Is your pond or water feature leaking water? Have you tried to find or fix the leak yourself with no success? Hoffman’s has the crew for the job! We can work with you in accessing your water feature to find where the leak may be and help fix the problem.
Our Process Used to Find and Fix Leaks in Ponds, Waterfalls and Streams:
1. Our staff, or you, will turn off the pump to waterfall/stream. Then fill the pond or water feature back to the correct water level and check after several hours (3 to 24) to see if the water level has gone down. **If there are fish, keep some type of circulation or aeration going in pond.
a. If your water level is going down, we will wait to see how far down. If water level only goes down a couple of inches, this indicates that your pond liner has probably been pushed down due to your rock and stone settling. If this is the case it can be pulled up and supported with brick or some other type of material.
b. Another situation that needs ruled out is to see if there are plant roots growing into the pond or stream from nearby shrubs or trees. Some trees can pull hundreds of gallons of water out of your pond.
c. If there is a skimmer box in your pond and the water level goes down to near the bottom of the skimmer opening - it may indicate that the seal around the skimmer opening has failed. If this is the case, moisture and water can be felt under the liner near the front of the skimmer box.
d. If water level drops significantly, then after evaluating your situation, it will be determined whether we try to find the leak(s) elsewhere and suggest a fix. If there is no underlamenr padding under your pond liner, a new liner is highly recommended.
e. If your water level does not go down, we now know that the leak is not in the main pond and move to step #2.
2. Next we will check a number of places in the circulation system; hose connections to the falls box, test hose for leaks, check for leaf and twigs diverting water out of the stream, and check liner around the perimeter of the falls and stream areas. If liner has been pushed down or moved in such a way to create a leak, this area will be built back up using brick or cement blocks with padding over it. The liner connection to the falls box will be checked. We look for damp areas around and under your liner. We use a process of elimination starting with the things and areas where we usually find leaks and that are less labor intensive than tearing down a stone waterfall or streambed. If after eliminating these spots, it may be necessary to dismantle falls or stream areas.
3. At this point in the leak finding process; if we find a leak or leaks in these areas and feel that we probably have all the leaks, then we will run the waterfall over night (or longer) to make sure all leaks have been fixed before putting stone and rock back in place. Often times, if no maintenance has been done in a number of years there may be multiple leak points. If there are no more leaks, we will come back and finish re-assembling pond, stream, and waterfall.
4. If there is still a leak(s), we will continue this process until the water level remains at desired level.
Evaporation has to be considered when evaluating whether a water feature is leaking. Certain weather conditions lead to major evaporation.
I. Hot sunny days. If you have a heavy splash onto rocks, evaporation will be much higher during hot, sunny, windy days.
II. Low humidity.
III. Water being very warm compared to air temperatures. Those fall nights when air temperature drops to 50 degrees but your water temp is 70 degrees...Alot of the time there is a fog over bodies of water due to this heavy evaporation. Ponds and lakes can lose up to a couple of inches of water overnight in these instances.
IV. If you have a waterfall, on windy days, does water get blown out of the pond?
Have any questions? Call for more information or to schedule your appointment today, 330-896-9811.