Advice needed please - cover for pond filter housing

Could you continue making the cover in the same way (under ideal circumstances that material can last for many more years than that) but improve the ventilation in the pump house? You obviously don't want to let the rain pour into the electrics but couldn't the cover be mounted -say- 2cm or so off the walls?

Nick

I have an almost identical setup except that the brick enclosure is rectangular and has a paving slab on top of it. It's open on one side and the paving slab isn't cemented in place so it's by no means waterproof.

What I have done is to use outdoor mains sockets, the type where there is a seal round the cable going to the plug and I've put other things vulnerable to damp in a waterproof "Dri Box".

This seems to work OK (apart from the pumps failing at regular intervals of course).

The Dri Box solution might work even without outdoor sockets as you can run a cable into a (big) Dri Box and then use ordinary sockets and such inside the box.

It would probably help to have an air gap under the cover, but I'd really like a cover made out of something would outlive me. I'm 83, and this may be the last time that I'm able to make something.

I'm looking at the possibility of using 3mm aluminium checker plate. Perceived wisdom is that I should be able to cut that with a metal blade in a jigsaw. It ain't cheap -upwards of £100 per M^2, so the piece I need would cost nearly £150. But it may be worth it if it lasts for a very long time.

Any comments?

If it doesn't have to support much weight, have you considered polycarbonate sheet? According to

Keeping the electrics dry isn't really an issue as long as there's a waterproof-ish cover of some sort. The incoming mains is a multi-core SWA cable into a waterproof junction box with a gland, and the outgoing cables are 3-core SWA with glands - each going into the sort of blue round-pin sockets used on caravans. Each electrical item - submerged pond pump (obviously not in the enclosure), air pump and UV lamp for the filter - has its cable terminated with a blue plug to fit the socket.

But what I need is a cover whose odd shape can be DIY'd which will last for "ever".

Interesting thought, thanks. It doesn't need to support a lot of weight, but it needs to be heavy enough itself not to blow away because it won't be fixed down. I'm not sure that that *would* be heavy enough. Also, being hollow, it would be a bit of a faff trying to seal the edges - most of which are not straight.

I would still prefer a solid material if I can find something suitable.

I am surprised marine ply fails quite so quickly. At my old place I used a shelving offcut of decent (but not marine) varnished ply to cover an outside drain and put a plant pot on top. Never got round to doing anything better and perfectly sound 15 years later when I left.

The fact yours does fail within a year or 2 does suggest ventilation underneath could be the issue.

Would there be any chance of fashioning something from a cast-off Corian worktop?

Chris

I've got a lot of 12mm marble sheeting left over....

I'd not previously heard the term "Corian worktop" but, having looked it up, it doesn't appear suitable on account of having a timber/chipboard substrate - which would suffer the same way as my existing top.

What size, How heavy? How easy to cut convex and concave curves? Where (geographically) is it?

Sorry, I have no personal experience of it, thought it was some sort of solid plasticky material.

Chris

I agree, thought Corian was a thermo-plastic substance so no timber substrate.

Dave

A sort of stone substitute, aren't there worries about the dust from machining it causing fibrosis?

Wouldn’t a paving slab do? You can get plenty of thin types that still have enough weight in them to stay put

The dust from machining almost anything causes lung problems

I certainly assumed that it was solid: I used to buy chunks of it for making things like guitar bridges, fingerboard nuts and trims as a substitute for animal bone. I believe it was popularised by the Martin Guitar Company in their move away from using ivory.

Nick

"Corian is a non-porous solid surface material composed of approximately

No wood involved. It is not normally a laminate

It's a bit like car body filler - a loaded thermoset resin

Hmm, interesting. I do a little bit of Lutherie (new saddles, nuts etc., similar to what you mention) and had never thought of Corian as being similar enough to bone, Graphtech etc. for these purposes. i shall have to investigate...

J^n