HELP AND ADVICE PLEASE

[Gromit]

Before I tell you the problem, NO LAUGHING! I'm getting enough stick about this at home already!

We had a koi pond - about 2 1/2 metres deep, 3m wide and about 4 1/2m long. We got rid of the koi some time ago and the pond was emptied. But it was an eyesore. So I decided to fill it with about 1/2m of building rubble for drainage, then fill the entire pond with soil with the intention of planting a lilly garden in it.

However, I failed to drill holes in the bottom of the concrete pond so now it's a quagmire! It's just mush, mud and a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos!

I can't hire an industrial drill because of a) the depth and b) I wouldn't bring anything electric near the mess because of the water!

We tried a borehole drilling company but they want to send out a 22 Ton Truck – 10 metres long – 2.6 metres wide – 3.6 metres high. The tower that we drill with on this Rig extends 14 metres into the air.

This is a bit of an overkill don't ya think?

ANY SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW I CAN DRAIN THE MESS PLEASE!!! (And Farside's seriously unhappy with me :y8: The mozzies are killing him)

 

[devo]

check out your local equipment hire outlet and see what they have in the way of a compressor and either a pneumatic breaker with a long point or a pneumatic drill with a long bit.
The latter would probably be the way to go.

 

[otherwise]

Explosives.
Don't laugh a good powder man can put a crack into it and not make a mess.

 

[Gromit]

Farside said "Dynamite" and I nearly freaked out - then a client of mine in the mining industry said the same - low charge, properly set up explosives. I'm not sure I want to go this route - I'm a bit of a chicken. Also, the pond is built right up next the house, under a large window and adjacent to a patio with big folding glass doors! And I have 2 cycads which are about 20 years old growing in the rock feature of the pond - these are endangered species, protected in SA and I have to have a license to have them. I can't uproot them or risk damage to them - although they're old and well established, they have a pretty sensitive root system. I'm not even allowed to sell the new plant shoots - I either have to keep and register them or give them to the botanical society - I'm very worried about damaging these plants.

I'm hoping for some type of drilling solution but I"m afraid of water and electricity - I'll pass both you and Devo's ideas to Farside. Farside will like the explosive suggestion I'm the panic pot.

I just feel like such an idiot for not thinking through what I did - normally I think things through thoroughy weighing up pros and cons but not this time - I just did it and now it's a price to pay.

 

[otherwise]

I had a friend who started using explosives as a young man in the Korean War and then worked with them in underground mining until he retired. He could put blasting mats over glass walls and crack boulders in to two even sized pieces only 3 mtrs away from the glass. Not a problem for a pro, you only want to crack the bottom, not blow it into the next street.

 

[Gromit]

I had a friend who started using explosives as a young man in the Korean War and then worked with them in underground mining until he retired. He could put blasting mats over glass walls and crack boulders in to two even sized pieces only 3 mtrs away from the glass. Not a problem for a pro, you only want to crack the bottom, not blow it into the next street.

Thanks for that - I'm learning here. If the glass and cycads can be protected, then I'll be happy.

End of the day, I'll give Farside all this info and let him make the decision. My last independent decision has turned into a disaster.

 

[Gromit]

OK - spoke to a Master Blaster. He said before we can put any charges into the concrete, we have to empty the pond because the charge would have to be placed at the deepest point of the pond. And I can't get to the bottom of the pond because it's full of muck - you can't stand in the pond and shovel out the muck, you'd just sink.

 

[otherwise]

Quote,
"we have to empty the pond because the charge would have to be placed at the deepest point of the pond".
Not necessarily so, get a professional's advice.

Another possibility is to drive a heavy galvanized steel pipe down to the bottom or lower part and insert a submersible pump. Pump can be activated by the water height.

Think laterally.

 

[Silli]

Any idea how thick the concrete is?

 

[Silli]

Don't be scared of the drilling thing. I can assist by making you an extended masonary drill, then drill as many holes through the concrete as you can. It will take a while.

 

[DaveM]

Here we go this is what you want Makita Medium Breaker or the Makita Large Breaker. Phone them for a price to hire one or maybe they could suggest something else 080 8665 4473

 

[Gromit]

Believe me, we've been pondering this situation for a long while and lateral thinking is Farside's forte. I spoke to a senior blaster for one of the biggest Austalian mining entities in SA. I also spoke to a senior off-shore oil well 'drilling engineer' who concurs with Sili's idea.

Thanks Dave but again, the breakers are not long enough.

Silli's come up with an idea (as only an engineer can) and between Sili and Farside, I think the idea of extending an industrial drill bit to the required 2.5+m length together with Dazco's pneumatic drill & compressor, is how Farside will choose to go. Silli, being in Gauteng, may even agree to come over and check out the mess so that he and Farside can work out the details.

Silli - I can promise you a delicious meal and few cold GnT's if that'll help??

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP - WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES! Will take 'before, during and after' pics!

 

[DaveM]

Take photos of the operation then

 

[hemibee]

Can you use a bucket to empty the pond?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gromit]

Can't use bucket - it's not just water, it's now mud and mushy compost. We did try with putting wide planks over the pond to be able to bucket the mess out but because the pond is surrounded by a sandstone rock feature, we're too high up from the surface to make any real impact on emptying it out by hand.

Now I'll pass the buck - we had builders on site and they spilt creosote into the pond and didn't tell us. The creosote prevented the water from being oxygenated not to mention poisoning our koi. Some of our koi actually jumped out of the pond onto the lawn but essentially they were suffocating. We saved as many as we could but had nowhere to keep them while the pond got sorted so we gave the remaining koi away. The pond was so poisoned it wasn't worth cleaning and stripping so I filled it with my good intentions. I'd wring the builder's neck if I could but he died shortly thereafter.

 

[Silli]

Believe me, we've been pondering this situation for a long while and lateral thinking is Farside's forte. I spoke to a senior blaster for one of the biggest Austalian mining entities in SA. I also spoke to a senior off-shore oil well 'drilling engineer' who concurs with Sili's idea.

Thanks Dave but again, the breakers are not long enough.

Silli's come up with an idea (as only an engineer can) and between Sili and Farside, I think the idea of extending an industrial drill bit to the required 2.5+m length together with Dazco's pneumatic drill & compressor, is how Farside will choose to go. Silli, being in Gauteng, may even agree to come over and check out the mess so that he and Farside can work out the details.

Silli - I can promise you a delicious meal and few cold GnT's if that'll help??

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP - WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES! Will take 'before, during and after' pics!

No problem.

 

[CarlS]

Please do document with photos so that we can see the finished result.

 

[Gromit]

Right, so almost an entire YEAR LATER, we sorted out our quagmire! There is some construction going on down the road from us and they had one of those big digger/scoop/breaker thingy machines. So Farside had a chat with the foreman and 10mins later, I had this big yellow machine thingy arrive, scoop out all the muck, crack the pond wall and drain the water/mud/muck out and hey presto! No more quagmire. Slipped the guys a few C notes and bob's your auntie! All sorted

 

[Silli]

Well done!

 

[CarlS]

Very well done! Easy and good solution to the problem.