#Thegreatpoolpondconversion - 210328
Wednesday we built a small frame for the low voltage disconnect module
Wired it up and put it in line between battery and pumps.
Turns them off at 8 volts so the battery doesn’t over discharge down to zero.
Then it waits for more sun or dawn, for recharge to 12v or more and restarts.
All three pumps have been running flawlessly since then.
Just like the controller was supposed to do way back in August.
Almost instantly there’s nothing to watch or do or monitor.
One more set of non-critical plumbing tweaks we can do anytime and we’ll be done and finished.
One more set of non critical tweaks to the solar and we’ll be done with that too.
Saturday
Brief pump history.
We started with a quality name brand bilge pump.
It burned out, we now think probably due to the variability of the uncontrolled voltage.
So we went to noname (read cheap) bilges. One lasted, two didn’t.
Then we found this last one - a big yellow sump pump called the “Marinebaby”. (They named it, not us.)
After we bought the marinebaby, we solved the power problem - moving the feed directly to the battery and getting the LVD.
We thought it was an electric hog. It is.
We thought that’s why the performance was so anemic. It wasn’t.
So we found another no name bilge but it hasn’t shown up yet.
We also thought the feed hose was too long. (Probably wasn’t).
That’s why we cut the hose down last week, which didn’t help. (We cut from the filter end. i.e. the dry, above the water end).
So today we cut the filter hose shorter again. This time at the pump.
Turns out there was a hole in the filter hose right at the pump. Half the water it was pumping just discharged into the pond.
At three feet down we couldn’t see that.
Hanlon’s Razor, adopted:
Never ascribe on complex hydraulics (head height, lift, hose length, friction)
or complex electrics (amps, voltage drop, wire gauge)
that which can be explained by simple hydraulics: an underwater hole in a hose.
Sunday
Over an outdoor breakfast we watched the pond electrics and hydraulics work automatically and correctly (i.e. robustly). All of them.
Then we went to work.
First coat of polyurethane to the chute.
Then we built the wheel frame and supports.
This was an exercise with more than three moving targets in three dimensions/axes (axises?)
And with our clever design (totally captured axle), we thought it was going to be much harder than it turned out to be.
It came out spot on, the first time.
Then it got the first coat of poly.
Two more coats, then we wait 30 days. Poly has to cure to be fish safe.
Saturday we spotted an iguana.
It’s been back a few times so we’re declaring it a resident, even if it’s seasonal, like some of the birds.
It’s probably who’s been digging holes around here for quite a while.
Monday morning we saw it jump (fall?) out of a palm tree and run for the back fence.
These are some of the smaller fish and Leviathan, hopefully going after mosquitoes.
Here’s an index of all the postings in #thegreatpoolpondconversion