Giant Siphon Saved Farm Road

Giant Siphon Saved Farm Road FARM HOME Miscellaneous Art Briggs-Jude came up with a simple solution for a big problem when spring melt just about washed out his new pond A plugged overflow pipe had pushed water levels to within inches of the top of the pond s dam
My wife and I had been talking about what to do if a problem like this developed and we had settled on a siphon as a possible solution says Art So I went into town to get a 50-ft section of flexible 4-in drain pipe
He and his wife laid the flexible pipe over the top of the dam and down the hill below They stuffed a foam rubber plug into the lower end and tied four layers of plastic bags over the end Returning to the upper end they filled the tube with water and plugged the upper end of the tube with a second foam piece They secured the pipe in place with a steel post and submerged the upper end well below the surface of the rising waterline
I went to the lower end and my wife Wendy yelled æcut says Briggs-Jude I cut through the plastic but before I could pull the plug it blew out 20 ft as water swooshed out like a pressurized fire hose
Scrambling back up the dam side he discovered his wife holding the intake under water When she had tried pulling the plug out of the upper end as he cut loose the lower end the suction had pulled it and her arm down the pipe
When I finally let the plug go I thought I had botched the whole thing she told him
As it was the suction had blown the upper plug right through the pipe and out the other end as well The siphon quickly lowered the water to a safe level
It was an elementary process but it prevented a major washout and we preserved the pond says Art
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Art Briggs-Jude 1940 Mountain Rd Westport Ontario Canada K0G 1X0
Photos courtesy Landowner Magazne www landowermagazine com

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