FLYING UNDER THE RADAR

We had a close call a day ago with a bizarre complete splitting of the UV light housing for one of the pumps that supports the large upper pond. Joshua arrived to find the depth of the upper pond just shy of 1.5 feet rather than the typical and desired 5.5 feet.

Holy What-the-Hector emanations radiated from Joshua as he described the complete blowout of the 4.5 foot long housing surrounding one of the UV lights. Water was gushing out at an alarming rate, draining the 2,600-gallon pond rapidly. What a shameful waste of the resource. If not for our industrial size and volume of auto re-fill floats, the guz-outas would have quickly out-run the guz-intas and our finned folks would have been truly imperiled. As it was, the shallowness and absence of oxygen resulting from no waterfall agitation and low volume already made them anxious. Even though we immediately began manually filling, speedy repair was critical.

From a maintenance lessons-learned perspective, the next guy down the line ought to know and remember:

• We have identified various small leaks in that pond and know exactly where they drain/manifest on the driveway.
• This massive dump of water somehow pooled about 3” deep puddle in the Banksy cubbyhole, then flowed under the sidewalk appearing in the ditch on the high side of 89A . . . just so you are aware if a similar event happens under your care.

All Hail the protection of our angels that the situation was found when it was and for Joshua’s tenacity and resourcefulness as we had to makeshift a replacement. Next week one task on everyone’s to-do list is a full complement of the legit replacement parts times two so we have our needed backup.