Thanks hemlock. Actually, I looked out another day and the water was really low. That time, he appeared to be the tube connection was leaking a bit. I filled the preform and tightened the tube, and so far, so good. But yes, there's gunk in the bottom of the preform and I should clean that out better. It's too small for fish, so I don't have to worry about them. Thanks again.

We used to have to 'blow' out the tubing periodically with one of those hose end jet nozzles. We found that algae would clog it and slow the flow. We sometimes loosened the clamp on the pump side and for a quicker job, we back blew from the spitter end. Don't position yourself at the output area :-)

Thanks PK. Well, Yesterday I looked out and the preform was almost empty! The outside tubing connection had some drips on it, but the area around there wasn't that wet. It must have been a slow trickle. So.....I used a clamp on the sprinkling can port over the tubing. We'll see how that works. It's really strange. I guess my next check if the water drains out is to suspect a problem with the tube that is inside the watering can. If that's okay, then I guess I should suspect a hole in the preform.......but I really doubt that. Oh well.......it keeps me active. hahaha

Has it been windy? I notice a lot more water loss from my spitters and fountains that sit high in wind situations. Can you position your watering can so that if it leaks, everything flows back into the pond?

Well.....the mystery continues. The clamp has stopped any leak, but I realized something today. The flow of the spitter really slows down. But.....if I disconnect the electrical cord from it and immediately plug it back in, the stream is strong again. haha This makes no sense! Yes, when the wind is strong it pushes some of the water stream out of the pond, but it's the really low flow out of the spitter that I don't understand..........especially if it goes back to normal when I unplug and then immediately plug the electrical cord back in.

This is continuing to happen......flow drops (no leaks now), then I unplug the extension cord and plug it back it, and flow comes back to normal for a few days. I'm wondering if it's an extension cord problem? I didn't have this problem with the other bubbler and the same extension cord. I've ask the question on an electrical forum, but no responses yet.

I wonder if the intake is getting clogged with some debris that falls off when you stop the power? can you see the intake when it's in the water?

Try backflushing it, in other words with power off aim your water hose jet into the spitter and up the tubing to backflush the pump. You might think of another way to do that that's easier for you.

Thanks PK, I asked this question on an electrical forum (thinking it was somehow the extension cord problem)....and one person said exactly what you said. Hey....was that you over there on that forum? haha Well, it's one of those rectangular box filter boxes that the pump sits in. It has 2 rectangular filters that sit on the top of the box with a cover that lets water through.....so nothing should get in, except filtered water.....but maybe it's something like a snail, or just some small piece of debris. I just cleaned it before this started happening and it's a pain to clean, but if this keeps up, I'll definitely take a look and clean it again. It's not the best set-up for a filter, but I'm used to it. So........if I backflush it, I wouldn't have to backflush it at the actual pump? That would simplify things. But if it is something like a piece of debris or a snail, it will probably keep happening. It's pretty easy just to unplug the extension cord at the outlet on the deck, and plug it right back in. It lasts for a couple days before the flow starts slowing down again. Funny that it never did this before, with my other bubbler........but the watering can spitter has a slightly smaller outflow. Thanks for your help PK!

I don't hang out in the electrical forum, it's above my pay grade. Must just be a like-minded person :-)

When you clean the filter box, you don't have debris and stuff in there? I DIY everything so my filter intake is a plastic file box with 1" holes drilled all over the sides and lid of it. The intake of my cheap Harbor Freight pump has one of those foam prefilters that I pull out and clean and I wrap the whole pump assembly in nylon netting that I get at Wal-Mart for a little over a buck a yard before placing it in the perforated box. The outflow hose and electrical run through two of the top holes.

I do occasionally shoot a sharp stream of water into the intake with the prefilter removed because it's easier than taking the impeller out, but I also go to the outflow end and really shoot some water through there. The 3/4" hose cleans much easier that our old spitter tubing which was only 3/8" and seemed to clog easily with algae.

Your action of unplugging power allows gravity to backflush the pump on a small scale, so if it did have a snail or piece of debris somewhere it could be temporarily moved to allow the full flow again. I see what you mean about it being difficult to get your hose nozzle in there to run a sharp stream of water backwards from the normal flow. My thinking is that it might flush the obstruction once and for all. Going from the other side will have to work.

What size tubing do you have running to the watering can and what rating is on the pump as it relates to the rise from water surface to the watering can?

For instance my 264 GPH submersible has a 5.5" lift, meaning that it can pump water up 5.5 feet before losing flow. ** I think that is what lift means, at least it's my understanding** I hope that this helps.

https://www.harborfreight.com/264-gph-submersible-pond-pump-63313.html

Hi PK. Well, I pulled it all out today and cleaned the 2 foam filters (in the filter box). The pump, which is something like 200-250 gph doesn't have a filter. Anyhow........with a hose on the biggest flow I could get, held it up to the pump and forced it everywhere. then I took the tubing to the watering can spitter and forced water through that....and I did see some dark gunk come out. I put it all back together and turned it on and the flow out the spitter went further than the preform pond! hahaha Well, I didn't feel like taking the filter box all apart again to turn the flow down, so I tried tightening the clamp I had put on the tubing going to the spitter, but I couldn't get that stream lessened. I had to move the spitter out of the pond, in order for the flow to hit the water. I'm thinking maybe once it's running for awhile, it will decrease the flow. I'll give it a day or 2 and if that strong flow continues, I'll pull it out of the pond again and turn the pump down. Actually, I'm thinking it might even be a fountain pump, since the preform is so small. So.....so far I'm pretty sure there was just gunk in there......which will no doubt happen again sometime, but for now I'll wait and see if the flow decreases on it's own. Oh....the tubing to the spitter is something like 3/8 or 1/2". But the hole out of the spout of the spitter is only about 1/4". I never had this problem with the same pump using just a rigid tube coming out of the water, as a bubbler......so maybe the problem is somehow directly or indirectly related to the hole in the spitter spout.??

Good thing I don't have anything else to do than stand guard at this spitter. hahaha

Thanks for your help PK.

Caroline, can you add something as a shim to your clamp to cause it to press harder on the tubing and slow the flow? Maybe the blunt ends of plastic cutlery or long, narrow pieces of a paint stir stick tucked between the clamp and tubing, really anything that you have on hand that fits and isn't sharp. We used to have something that that was clamped onto the tubing and had a screw down adjustment to decrease or adjust the flow. Maybe called an attenuator? Is that what your clamp is?

Ponds can be perplexing and physically taxing at times, can't they?

Thanks PK. The shim is a good idea, but I'm thinking of just pulling up the pump and turning the flow down......Or having hubby try to turn the clamp harder.

Sometimes, though, those clamps can mess up the tubing once you don't want them anymore. The thing I'm using to clamp the hose is called a "Tube resistor clamp". Here's an image of it.

Yeah, I think something was clogging up the pump and it needed a harder flush of the hose to dislodge it. Even though I have several stocktank watergardens, I don't know that much about the equipment involved. I just keep doing what I'm used to. In my 300 gallon inground stocktank pond, I have nice flat stones built up for a waterfall. But when the hidden tube would send water over the rocks, the rocks would become black with algae. It wasn't very nice to look at, so I went with just a tube coming out from between the rocks, so the water would shoot past the rocks. haha Would that be called a "white trash" thing? haha I fear I do what's practical (aerating the pond water), as opposed to "aesthetically beautiful". What I like most of all is the frogs it attracts and the lilies/lotus it grows, in spite of it not being Home and Garden-worthy.

Thanks for your suggestions. :)

Here's that clamp:

That's exactly the kind of clamp that I was talking about. I had to get hubby to tighten the screw too.

It probably would just be easier to turn the dial down :-)

Practical uses for things is my forte as well. We've done a lot of simple plumbing over the years as our decor has changed. I'm always the observant helper and tool runner :-)

Well, I pulled the pump out to turn down the flow....and it was already as low as I could go. So I asked hubby to turn the clamp, and he finally got a wrench and it lessened the flow......but while messing with it, the connector to the spitter started leaking and we couldn't get it stopped. :( So it's turned off for now. I think I might have to return this to its owner! ;) But I like the concept so I think I'll keep trouble-shooting. I don't know why it's leaking......there's a round clamp I put on at the connection of the tubing to the spitter, but it doesn't seem to be stopping the drip. I'll figure something out. We spent the whole day cutting down dead tree limbs, so I didn't have the energy to spend too much time on this spitter. But I do want to get it working, 'cause it's right outside my bedroom window and I love hearing the water flow. :)

I mowed yesterday and it (mostly the heat) wore me out too. The barb connection on the spitter isn't cracked or anything is it? It your hose clamp tight and sized correctly for the hose and barb?

I just learned a new word......."barb". thanks. I haven't gone out to try to check it out yet....too busy defrosting our big freezer. But I'll go out in in a little bit. I just find it strange that it didn't leak for about a week. I have to say......after hubby tightened the one clamp and the flow decreased (which I wanted), he was rather rough in moving the spitter back closer to the pond. I kept yelling at him that he was putting too much stress on the connection, but he yelled at me to be quiet until he figured things out. hahaha Thanks hubby. About the tubing size.....I just assumed that it was the right size (calls for 3/8th or 1/2") because it seems to fit perfectly. (it was the only tube I had around......but I'll measure it later). It's really hard to know exactly where the leak is, but I'll figure it out. I really like to figure things out........but it's not quite as much fun when hubby causes something to break and won't listen to me. hahahaha

Oh....here's a question. Could the fact that the water pressure was lower now, going through the spitter, be a cause for leaking? Thanks PK. I hope others reading this aren't rolling their eyes. hahaha

Edited to add: I found a smaller round clamp to put on the tube where it connects to the spitter, and so far, so good! Hubby just isn't allowed around it. haha

LOL, your hubby probably just wants this spitter obsession to be over :-)

Hope you know that I'm only joking around.

Glad the smaller clamp may have resolved the issue. They have to be able to tighten down firmly. I made the mistake once of using a clamp that was too big...even tightened all the way down, I could move it. Not tight enough and it leaked a lot. Now you have me wanting to set up one of my spitters that's been stored away. Our current 'pond' is a series of 35 gallon rubbermaid containers with a spillway on all but the bottom one. 175 gallons total so hard to have a spitter that can't be moved around so that it shoots water out. We have two big rowdy dogs and plenty of wildlife that fidgets with our stuff. No fish at this time. We have materials to build a big pond and waterfall but we have to stabilize the sandy soil first so that it doesn't slump and fall out of level. We still aren't past the planning stage, 5 years after getting the stuff to build it with.

Hubby has his obsessions too.......so I guess we take turns. haha You're right about the clamps. I thought I had a small enough one and tightened it until I couldn't tighten it any more.....but they have their limits. We have a lot of wildlife too, and I'm surprised the coons haven't messed the spitter up yet. They do cause some of the flat rocks around the stocktank to fall in sometimes. A friend gave me one of those motion detection outdoor cameras that take pics. I'm almost afraid to put it up, as I might see really scary things........like a Yeti. :) Do your dogs ever get into the bottom pond?

Sometimes it's good to take awhile to get something done. You think of more problems/possibilities in the meantime and can end up with a better thing. I'll bet you love hearing that falling water over your spillways. Do any birds drink from it?

I get birds drinking, dragonflies and frogs mating and the dogs get a drink once in a while but they aren't really interested in going in..thankfully. The big one was obsessed at first with the anaerobic soil smell from the pots and ripped lots of plants out looking for the source. I took most of the plants out that summer and moved them to a kiddie pool in the side yard, outside of the backyard fenced area. I've since moved them back to the backyard pondlets and he has left them be.