A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Need some ideas!

Our A/C unit is one of the water-cooled heat pump kind, so anytime it is running (heat or A/C) water is shooting out of a pipe outside. This was connected to two sprinkler heads, but we recently had a leak and had to bypass that line, so we now have a 30' PVC pipe running out into our yard. We have to do SOMETHING with it, and to me, letting all that water go to waste seems like such a shame , so I suggested making some kind of pond and/or fountain setup. My husband was agreeable, but said we would still have to devise some way of handling excess water that would inevitably be there, since the A/C isn't going to go off just because the pond/fountain is full of water.

So does anyone have any good ideas? My initial idea was to dig a hole (maybe 2' deep, 1.5'wide),run the pipe to it, put an elbow on it and have the pipe sticking up above ground, then fill the hole with rock. Then dig out some of the dirt around the hole and fill that with rock too, then put a fountain type head on the pipe and have the water going up and falling into the rock. And put plants around it of course. But my husband assures me that it would just be a matter of time until it was all rocks and mud under water.

So, I'm open to ideas. Tell me what ya got!


Oh yeah, the water comes from the same well that I fill my pond with, and has no chlorine. I don't know if it picks up anything harmful from inside the A/C, but it has never hurt the grass yet.

Do you keep fish in the pond? Or would you? I would be afraid of the freeon..don't know if i spelled that right nor where ther freon comes out of..but i don't know about that..I'd call the a/c guy out..hehe..I had to do that last year..ugh they are expensive..we kinda started and well left the a/c running for oh about 8 hours with the lid on top of the fan..but they fixed it..thank god..cause it's going to be hot tomorrow..hehe..Good luck with that though..Maybe put a liner in it, so it's like a pond.with some holes in the bottom..not alot..just a couple.like a strainer so it keeps draining..just not fast..ya know? GOOD LUCK

I like the idea of a liner with a few holes. I'm not sure exactly what the water in the A/C does, but it doesn't come in contact with the freon. From what I understand the freon has to stay sealed up or else you don't get any cold air, and ours does get cold.
I wouldn't mind having some fish in it. I would probably start with a couple cheapies and see if they could live in it. Does that sound cruel? Sorry!

Glad you got your A/C fixed,Langford! Sure wouldn't want to be without that! I'm spoiled rotten when it comes to cold air and electricity!

the freon can't come in contact with the water. freon evaporates at "normal human" temps... it boils at very low temps... that is from my days as a lab tech...

as for the "pond" what i'd do, is i'd put in the pond and then have a "spillway" to a "bog garden" made from a kid's wading pool with holes poked in it. that way, the plants will take up the excess water.

and for the "cheapo" fish idea, i only put the cheap "feeder" fish in my pond. i have one that i have had for over a year, and others that "come and go" if you get my drift! i figure it is much more humane to put a 22cent fish in a pond knowing it might get eat than to buy a $12 koi that might get eat! (humane for/on me anyway )

I have had very good luck with my fish. Haven't had any get eaten or anything. Although one of my Koi (Butterfly) just died..from who knows what..that was upsetting. My dog goes and drinks out of the pond. I'm thinking this cannot be healthy. But i would start out with the feeder as well just in case.. The koi get expensive. I just spent 36.00 for 3 of them..hope everything turns out ok for ya..and i didn't know that about freon..

Dry creek bed running into a pond down hill possible?

I'll tell you what, if your filter is working properly and your pond is healthy, it's probably healthier than drinking out of your faucet and definitly healthier than lappin in the turlet. Our 's drink out of our pond all the time!

For real? I mean i wouldn't think it would be healthy..although my pond started out beautifully this year..it is suddenly green..gross green..i mean you can see the green spouting out of the fountain..who knows..i think i should drain most of it, and refill it..what do you think?

heyas Langford...
check out this Drs. Foster and Smith link and read up a bit... it will explain it better than I can. This is a pretty good website for info on ponds and such! I have had a bit of hair algea this year and I'm not sure why because I haven't done anything different this year than I have in the past couple years. I would say that a partial water change can't hurt and quite possibly would help tremendously! Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Eclo,
did you get my other question? First of all..that pond is huge..wow..how do you get the pond liners to attach at the seam so there is no leaking, i used visqueen on my new pond..any suggestions..thanks for the link..i hope that works..

I like the creekbed/pond idea. Will give that some consideration too. Also like the idea of burying a pool under a fountain and planting bog plants in it to soak up the runoff.