Pond Siphon System

Well, I finished gluing all the pipes together and waded out into the pond to put a float on the check valve. So we were ready for test # 2.

Water will flow, for awhile, but it eventually shuts itself off. Also, you can't lift the outflow end of the pipe more than an inch off the ground or it shuts off. I had THOUGHT that the end of the pipe simply had to be lower than the "T" joint up on top of the tank dam, but it appears that was wrong. The outflow has to be lower than the intake valve in order for the system to work. The siphon portion of this is to get the water out of the pond and over the tank dam, not to make water run uphill indefinitely.

Duh. I spend $250 that I really couldn't spare on this project to free us from the tyranny of the generator and an electric water pump (our solution now for getting water down to the garden). It's very disappointing that this didn't work.

I don't have a survey level thingy that you can measure the rise and fall of the ground over distances. That would have helped a lot. I think that, if the pond level rises back up to its normal level, then this system should start working, but it means that in extended drought and such that we won't be able to siphon water out of the pond. Essentially the system won't work when we need it the most.