Four Common Pond and Waterfall Pump Issues We See In Minneapolis, MN

You’re enjoying the sound of your babbling waterfall flowing with the last of your morning routine, and leave to work in Minneapolis, MN. Around 1:30 PM you start dreaming of relaxing by the garden pond. Finishing the stressful day at work, you get home and realize you don’t hear your water flowing. Who do you call?  Here’s a few things you can do to check for your waterfall pump issues! 
Remember, if your pond will not be flowing overnight, it's a good idea to get an aerator in the pond so the fish have oxygen. 
Grab your cell phone and charger, and let’s head out by the pond and waterfall!

1. Pond And Waterfall Pump Cavitation

Do you hear a slurping sound? Many have heard the sound of the last drops of a kid’s smoothie or shake being sucked up with a straw. Annoying, right? If you hear that sound from the pump area, the technical term is cavitation and causes damage to pumps. Your water level is low at the pump for some reason. A common pond pump and waterfall pump issue is low water around the pump. You may need to clean your filters, or the pond may just need to be topped off because of evaporation, or you may have a waterfall leak. We have this article on leaks. Adding 1 to 3 inches of water in your pond per week is considered normal. Here’s a calculation from Aquascape on expected evaporation/splash loss . 

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2. Plugged Intake Of The Pump

Is the pump humming with no water flow? If you hear the pump buzzing and nothing is coming out, while the pump is submerged under more than 5 inches of water, the intake of the pump could be plugged. Depending on your ability, you can clean the pump intake or call us. 

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3. There's no sound at all

 Do you hear nothing from the pump? Grab your cell phone charger, plug it into the outlet next to the pump. Is there power?
The pump should be plugged into a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, or GFCI (formerly abbreviated GFI). We’ve been on service calls where the problem was simply a tripped GFCI.
If there’s no power, try resetting the GFCI.
If the GFCI trips right away, unplug everything from the outlet. Try resetting it again. If it trips again and doesn’t work with your cell phone charger, call a licensed electrician. 

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4. Pump Failure

If there’s power, no slurping sound, and no humming from the pump, it’s probably time for some help. We have many options available to us for pumps. We need to properly size your pond pump for longevity, and will talk about that in a different blog. If your pump died in less than 3 years old, it’s probably the wrong pump for the application. We have worked with Aquasurge, Little Giant, Tsurumi, AqusacapePro, Pond Boss, Easy Pro, and Aquascape pumps. We can often have your pump rebuilt by one of our rebuild specialists. If your pump has lasted over 5 years and you want to keep a good thing going, get it repaired!

We have a repair team on during the entire week and respond within 24 hours on weekdays, and if you have a question or emergency repair on a weekend we respond when we can, and will by Monday at noon. Submit a request for assistance on our Repairs Page, or text/call 763-458-8104.
We look forward to helping you with your Aquascape pump issues wherever you are in the 7 county area around the Twin cities, focusing in cities like Maple Grove, Wayzata, Plymouth, Minnetonka, and others!

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