I'll apologize in advance for not having more pics, but I work alone and don't like stopping too much. The little bit left in the middle makes me right angry, but I could not get to it. The whole south and west sides (the side I'm taking the pic from is south, the left side of pic is west) were just about impossible to sit on. When you grab the levers to back out, and the tracks push mud out from under you instead of moving the hoe, you know that it's pretty shady.
No bottom? I've been fortunate enough around here to push through 3-5 feet of muck with a solid clay bottom that made it easy enough to clean most ponds
I realize you probably already know this trick, so please dont think im patronizing you. If you have any logs around there that are 12 ft or so long (the longer, the better), take 10 to 15 of them and make you a ramp leading towards the pond middle. Turn logs crossways to your tracks of course. Won't always,work, but spreading the excavator weight out over 100 or more square feet will often let you work for a while...although I have seen some really wet and stirred up clay that was more like quicksand. I come nigh of losing my cat 311 B in some of that muck a couple times. I was drawed up so tight, I had to have corrective surgery before I could go to bathroom again.
That's funny right there. I've used mats before, don't have them anymore. Logs are nonexistent in the parts where this pond is located. Luckily, the guy was completely amazed I got what I got, now wants two more cleaned. Only problem is they have about 3' of water in them. Would have to pump them out.
I know that gumbo and yellow silt you have in North Dakota being from Manitoba. Being to dredge what you did get there is a feat in itself. Hope that Case excavator is treating you well I ran a brand new 210B a few years ago and thought it was a well set up machine and quite a nice cab to sit in.
As nice as the cab on a B is, the C is even better. I'm a pretty big guy, 2 summers ago I rented a B before we bought the C. I would get a little cramped by the end of the day; always wanted just the seat to go back a little farther. The seat in the C goes back at least 3 more inches. BTW, I liked a couple of posts on the Canadian page. Some good pics on there.
Yair . . . Shimmy1 This is the application for the "goop can" jigger I spoke about here . . . HeavyEquipmentForums No one seemed to like it, not one single response. (big grin) Cheers.
Sorry, Scrub. I remember reading it, but then forgot about it. Only problem I can visualize is having the stability to utilize it. The ponds we have usually have 3:1 or 4:1 slopes and it's a challenge to maintain a workable area. I will say that I have tried cleaning waterholes with the excavator before, and this was the most successful I have ever been. Reason for that, surprise surprise, is my use of this forum over the last year. What I did this time was pull the spoil banks back, and leave a dike about 3' high around a channel about 10' wide. The slop could run away from the edge, and with a couple of pushes from the hoe when it got high I was able to keep the area I was setting on free of the slippery stuff that would have ruined my ability to sit on the slope. Back to your slop scoop. Where I think you might run into trouble is trying to maintain an area where you could dump it. Maybe someone smarter than me might realize something I'm not.
There's a Canadian page ?
Yair . . . Shimmy1 Oh for sure, goop control would be an issue. Even with the silt scoops I nerp on about provision has to be made to bund the stuff or drain it away . . . incidentally a pond/stock dam like in your pictures is obviously tailor made for a silt scoop. You did well not to get stuck. Cheers
245DLC posted this in the vegetable gardens thread. https://www.facebook.com/groups/116603725112682/
I probably won't get the views by having three different threads, but who cares. This is a pond project I just finished today. New construction. The slough in the background had about a foot of water left in it. The cattle were sinking up to their bellies when they would come in to drink. Now, the new "tank" (for you, Scrub) has about 7' of water, and will hold about 400,000 gallons when it fills up will runoff next spring. The pond is about 30' by 50' at the bottom, and the top is about 100' by 130'. I never shot it, but I figure it's around 12' deep. Three sides are about a 3:1 slope, and one end I gave a 6:1 to make it easier for the cattle to get to the water. I would have put more slope, but I just have my little 210, and no dozer presently, so getting rid of the dirt was a challenge. Most of it I had to move twice. Also, was on a budget. Any guesses on how long it took? I figure the excavated area around 2000 yds.
Oh, and a side note. This ground was more of that yellow silt clay that was leaching water at about the 3' mark, so there was no getting down on the slopes to pretty it up. Had to be cut to where you wanted it, after that you weren't getting to that spot again. I was pretty thrilled that I was able to pull the slopes in four tries. The fourth one I was able to sit up on the spoil pile and just barely reach where I needed and clean the edge to the spoil. I have about 6-8' from the top edge to the spoil pile. Sitting on that pile of muck was an adventure, too.
Yair . . . That's a good looking little tank Shimmy1 . . . I dislike the way some excavator built holes are left untidy with random piles of dirt. I wouldn't even hazard a guess on time but as mentioned up thread that type of construction is a perfect application for a silt scoop a few years down the track. Cheers.
Love the work you do Shimmy your making me miss the flatlands of Manitoba a little bit.....at least till the snow flies. lol
Looks really good Shimmy! :thumbsup
Looks great Shimmy... I've got to dig 2 of those in a few weeks for a guy around me. Have been thinking of how to keep the dirt away from me too. I think we'll end up with my payloader moving it away from the excavator. I can have dad in the payloader pushing it away while I dig I think. We also bought a Link-Belt 3400Q with a 60' long reach on it this year for doing ponds like you showed earlier. I had the same problem last fall with one I did for a guy, couldn't get the middle out, it made me so mad I went back this summer with our long reach and about 2 hours pulled that little bit of center left out. Made me feel a lot better about the finished job This isn't that one but another one I did with our long reach. It's nice not having to be as worried about being to close to the muck
Forgot to ask you... how long did it take you? I'm guessing around 20-25 hours? I bid the two that we have to do at around 18 hours each, we have an 85,000 lb machine so hoping I can move a good amount of dirt in a hurry.
Sorry Bob. Didn't know you had posted. The new pond I did in 16 hours. The clean-out I did in 9. That's the good looking job you did as well.
First pond out of 9 that I have to clean out. Someone was in there earlier this fall and started the project. More pics tomorrow. We rented D6K to help. We'll see how it goes.
Shimmy, Thanks for a good thread. I'm trying to figure out the picture 'the first of nine' above. The bar of material in the middle, was that being pulled out of the pond?
Needs to be pulled out. I think previous guy gave up on it. Ground may have gotten too soft? It's froze now, so we'll see how it goes.
Looks like a perfect job for my 60' Long reach
Not sure it would like the frost tho......
One down, had to recruit my buddy to bring a second hoe. Itty bitty D6 did NOT like the mud. Went really good. Done by beer-thirty today.
Yah I'm afraid you are right if that crap was very froze it wouldn't like it.
All edges and sides had 6-8" of frost, some places more. Waiting this long was deliberate on my part though. I don't think I could have done the job without the sides being frozen to carry the hoe. 6" is enough for support, but not too much to do a decent job around the top edges.
Pond 2 ended up being a no go. Customer decided to leave it because it had about 2½' of water left in it. Pond 3 should be done by noon tomorrow. Going pretty good. Averaging about $3000 per hole.
After these I won't bother y'all with any more pics unless things go sideways. Pond 3 sure turned out nice I think.
Looks Great Shimmy! very fine job. I can understand you waiting for some frost to be able to reach them with a standard boom. It gets a little scary when you have to get close to the slop
Yair . . . Fine work you have done there Shimmy1. Coming from an entirely different environment I find it surprising your country washes to the extent the ponds accumulate so much silt. I assume the drainage comes from cropped/cultivated country and, if so, are fields worked on the contour and do you use contour banks in the steeper areas? It may be of interest that in the "old days" over here such ponds (or "tanks" as we call them) were always provided with a smaller hole in front called the "silt tank" which allowed some of the sediment to settle before running through a pipe (or several pipes) into the main storage. The silt tank was desilted probably a couple of times to the main tanks once. this maintenance was a normal regular and ongoing part of property management, not so much any more and it is only done in times of crisis. Cheers.
Scrub, Biggest problem is the cattle, their hooves keep pushing the sides down as they waller in the mud to get a drink. Ed
That's it. And, most of these "tanks" were dug in the sixties so over 50 years without being cleaned out is probably pretty good.
Cleaning ponds is always an adventure. I always try to pump them first and them attack appropriately. My best was when I ran a track off while side-hilling in 3' of muck. All I had at the time for equipment was a 45,000# hoe so there was some manual labor involved. I cut and carried by hand about a cord of green poplar to build mats then walked it out on one track and the bucket. The rest was easy. I can't believe everyone doesn't do this work!
Those ponds weren't built very big to start with. Usually they don't have to store water though the dry season, just a hole big enough to reach the water table. I don't think Shimmy does much contour strip cropping. Have you seen some of Shimmy's posts about the minimum grades that he runs under "making the water run"? Insanely flat country from my perspective. Even in Central WI flat swamp land there's plenty of drop if you dig the ditch. Around here, they used to say the fences were to stop the milk cans from rolling down to the valley. Have to be careful with round bales too.
We got a pump lined up today. Pond 4 we dipped the water out with the hoe. Took a little over an hour. With both hoes. Since I have no help this weekend, tomorrow I'm going to get the next one pumped out, maybe do a little prep for Monday. We got 4" of snow today, so I'm thinking the fun in this pond cleaning bit is all over. Bring on the slippin' and slidin'.
Thats interesting Scrub, how big were the "tanks" in comparison to the size of the pond?
Yair . . . You got me there movindirt, good question I'll see if I can find a picture, just guessing I'd say perhaps ten to fifteen percent of the main excavation with much flatter batters (slopes). In the "old days" on well run places the tanks were often fenced and the stock were watered at a trough fed by windmill pumped water from a "turkey nest" or high earth walled tank that was built as part of the installation . . . precisely to avoid damage to the slopes and bogging up the edges. Cam85 might chime in about size of silt tank to main tank, I don't get around in that western country much any more. What do you reckon Cam85 ? Cheers.
You do nice work , always dressed up . Kevin .
Nice work! If you want to try another way? After pumping the water out try digging a barrow pit (deep) or trenches next to pond putting the dry stuff on top then put all the slop in the barrow pit about 1/2 way up or so and cap it with dry stuff. I have done a lot of ponds on golf courses and farm land this way, much more fun grading dryer stuff.
Here's a wee job I did last summer, first time up loading so here goes
sorry about that seems sending some from the bottom of the world stay wrong way up??
Coastiebro, how do y'all keep the water in when ya turn them upside down like that Nice looking work
Maddog that's the tricky bit to make water run up hill! I'm sure there are a few out there that have had that request. Doesn't all go to plan some days!
Coastiebro, had a guy this past summer that wanted a ditch dug, wanted the water to go up hill from his drive. I asked, you do understand water will find it's own level, won't run uphill, he said try it anyway, I think it'll work. Good thing he doesn't design septic systems. Getting stuck is just one of those things, makes life interesting
Tidy cat there with the ROPS, is that a 312D coastie mate?
Ha! If I could do that I'd be posting from my 300' yacht somewhere. I'd say 311 CU.
Gudday, Yep prize goes to Cm1995. Its a CAT 311Cu. I have had it 3 years and has been a great machine so far, with the tilt bucket and thumb not much you can't get done. Happy New Year to all
First waterhole of the summer cleaned up. It was a big one.
Dozerman, I was just reading through the thread again and saw your post. It reminds me I need to give some credit. After discussion on other threads last summer, the idea of digging a trench came up a few times. I actually did that on the last hole last winter, and on the one today. That is the slickest way to manage the slop, as long as the ground is stable enough . If it isn't, you'll make that entire side completely unusable. As far as the credit part, being on this forum gave me the details on doing it that way. I'm sure if I tried to name all the guys that weigh in on pond cleaning I'd forget some, so, you guys know who you are and thanks for being a part of this.
Coastie, you ever consider putting 30" pads on that little guy? I'll bet you could just about walk on water with wide pads.
Almost done. This one is bigger than the last one. About 12' deep and 100' long in the bottom.
Picked a couple rocks in the bottom. Figured I'd snap a couple for scale.
Hey Shimmy, looks good, how much muck did you take out of the bottoms? How long does it take for it to dry up enough to be able to work with it once out of the hole?
First thing I do it dig a sump in the middle. The last one, the one I had the skidder parked in, had about 2½' of water in it. While it was pumping, I started pulling spoil banks back. About 3 hours, the pump was done with the first shot. After about 2 more hours of pulling bank and digging my slop trenches, I was able to pump for another half-hour and that was it. Drag the pump out, and start digging. If you have one end that's a little deeper than the other, that's where I start. After you get the water out, the muck is surprisingly easy to handle. It's been very dry here, so once the standing water is out you can go right to work. This one had almost 6' in the middle, the one before that had about 5'. I have at least one, hopefully more to do, so I'll try and get more of the process how I do it. Like I said in post #50, being part of this forum and getting ideas from the guys that have figured out the best way to go about it has been crucial to getting these tanks cleaned up so well.
Thanks for the explanation on how you do you ponds. I guess it gets pretty uncomfortable sitting on the slope when you are digging the bottom out. I was surprised when you said 5 and 6 feet of muck. I thought it would have been a couple feet but I guess it depends on how long since it was last cleaned out. Please do post pics of the next one. It will be interesting to see it from start to finish.
Most of these ponds have never been cleaned out, and they were dug with draglines in the Sixties. This last one was completely covered with rocks, and they were big rocks, not stones. Anywhere from 18" to 36", and there were a few in the spoil banks that I couldn't pick up with the hoe. I'm curious as to how big the dragline was to get those out of the hole, and how long it took to dig one of these. Trouble is, the operators that did it are long since gone, and the owners were just kids, or not even born when these tanks were dug. The good thing is, since I've been getting the ponds as good or better than they were new, I'm suggesting that they fence the holes so the cattle can only access about 3' of surface area of water on one end. That way the cows won't tramp the sand shut where the water comes in, and they won't pollute the water either.
That's some nice looking stock pond work Shimmy.:thumbsup
Not sure on how big of dragline was used. I would say a small machine like a 22B until you said there were that big of rocks in the pile. It would have had to have been a big machine to dig from one side. Can you tell if it was dug from both sides?
Ok, L/C, here you go. I took a bunch today. First two is pumping water and pulling the spoil pile back. Took these pics at 10 this morning.
Water was about 30" deep, was done pumping at lunchtime.
Slop trench dug, getting a good start on the really runny stuff. These were at 1 pm. This pond is almost as bad as that first one last summer. Deep, wide, and about 2' of the muck runs like water. Total muck depth about 4', pond depth is about 10', and water table is at 3'. To say it's a challenge is an understatement.
To make matters even more interesting, the landowner only wants a spoil pile on one side. So, bring in the payloader. Loader hauls spoil that is coming out of slop trench and spreads it out. Luckily he said we can spread it out in a low area and not have to haul it all the way around to the other side. Worst part is the side he doesn't want a pile on is the good side of the hole. So I have twice as much $#it to get rid of on that side. I have 300' of trench full of slop and I'm not done yet. See the water in the bottom of the trench? That's groundwater, and I can only dig the trench about 4' deep because it's pure sand.
Most of the slop out by 3.
Main part of hole and both ends done by 530.
North side and two corners done at 730. Right on schedule at 11 hours. Got rained out or I might have finished cutting the hole tonight. With the water table and sand issues it probably isn't going to look as pretty as some of the oothers, but the owner is very pleased so far.
Thanks for all the pics Shimmy. That was great to see how you did it. The finished or near finished product looked great! Do you cover the slop trench with the clean fill or leave it open? Seems it would take forever for it to dry. It is funny that I would have never thought you would have had sand and groundwater trouble. If you did those on a regular basis it would be nice to have a long reach machine but every once in a while it would be hard to justify.
I can't believe I forgot to put the finished ones up. The side pic was taken from about the same spot I took the first one. When we finished yesterday, the pond had over 3' of new water in it. To say the landowner was thrilled is an understatement.
Top notch work. A big difference from when you started.
Turned out really good Shimmy!
Another success Finished another tank today. Either I'm getting better, or my machine is getting faster. Eleven hours on this one.
Hey Scrub Puller , who needs a long reach or dragline?? :naughty
Nice looking work , messing with mud like that can be tedious work for sure. Finish looks good. We have been dealing with a higher water table here due to the large amount of rain we've had. Usually the creek beds are dry this time of year , they been flowing heavily , crawdad heaven.
Yair . . . Gotcha Shimmy1 You do amazing work, it's a credit to your skills. One other thing the drag-line has going for it of course is there is just one sheave bearing in the mud. All the other wear points are non critical and shackles and so on are rebuilt with the welder on rainy days. Cheers.
Thanks, Dickjr. The pond where I took the picture of the hoe stretched out had so many crawdads beached after I pumped the water out the floor was literally moving. That muck was some of the smelliest stuff I've had, pretty much reminded me of a septic tank. The pond in post #71 was the last one I did. If you look at the slopes, you'll notice there are some washout trenches close to the bottom. This was from a 3½" rain we got before I finished. I don't particularly like them, but it is what it is, and once it fills back up with water they never happened.
I appreciate the compliments, Scrub. Like I've said before though, I'd have never been able to figure out such a successful process without HEF. The pumping is one thing, but the idea to dig slop trenches is pure genius. Keep the runny stuff contained and the rest is fairly simple. The best part is if you set everything up right, you can throw the slop over the big bank as necessary and only end up moving it twice. I feel with my 7' bucket, even after I spend a few hours pulling the old spoil bank back, digging the trenches, and moving the slop twice, I'm still getting a pond done faster than I would with a 200-class long reach. Now if I was competing against a 300 with 70' of reach and a yard and a half bucket, that might be a different story. I've ran a Cat 324D long reach and that thing could move some stuff.
Looks good as always Shimmy. I will have to agree, as fast as you are , I really see no need for a long reach. It might be easier on you but the customer does not care if you have it easy or not, he just wants it done and as cheap as possible. Thanks for posting!
It was a little wetter this last season so I haven't had to clean out a pond, but I did get to dig a new one this week. I got to pick the spot, it had 2' of water in it the next morning so I think the location was right. The ground wasn't very cooperative, about 15-20 buckets is all I could do before repositioning the machine. Pictures during didn't really do justice, but I took a few of the finished product.
Nice work shimmy1 ! Understand the ground not being cooperative ..... Track out and dig real smooth & easy so the machine stays on top . http://www.heavytruckforums.com/sho...ufacturing-Company&p=4046&viewfull=1#post4046
Not sure where the pics are at, but for whatever reason I can't see them.
Here are the before pics. Last one isn't done, the first two I didn't take after pics, but I'll get some eventually lol.
As promised. This is a big one. There is already 3' of water in it, and that spoil pile is at least 15' high.
Hi Shimmy, your 210C is still looking good, is it running well?
Had some injector issues at about 1800 hrs. Replaced 2 (under warranty), then at 2200 hrs had to replace the other 2 (also done under warranty). This fall, had some more issues at 2700 hrs, and had to replace another one. I was pretty confident there was a second one failing at this time, but the mechanic was not as sharp as my normal guy, and couldn't figure out for sure which one, so I only got 1 replaced. Then, after claiming that he could see sediment in the bottom of the filters, and the bottom of the fuel tank, he insisted we drain everything and flush. Also at this time, he discovered I had accidentally installed a secondary filter in the primary filter housing, but the secondary had the proper filter. He documented this in his report, and obviously Case denied the claim. The bill for the service call and work was $3600. After going around and around with our dealer a few times, our territorial service manager got us a large credit on the bill. After that, I ran several tanks of fuel with Deere Fuel-Protect injector cleaner, and now I feel it's running as good as it did when new. I'm at 3200 hrs right now. Other than the injector issues, I haven't had any problems.
Back at it. I have 7 to do so far, if it doesn't rain there could be more. 1 down.
Ranchers are in a bad way here. I'm on no. 10 with 6 more to go today, more to come.
Couple more.
How’s the 210 doing?
Nursing it along. Probably have 2 injectors on the death bed currently, but they haven't completely given up yet. Using an ounce per 5 gal of Deere Keep-Clean injector cleaner every fill-up, not going to spend $4000 to change out the faulty ones until they fail completely.
Been watching and admiring your work given the limited reach you work with, sad that the weather is not doing so well for the farmers but should aid you as to desilting these for when the rains do come back.
How many hours? 4800 Hours on my 210C. Changed out 3 sets of bottom rollers and multiple top ones are the only trouble I've had.
4400 hours. Undercarriage is still original. Probably could use a set of spockets before they tear up the bushings too bad.
I suppose all things considered, my injector problems being the only issue with the machine in 7 years, the machine has fulfilled any expectations.
The 210 finally gave up the battle, so while it's at the doctor, I decided to try one of these. It has 2D grade control, which came in handy since this hole had too much water to pump out. I'm not a fan of the new EH controls on this machine. They remind me too much of a Cat skidsteer, which I do not like.
You're not alone with not liking Cat skid steer controls. I used an early one and it was odd having a throttle pedal but it soon became apparent why you needed it. You had no fine control at full throttle if you had to work close to anything. I was using it to set up a starting gate for an MX track. Could have easily bent something leaving it at full throttle. I also think hydrostatic transmissions are best run at full throttle for longest life. I have an older skid steer with hand and foot controls. I little fatiguing if using it for several hours but I could pick up eggs at full throttle without breaking them. I like having a separate control for each side. Does the long reach get tippy when extended handling wet clay?
Not much different really than my 210 with a 2 yd bucket, maybe even a bit better.
My sprockets were in great shape at 4k hours when my rails run out. I debated on just replacing rails and reusing sprockets but took a link out instead and still running them. I hope I can run this undercarriage out to 6k hours. At 4601 Hrs you'll most likely get a service emissions code. It's not hard to reset in the computer
Looking good Shimmy! Did you use grade control for the slopes on the last pond?
I'm not a fan of the grade control. I use it to rough out the first pass or two on a slope, and then just check it about halfway. It has no chance at producing a finish grade that is acceptable to me.
Biggest by far.
Kids had to check it out. In case someone is wondering, I left that tiny pile in the middle as a gauge so the landowner knew how much water had came in since the pasture has cattle needing the water. That bottom is 40' x 120', so with a foot of water back in it there is about 37,000 gallons overnight. I think the 35 pairs will have plenty of water now
Finally reached the last one (for now). Twenty-one hours. I sat in that same spot bailing mud with the hoe for 5 hours without moving.
Just out of pure curiosity, what are these ponds for? Nice work by the way..
How easily damaged are the long booms and long sticks? Looks like you'd have to be careful and not try to take too big of a bite.
Water source for livestock
They seem pretty tough. After running one for a while, you figure out how to take as much as the machine will give you. It's not much different really than a standard hoe, but then again I have close to 20,000 hours handling a 2.5 yd bucket with a 25 ton hoe from all of my ditch cleaning work. It's just like riding a bike. You feel the machine lift up as you pull up and it's a balancing act as you begin your swing. The long reach is no different. This 323 has a pretty powerful swing.
they get broken doing jerky stuff and banging into things. 20,000 hours smooths those things right out
A lot of the long reach machines put limiters on the spool for boom and stick down. It helps a bit to keep gravity from slamming the bucket into the ground and sending those shock waves into the stick.
One job I did with a 210, this young operator really was itching to get in the seat. I set him up to do some things for me, and got him going. I was chatting with the superintendent when I saw him bring the stick in WAY too fast, and he tossed about a half a wheelbarrow of dirt right in on his feet! Luckily the toe glass was stowed behind the seat or it would have been broken. I deftly steered the superintendent and inspector's attention elsewhere, he swung the machine away and started hand shoveling out the cab. Nobody saw nuttin!
Sounds like something I would have done. I was loading a dump truck with an old radial lift bobcat, nobody explained to me that the bucket doesn't self level as it goes up. First bucket, heaped as big as I could, flew it straight up fast and dumped a boat load right over the back of the bucket and into my lap. Dump bucket into truck, then shovel out the bobcat and go back to work.
When I bought my skid steer the dealer offered me a self leveling valve for $500 (no installation fee) because someone else wanted it removed on their new machine. Of all the options to not get, self leveling should be the 1st one to get! It should be mandatory in my opinion. I'm sure operators have suffered serious if not fatal injuries dumping stuff in their lap using a skid steer. Tipping forward on a dump truck with a full bucket of wet clay is another story but very glad my machine has a full width seat bar. Some of the early attempts at seat bars were pretty lame. Two small levers that flip over aren't going to do much.
Number 30.
How does the JCB hoe compare?
Another big one.
It belongs to a farmer friend of mine. It's a 2006 with only 2500 hours, he bought it sight unseen about ten years ago. Price was right, $24,000. It moves dirt, that's about all I can say. The Case is faster in "A" mode that it is, and it will only track in a straight line in high gear. Burns quite a bit of fuel, too.
Number 40. We've gotten some rain finally, and haven't had any calls for about a week.
This was a fun one to dig. It's strictly for wildlife.
Not cleaning, but this one will take a minute.
Is that ice in the pond?
Water
It kind of looked like there was some ice. Optical illusion I guess.
How deep did you have to sink the HDPE temp dewatering pipe?
It's only about a 4' long pipe, so it's down about 3'. Getting that pipe down, and getting rock around it is the only way to pump the water off. Any kind of a hole just fills up with sand. The rock even plugs up with sand, we've had to dig down a foot or so around the pipe by hand a couple times and get clean rock back around it so the water can filter through. That sump pump runs for about 4 minutes out of every 5, on for two, off for one, etc.
Can you get trash or semi-trash sump pumps to better handle sand? I have a Watermaster floating pump that will handle anything that fits through 1" holes including sludge. It has about 70 of them. On a pond like that it would work really good if you could dig a low spot to set it in. It's only 6HP but pumps 700gal./minute. It uses 6" lay flat hose. Farmers use them for drying their fields and apparently they're also used to harvest cranberries. It doesn't hurt it if it runs out of water which is great.
210 has still got it. Not as pretty as some, this one was big and wet. Had a 3" pump running for 12 hours and couldn't get the water pumped out. Lots of ice and runny muck to contend with as well. Oh well. Come spring it will look amazing lol.
Does it help when the ground is partly frozen?
Sometimes. This one should have been cleaned back in '21 when we were dry.
do you have the 290 there for reach and use the 210 to sidecast (transfer) the dirt further from the pond into a windrow?
I pulled the original spoil banks back with it, then it sat up high and bailed the muck over the bank as I pulled it out of the water. I'm not sure it would have been able to get down in as far as I did with the 210, and the extra reach even if it could wouldn't have given any kind of tactical advantage anyway. My guys don't get to spend much time in the big hoe, so I let him do the easy job since I needed to be the one doing the dirty work anyway.
Is your Case 210 a regular stick or long stick. Great photos by the way. Simon C
Whatever the standard length is, like 9'8" maybe?
Have cleaned one septic pond with a little Cat 304 CR. Took about 12 hours, and I was constantly having to go behind the spoil piles to move them further back. A trench like you did would of definitely helped. Have learned a lot from your experience and the comments from others. Your pictures help put ideas into my head of better ways to do things. Keep up the good work and pictures. Simon C
Probably the most challenging one we've ever done, due to terrain. I think from the bottom to the top of the spoil on the high end is like 35'.
I see you had to build a little pad to level up the machine. Sometimes I have to scratch around and find material that's not too soft and slippery to do the same, sometimes it's just to stop the machine from sinking. That looks like a tough one and the photos won't do it justice.
You do excellent work sir!
Wish had a pond here, cost and lack of depth available shut it off. Grounds where wanted terraced in 1940s with depth to bedrock less than 9’. Absolutely great work, better than anything I have ever attempted.