Plugging in an old Garden Pond Filter to the house mains.

[eodonnell]

Hi All,

Sorry I am a bit clueless so on here for advice. We recently moved into a new property where the previous tenants left a number of fish in the garden pond.
Wanting to maintain it, there is an old looking pump, seems to have not been used in quite sometime. The main body of the pump (fliter I think) is missing its plug, the other end was wrapped in a carrier bag, stashed in a vase. The intake part (submerged) has its own plug which we found.

Our question is , is it safe to plug this (submerged) part in to our household mains to see if it is in working order or do we risk blowing our home elecricity supply? Our worry is that it will go further than the trip and cause serious damage for which we will be responsible.

The make and model of the pump is ... Hozelock cyprio
like this Ecopower + Filter Kit 5000: 1341 - Hozelock

I think its pointless anyway with out the above ground bit having its plug.

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Honestly there is not a lot going for "plug it in and see what happens" method of testing.

If it was faulty then the resulting bang can be quite disturbing and though unlikely to cause much damage to your installation, as the protection device will trip the fault before major damage is done, it can be quite nasty.

To be honest in the remotest possibility of the thing working, a pump that is designed to be submersed, that isn't, tends to cause a lot of other problems ie seals drying out and then leaking water once re-submersed.

 

[telectrix]

if your house electrics incorporate an RCD ( or more than 1 ), commonly known as an earth leakage trip, you should be safe to plug it in to try it. if in doubt, please call in an electrician who can test the pump before plugging it in.

 

[trev]

Try to clean it as much as possible then put it in a bucket of clean water, if there is a leak you should be able to see a stream of air bubbles coming up from it although this is not guaranteed. After that, I'm with Malcolm do not plug it in just to see what would happen, take it to a local electrician and get him/her to test it properly (known as PAT testing) it shouldn't cost much

 

[eodonnell]

Thank you all for the advice.
Just to explain, there is one part above ground as should be, the larger filter part. and the submerged part has been submerged all this time, its the intake part. Both have separate plugs, although the larger filter part is missing its plug, and looks like it may have been missing for sometime.
Perhaps its best left alone? It seems the previous owners may have neglected it.

 

[trev]

If you want to keep these fish and keep them healthy you have a couple of choices mate, either you bin this filter pump and buy a new one which could be expensive or you get it checked over which shouldn't really cost any more than a tenner + a plug top and a fuse. Jobs a goodun

 

[trev]

If they're large koi carp you can get a fair few quid for em but I guess the previous owners would have known that and would have taken them with them.

 

[eodonnell]

Thanks Trev,
They are Koi Carp actually. The thought did cross my mind ;P
Cheers

E

 

[trev]

Feed em, look after em get them huge and they're your pension mate. Kerching

 

[Paul.M]

I did one of these yesterday plus pond lights and fitted an IP66 socket enclosure (all new btw).

As above take the submerged pump out of the pond and into a plastic tub with clean water in it. If the pump has been sat for a long time it will be full of rubbish and needs pumping out to clean it. Plug it into a socket that is rcd protected and do not have your hand in the water at the same time. If it trips the rcd you need a new pump, I would get a new one anyway and throw this old one.

As for the filter, change the filters before use that way you will get the best results.

The main thing is to make sure that these (and any) out door appliances are protected by an rcd, have a look first before plugging anything in. If you can't find one call an electrician to fit one before you go any further. Keeping fish is not as straight forward as buying a pump off the shelf and plugging it in.

Infact get an electrician in to IR test the cable supplying the pond and see if its safe to use.

 

[eodonnell]

Our unit seems to have RCA, from what I can glean from it, Its fairly old school but says the following, MK SENTRY CONSUMER UNIT, To BS 5486 PT13 1989
Rated Current With Switch Disconnector, 60A with RCD 63A DO NOT EXCEED

That seem oK?

Sorry of the endless questions and thanks

 

[GLENNSPARK]

just out of interest.....does the intended supply for this filter pump enjoy additional protection by means of RCD?....if not then it would be prudent to have an RCD fitted to supply this......in fact outside power outlets and outside current using equipment should be fed through an RCD if you were to have this pump working again.....i think Tel has already touched on this.....

 

[trev]

The RCD will have a button on it marked test, usually black red or yellow. Go press it to see what happens mate, it should interupt the supply and they very rarely get tested even though it says they should be checked quarterly

 

[Paul.M]

Don't worry about asking questions .

Does it give a number then mA? Eg 30mA?

 

[GLENNSPARK]

a minute late...lol....

 

[Paul.M]

just out of interest.....does the intended supply for this filter pump enjoy additional protection by means of RCD?....if not then it would be prudent to have an RCD fitted to supply this......in fact outside power outlets and outside current using equipment should be fed through an RCD if you were to have this pump working again.....i think Tel has already touched on this.....

I've already said it glen, wind your neck in lol.

 

[eodonnell]

 

[eodonnell]

just added two photos, no test button to be seen or mA number either I'm afraid.
Perhaps we don;t have it ... :/

 

[GLENNSPARK]

you could use an RCDfcu to feed this pond filter ...or an IP rated socket with RCD ......get an electrician to do this work for you as its notifyable....i`m sure if you posted the area in the uk you are from someone in here could have a look at it for you......

 

[eodonnell]

Thanks Everyone, all your advice was very helpful. Wil get this checked out properly I think.
Cheers