using milk method to find a leak question

15 years ago

Hi Everyone,

I know I have a leak somewhere in my liner. I can fill the pond to the top and within 12 to 18 hours, the water line will lower about 3 inches. I painted a dot of nail polish on a rock to mark the low water point and it always stops at the mark. Happens every time regardless of temperature, wind or sunny or cloudy day.

I gave it a few half hearted attempts to reinforce some spots where I had liners overlapping but nothing helped yet. I really doubt those spots were the problem as the liners are overlapped with over 24" to spare on each side and it the overlaps only occur at waterfalls.

So, here's the question I have. I've read all about the milk method but am wondering if it will work in my particular pond. I have a shelf all around the edge of the pond 12-14" down. I have stacked rocks along the wall of the pond from that shelf up. I did this because I didn't want to have to look at liner if the water levels got low. (Works fantastic by the way). But, still would like to find the leak as it making the shallow pebble "beach" (thanks joann and cliff for the idea!) I added last fast useless. Water is too shallow there for the fish to come up and feed.

Would I be able to get an approximation of where the leak is by pouring the milk in with rock "wall" in place or do I need to bite the bullet, pull out all the rocks from the low water line and up in order to get a better idea of what the milk is doing and find out where the leak is?

Thanks in everyone in advance who is willing to share their trials and tribulations in leak finding expeditions.

Jenny

Featured Answer

jennyb5149
Original Author

15 years ago

Hi Mike,

Thanks for getting back to me. The pond does still go down with the waterfall off. I tried that experiment last summer. I do have a skimmer, but it is an in pond niche type skimmer so it is not piercing the liner. I used 45 mil EPD for the pond which was initially installed in 2009. However last year after some remodeling around the edges, I realized I had cut the pond liner too short in some places back in 2009 and it was not accommodating the remodel. The liner would come just an inch shy of the new edge in 2 places so I patched in some pieces of liner to extend the length so it would go over the edge of the pond.

Regardless, the leak is well below the low points. I've checked around the pond endless times looking for muddy/wet soil and not found anything significant. The pond is about 1200 gallons.

I did do some pipe booting last fall to connect a 500 gallon addition but the leak was present before then and has not changed since so I doubt the places where the pipe pierces the liner is the problem.

I'm beginning to think the only solution will be to pull out all the rock and going over the liner very slowly looking for the leak.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

Jenny

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Comments (7)

mike_il
15 years ago
Hi Jenny,
The first question is does the pond still go down with the waterfall off? The second question is do you have a skimmer? If so who is the manufacturer? What type liner do you have for the pond? When was the pond installed? How big is the pond?
Mike
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mike_il
15 years ago
Jenny I could be wrong but if I had to guess I would say the problem is in the area where you had to patch the liner. What I would do to find the area where the pond is leaking is to dig holes as close to the liner as possible on the outside of the pond about every two feet. These holes should be at least 5 inches deep. Do this when it has been dry for a couple of days and will be dry for another 24 hours. You will be able to tell which holes are getting water in them when the pond is full. The leak will be close to the wettest hole.
Mike
chas045
15 years ago
I would like to second Mike's belief in the liner overlap as the source even though I have not had such an experience. The most common cause of non puncture leaks just in the pond are folding in the liner. This has been detailed by Horton on several occasions. Normally he is talking about folds that create a small verticle tube that creates a siphon when the pond is full. In your case, it could be a place where the liners lay against each other but not absolutely flat. This could create a tube or a whole thin film capillary action area that would pull water up a reasonable height.
jennyb5149
Original Author
15 years ago
thanks guys for the info. It's been dry here with burning permits required and the smokey the bear fire alert signs all saying high risk. But, wouldn't you know it....it snowed last night so I will have to wait awhile until I can do the digging to pinpoint where the pond is leaking.
jnne08513_blueyonder_co_uk
15 years ago
hi can you use milk in pond to detect leak with koi still in pond.

please help as i have leak and dont know how to find it.

thanks linda
lisa11310
15 years ago
I would also like to know what the "milk method" is, and whether it can be used on pods with fish/frogs? My leak is in the waterfalls somewhere.