Blew a whole Saturday on a silt line clog that should've taken an hour

I was working a small residential pond job near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and the suction line kept losing prime every 15 minutes. Spent about 6 hours flushing, backflushing, checking seals, even pulled the pump apart twice. Turned out a plastic shopping bag wrapped around the intake screen under 3 feet of water. Has anyone else had a simple debris blockage eat up way more time than a mechanical failure?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathana481mo agoTop Commenter

Funny you mention the exact same kind of blockage... I've had a t-shirt and a single flip flop cause almost identical issues on separate jobs. The t-shirt wrapped weird around a foot valve and let just enough air in to lose prime every time the pump cycled off. The flip flop was just small enough to flutter in the flow and wedge itself sideways in the suction strainer. It's like the universe knows you underestimated the job and throws something lazy but stubborn at you. Never did find the matching flip flop though... probably still sitting on the bottom of that one pond in Illinois.

the_ray22d ago

Probably sitting next to the other flip flop and that t-shirt's mate too.

lindamartin1mo ago

Honestly, nathana48, I gotta push back a bit here. That t-shirt and flip flop thing sounds like you're giving the universe too much credit for what's probably just bad luck or a lazy setup. Most blockages I've seen come from people not checking their gear before they drop it in the water.