Thursday, October 25, 2018: Pond water valve; Autumn bloomers; Hardy succulent

A week or so before I left on my European River Cruise, my Hudson pond water level control valve failed after two seasons. This resulted in the death of my largest Koi and a couple of smaller ones. While disappointing, it had worked well up to that time. I quickly ordered another and got it installed a few days before I departed. About two days after installing the new one, I noticed the pond level was high indicating a fouled skimmer screen or another failed level control valve. It was the latter. For some reason, the new valve had failed to shut off properly. The valve design if fairly simple. There is a float in a sleeve that rises  or falls with the water level, shutting or opening the water inlet orifice. I "exercised" the float and there appeared to be a tendency for the float to "stick". I did not pursue the matter at the time, but worried about it throughout my month-long trip.

When I got home yesterday, I noticed the pond water level was high again. This time however, the issue was a fouled skimmer inlet screen. I cleaned the screen. After a few hours, the water level was still too high. I checked again and, this time, it was the valve again had not shut off. I turned off the makeup water until I could look into it today.

Today, I "exercised" the valve's float and, again, there seems to be a tendency for it to "stick" in the open (or down) position. I took the valve apart...never a good thing for an engineer. I did not see anything wrong, but I remembered that I still had the valve that failed back in September. I found it and took it apart and compared the floats of the two.

The first photo is of the sleeve in which the float sits. There is a little "hub: at the top of the float chamber. This was the same for both the old and the new valves.

However, the floats were significantly different. The float on the left is from the new valve. The one on the right is from the valve that I bought a couple of years ago.

I installed the "old" float into the new valve and there was no apparent tendency to "stick". Why did they change the design? It might be that I found it was much easier to install the new designed float than the older design in the valve assembly.

I have reinstalled the new valve with the old float assembly. If I can do it easily, I may send a note to Hudson and let them know of my experience.

Looking around the garden on this cool autumn day, I see some late season bloomers.

Toad Lily

Toad Lily

‘September Charm’ Windflower

The Peppadew are still maturing and there are even some okra and bell peppers.

A free range holly hock is still blooming next to the Zelkova

I've decided to leave all of the new succulents inside for this winter, with the exception for the Sempervivum Cobweb, which is hardy down to -40F (Zone 3). I put it into the succulent bed today.