in water from there and it will run downhill into the pipe without losing much water back into the pond, a T-Y fitting is much cheaper then another valve to close it off into the pond, the more downhill pipe you have , the better it will start the siphon,,I recommend having at least double the length of pipe that would be in the water, out of the 30 feet of mine, i had just under 15 feet across the dam and into the water, if you do not you will have problems getting the siphon going, and a weak flow, resulting in slow drainage, and elevation plays a role as well, if you do not have much elevation, i would recommend a longer pip on the drain side,the difference on mine elevation wise is probably 9-10 feet from where it pulls water into the pipe and spills out on my siphon, thats a rough but close guess, so if you do not have the elevation, you have to have the longer pipe on the outlet side to use the weight of the extra water in it to help pull it through properly and continue to drain at a good rate, If you have the 12 ft under water, and if the 50 ft of pipe is on level ground up to the point of drop, I feel you wont need 62 feet of outlet pipe because your only pulling the water up 12 feet, if you can fill the 50 ft of piping from the corner where it drops into the pond, all the way to the outlet valve,with all the length of empty pipe, It Should work, BUT it wont start,if you were to just fill the outlet ( Drop ) pipe only, unless you had double the length, SO if you have two valves, one up top where pipe goes into the pond, and one at the end of outlet, and use a clean-out T to fill all that pipe, cap the clean-out after filling, and grab a buddy to help start it, as soon as you crack out the outlet pipe, your buddy will have to open the top valve as well, to get it going, Let me know how you do with your situation, i like to hear the results.

[@cuica643]

thanks again .... any recommendations on glue for the glued joints?

[@cuica643]

also did you bevel the glued pipe sections?

[@Wallabydam]

cuica643 sorry im just getting around to answering you, but you dont have to bevel the joints but it may help, also you can use PVC glue for the joints, it sets fast so you will nee to be fast in joining them..

[@jkashj1994]

Great information here that I plan on putting to use within the next week. Did you ever fix your original drain issue? We have the exact same issue on a 60 year old, 3 acre pond in Georgia and I'm hoping to either repair or replace my current, collapsed drain.

[@Wallabydam]

Never did get the old drain fixed without draining the pond and digging up the dam to install a new drain pipe and seep collar. I still use the 2 inch siphon drain, looking into a way to make a pump to prime the pipe without using a bucket and funnel. But for now it works as intended, hope yours works well for your situation! One day I will figure out a new solution or alternative but till then I been using this siphon, it's been running for over a week now from all the rains we get on and off.

[@jkashj1994]

​@@Wallabydam My intention is to lesson the load on the dam for now as my spillway is getting way overworked. Then eventually drain it enough to determine if my current pipe is 100% unworkable. My dam is the exact size and configuration as yours, except for many years of tree growth on the back side. If a new drain is needed, my thought is to trench out enough to add a new pipe that is only deep enough to be vertical on the pond side and then quickly turn 90 degrees and exit through the open trench in the dam, with a seep collar, and then create a shallow trench on the back side of the dam to bury the run, down the slope, to our creek. Does this sound workable to you? I'm sure I've overlooked something, but I'm thinking this might be a good path to take. My existing pipe seems to have a serious vertical drop on the pond side and then make its turn through the dam, to the creek. My break, collapse or clog is about 10 feet down, vertically and completely underground and not exposed in the water.

[@Wallabydam]

@@jkashj1994 well you can do as you mentioned as long as it doesnt get stopped up with objects. Having a emergency spillway always good to have in conjunction with a drain. My drain is 70+years old and steel or cast iron, its 4 inch about 13ft down into the pond and makes a 90 into and thru the dam. Developed a leak few feet under the water line, would drain way too much. So I have a spillway that works when heavy rains come, and when drain cant work fast enough for heavy rains, just make sure you have big enough pipe if you do your drain as you described, you could put a big valve on the end of your drain pipe depending its size and just open and close it manually on the output side. I run my siphon til water is close to bottom of suction pipe. I shut the output valve and let it hold water till it's time to open it again due to rain. Then all I have to do it open the valve and water trapped in the pipe starts the siphon without having to prime it, I'd prefer if it drained on its own, but if I can save all the headache of losing fish and etc. I dont mind manually draining it by siphoning

[@woody3307]

Microhydro would definitely work there with that much head. If you powered your house with solar, you could rig the pond drain to release only at times you needed supplemental power and use it like a battery bank. If you had a small battery system and could use the pond you could probably be off grid if you don't use too much electricity.

[@Wallabydam]

John that definitely would be great and the be nice if someone made kits for Micro Hydro that were affordable

[@CraigArndt]

That is really cool, nice job.

[@jonasbalderas7864]

nice video but i would like to know when you put water, every end of the tube should be close or 1 tube only?

[@Wallabydam]

jonas balderas you close the end of the tube that is longest.. which should be the end you want the we're to come out of. the outlet pipe also needs to be at least 2 to 3 times longer than any piping going across and into the we're source depending on elevation, and grade( angle ).

[@Wallabydam]

Your welcome, and Im sorry i totally read past your Q, there is nothing at the end of the pipe in the pond no one way valve, it just sticks in there, but it has to be NON collapsable pipe,

[@vallierseduc]

Thanks I will be copying this technique..

[@georgehoyt659]

Is there a shut off valve on both ends

[@Wallabydam]

Only on the outlet side.

[@lovin_it2]

Did you use high pressure pipe or standard underground drainage pipe?

[@Wallabydam]

For siphoning you just need a standard non collapsible rigid pipe..

[@Wallabydam]

Well for one, the pipe is a 4 inch steel pipe, i looked on ebay and everywhere else, only to see valves cost upwards of $200, the pipe to siphon it was less then $60, and the pipe is rough around the outside, any of the clamp on valves were over $250 and brass ones were almost 400, im way ahead of ya on the valve, but cost was the issue, so a piece of very dry treated wood works, Plus when i shut the valve off on the siphon, water stays in it, when i want to drain it, i open it, starts it again

[@TheDrakenZ]

dig a path for the water to flow down, give it an overflow though so it wont start flowing until it gets to a certain level anyways. you can throw a water mill in line and get some kinetic energy, run it to an electric generator if you please.

[@janvier9690]

I agree with this. The siphon pipe is easier, but if you don't mind some physical labour, I'd dig out a trench and bang a watermill in it. Don't need to run out and prep the siphon each time, either. Just gotta watch out you don't wind up transporting any fish out, though! Don't forget those screens!

[@daleval2182]

Use this to drive a ram pump then get the ram to pump water to the house for irrigation or storage

[@sheldonsmith2595]

Thank you!

[@Wallabydam]

Welcome❗💯

[@SuperRuss52]

Great video, it's amazing how simple

[@Wallabydam]

Thank you very much ! :)

[@mrclucker1969]

Nice job! It may be easier to fit a new over-flow pipe instead of fixing the old one. A concrete spill-way would work well down that bank!

[@jtbro7644]

Lol I have a small pound and never could get it to work right.

[@Wallabydam]

You have to have a longer outlet pipe and fall in order to pull/suction water out from your pond. Keep working on it, I'm sure its something simply overlooked.

[@hpw59]

Can the inlet be lower than the outlet?

[@Wallabydam]

Inlet can be lower but once the water level is equal to the outlet level, siphoning will gradually slow till it stops.

[@Bobby-ns7gn]

Thank you Thank you Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Wallabydam]

Welcome

[@PAKLEH_01]

gak ada masalah tanpa mesinpun semua bisa yang masalah tempat mengisi lebih rendah dari yang di isi apakah tanpa mesin bisa?

[@Wallabydam]

Saya tidak menggunakan mesin, seperti yang Anda lihat saya menggunakan ember untuk mengisi, siphon berfungsi dengan baik seperti yang Anda lihat teman. semoga harimu menyenangkan.

[@PAKLEH_01]

@@Wallabydam iya semua bisa tanpa mesin kalok yang di isi lebih rendah dari tempat yang mengisi saya hanya bertanya kalok yang di isi lebih tenggi dari tempat yang mengisi apakah bisa dengan tanpa mesin? ...... saya yakin 100% gak bisa.

[@Wallabydam]

@@PAKLEH_01 semua yang ada di bagian bawah kepompong terisi air, pipa bagian atas terisi sebagian dan sisi yang masuk ke kolam tidak, tetapi masih berfungsi jika itu pertanyaan Anda.

[@PAKLEH_01]

@@Wallabydam I like that your channel gives knowledge to everyone, actually I just want to confirm a youtube show that contains free energy reviews that some mention hydraulic pumps, because in my opinion it's just a lie to raise water without an engine. do you think you can raise water without the help of a machine? your answer will give certainty to me, and I thank you for being willing to answer every question I ask once again I thank you. greetings from Indonesia for you.

[@gomertube]

Great video. Your design could work well on beaver ponds where most permanent systems just get plugged up by the beavers. I'm going to try a variant of your design on our beaver-infested pond. Thanks!

[@Wallabydam]

Thank you, and good luck with your work on those beaver ponds,

[@gomertube]

Wallabydam It remains to be seen if I will have enough elevation behind the beaver damn to get a gravity feed. I'm sure there's a formula for such things but I'm a seat-of-the-pants kinda guy so I'll just make a low-cost test to start.

[@Wallabydam]

as long as you have the tubing air tight, and the elevation on the outlet side is about 3 inches lower then the pond side, it should work, run a long outlet pipe about 2 times longer then your top and inlet tube length with the outlet tip being about 3 inch below intake elevation, it will work, the added pipe will have the weight of the water behind it and that added weight will cause enough suction to work pretty well., if your total inlet and top tube is 10 feet, you need 20 after it, in my opinion, to work good,

[@gomertube]

Wallabydam Cool, thanks.

[@realworldorder2697]

How do people find stuff like this out

[@Wallabydam]

KZbin or Internet? 🤷‍♂️

[@BobABong-ut1io]

One quick question? why didn't you just pull the plug on what you had in place already? You said it had a hole in it but the hole is below, the water line so it should still work.

[@Wallabydam]

The pipe is 4 inch, With about 12 feet fall on the otherside with about a million gallons or water, there is no way to stop that flow of water once it starts, 8 lbs per gallon! Moving around 240 gallons per minute, 32 lbs a second. It's very complicated to just put a wood cork in it while it's flowing with all that pressure building up every second..which is almost 2000lbs of water moving out every minute.. if it was easy to put a valve on i i would have. But they are very expensive, the siphon was the cheaper way .

[@hemantbisnath1486]

I tried this syphon but Im getting problems. I want to drain out a garden area that's flooded. The main run off drain is two feet above my land, hence the reason the water can't run out. Can someone tell me how to make a syphon for that

[@ryanjohnson8340]

It sounds like you are trying to suck and not syphon. You can't syphon uphill as the outlet has to be lower than the inlet. As the water falls because of gravity, that water creates an area of low pressure causing the water to move towards the area of low pressure. This is how a syphon works. The way you described your situation it sounds like you need a pump as a pump doesn't utilize gravity to create the area of low pressure.

[@kleetus92]

Dumb question, why didn't you use a fernco fitting and put a ball valve on your existing pipe and just control it from there?

[@Wallabydam]

The water pressure would blow the fernco off

[@kleetus92]

+Wallabydam pound the pipe in like the plug you put in, with a wood shim.

[@Wallabydam]

kleetus92 didn't think about trying it that way. It's worth a try

[@terristephens1046]

We just drained most of our pond this way this weekend with one little issue. Now that we are down to the end the tube is wanting to suck the mud up and clog the pipe. We tied a jug to it as a flaot to keep it off the bottom but are still having issues. Any ideas? We want to drain the entire pond to remove all fish.

[@Wallabydam]

terri stephens if you don't want to suck up any mud the best solution that I can come up with at the moment is to get a 5 gallon bucket real holes in the bucket a few inches above the mud line and then drill a hole for your pipe to go in the bucket so only thing that goes inside that bucket is the water but then again it depends on how big of a pipe that you're using the siphon out the pond you could use a type of stiff screen and put on the end of your pipe so it keeps it off the bottom it's a hard call to be honest with you

[@terristephens1046]

We used a 4" pipe and we did put a stiff screen across the bottom of the pipe. Thanks

[@Wallabydam]

terri stephens what I was thinking is if you had something big enough for the water to fill like a big bucket or cut a 55 gallon plastic barrel in half and allow the water to fill the bottom half of that bucket with the pipe going inside of that it will only suck the water out without the mud

[@terristephens1046]

Ok! Thanks for the ideas. I will pass them on to my husband this evening.

[@Wallabydam]

terri stephens no problem! Welcome

[@conan6868]

Could you shove the pvc pipe inside the old metal pipe. Cement the connections as u go. Then work out the height

[@patrickholding8086]

Does the discharge have to be lower than the intake or does it matter?

[@Wallabydam]

Patrick Holding. end of discharge pipe needs to be at least twice as low as water level. if the pipe intake has to elevate. up X a mouth of feet up before decent downward, you must add that number of feet of rise out of the water and add to the length on the discharge pipe.

[@hemantbisnath1486]

I want to drain out a garden area. But where I want to drain is higher than the area I want to discharge the water. Any suggestions please?

[@babyhuey1202]

how many gallons per minute will this thing put out? I have major work to do on our pond also....

[@Wallabydam]

Huey Sullivan it's about 30 gallons a minute on mine and that's about 1800 gallons per hour roughly.

[@babyhuey1202]

Thanks man. I'm now running two of them at about 50-60 per minute..... plus a trash pump running another 100... pulling pond all the way down to rebuild a stopped up stand pipe. Amazing video.

[@Wallabydam]

@@babyhuey1202 I wish I could do that with mine but I really don't want to lose the fish that I have in there and I just don't have enough help to do the work to replace the standpipe that's in the pond and put a replacement pipe so it will drain properly without me having to do this every time it rains unfortunately I don't have the funds and it's a very big project so I'll keep doing what I've been doing which is siphoning the pond at least I don't have to run gas or anything like that for a pump, yeah man no problem I hope everything goes well with your repair.

[@babyhuey1202]

another important bit of info I learned the hard way.... put a check valve on the "pond end" of the line and a cut off on the out put side. Check valve will keep you from saying a lot of bad words....lol

[@Wallabydam]

Huey Sullivan you use the check valve on a siphon pipe I'm not sure how that would work I would think that it would kind of slow down the flow but it would be nice if the water stayed in that pipe so you wouldn't have to fill it all the time where you could just crack the valve open and start the siphon whenever you wanted as long as the water stayed in the pipe

[@gregheaster1420]

My husband and I just tried this method on our pond and for some reason, it did not pull water. When you say the pipe exiting the pond needs to be double in length, do you mean the pipe closest to the pond or the pipe on the drain end?

[@Wallabydam]

The outlet pipe needs to be double to 3 times longer than the inlet pipe. Many factors involved, including incline and height of the inlet pipe (pond side) you also have to make sure the pipe is as full of water as possible other wise it will not draw complete and only drain the water you have put in it.

[@gregheaster1420]

We tried your method and it works like a charm!! Thanks for posting this helpful video!

[@Wallabydam]

Greg Heaster I'm glad to hear that. Everyone has a different pond. And sometimes you had to adjust or make the pipe longer depending on the fall. Fall is always important. Good to hear!

[@Wallabydam]

well the thing is, that pipe has a leak, and if its leaking, because of rust, im pretty sure if i try to shove another pipe in it, it will break, not only that, but how could i seal a smaller pipe in a bigger pipe, without filling the elbow with sealer, totally making it impossible to drain again, i like your idea, but imj thinking if its leaking now, the rest of it will eventually leak, and id have to hire a diver or divers to repair it, unless i drain all of it, then i will loose my fish :(

[@sahilvankar3908]

can u please tel how did u do it i hav a smal water sump and i want to empty out it

[@Wallabydam]

The video pretty much shows how to do it. What exactly are you having problems with?

[@sahilvankar3908]

+Wallabydam in my company i have small sump i want to empty it out please tel me hw i wil do it

[@Wallabydam]

Sahil Vankar well to be honest with you without seeing it in the surrounding area I really can't tell you other than in the video of how to siphon water out Cheers

[@sahilvankar3908]

Can u add me in whatsapp [phone]

[@sijanomat1162]

Thanks...

[@thenuniecat]

can you please help. we followed your set up trying to siphon the pond. it works fine for 2-3 hours incrementally slowing until stops. we are at our wits end. please help.

[@Wallabydam]

It sounds to me you do not have enough fall. You either have to make the outlet pipe linger so it will be theoretically at least a foot lower than what you're inlet pipe is.. Or you have to make your internet or suction pipe shorter to make it higher in elevation than your outlet pipe. Also any fish or debris can stop or slow the siphon.

[@Wallabydam]

If anything gets caught in the inlet pipe... that will cause problems. Again check and make sure you have enough elevation difference between the opening of the inlet. And the opening of the outlet. You should have at least 1 to 2 feet difference. Otherwise it will do what you have described

[@Wallabydam]

true. needs to be air tight at the joints

[@Wallabydam]

is what cheaper? not sure I understand the question

[@chunk1200]

could you use some kind of bell siphon?

[@Wallabydam]

chunk1200 I could but this was just cheaper and simple for me at the time

[@abins4020]

Do anyone have any idea to take the water to a higher elevation by using siphon ??

[@Wallabydam]

Abin Sree Ram pump....

[@ChitownKlepto]

dude, you could totally get some hydro-electric action going. there's a bunch of videos on the tube here showing how to do it. you should look into it.

[@SchererK]

Sleeve your leaking metal pipe with PVC. Pound it into the pond bottom, cut with a hand saw underwater or above at the end of the summer.

[@Wallabydam]

K S there are brackets on the side of the pipe supporting it. Can't sleeve it. Only choice is to try working with outlet side pipe. But I think its rusted so much that if I release the pressure in the pipe it may collapse. And cause water to saturate the dam. Potentially causing dam failure.

[@USSBB62]

Home Power Magazine has all the energy info your looking for. Hydro,Solar,Wind,Heat

[@Wallabydam]

Thanks, !

[@TheWilker25]

thanks

[@Pbtip1]

Why not just put a shutoff valve at the end of the existing drain that you have corked off? Then you could just open the valve for a couple days instead of setting all that PVC up.

[@mrpush2855]

Hi, i would not even attempt to fix that rusted out drain pipe ever. Fill that sucker with concrete! Just do this to your current syphon system to automate the system! ALL W parts from local store AND ur done! Have fun! www.georgialandsales.com/blogspot/?p=145

[@geoffreed2808]

Why spend ANY money when you could just temporarily remove the bung. This would also ensure the existing pipe does NOT become silted up over unnuse.

[@Wallabydam]

Geoff Reed because that bung plug was hammered in with a 10lb sledge hammer with over 60 + feet of 4 inch pipe full of water and all that water pressure is hard to keep from coming out unless you let the pain drain down to where the hole is try it sometime and you'll understand what I'm talking about

[@Mkumar966-MK]

U will have to use a oneway valve at end of pond side. Otherwise whatever water u filled in clean-cut will go out in pond. Incomplete video.

[@Wallabydam]

Nothing incomplete, you saw the video. It works, you do not need a check valve on the pond intake. If your scared of losing a little bit of water goin back to the pond, all you have to do is raise the pipe up a few inchs with a small log or board. Pipe only needs to be filled on the Drop/outlet side, Nothing incomplete in the video.