water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

kwacks · Post by **kwacks** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:19 pm

Hi to All.
As a first post I say good evening to you all,and hope you can help me to learn.
I have built a two stage pond ,the top layer being a 15x20 ft semi circle,lined with a 35 year liner,flowing down to a 6ftx4ft concrete(g4 lined)pool.
The top pool has been filled to ensure water tightness,over the past week or so water beetles(this has been confirmed by WOW,and a few members),have eaten the liner.I have a total of 5 holes,2 holes 6 inchesx2 inches,and three 4-5 inches x1 inch.shop have refused to meet me half way on a £500 butyl liner, yet their wording states"Polyex pond liners are designed to withstand all natural chemicals and conditions associated with an aquatic environment as well as most preparations sold for pond or garden use.".any suggestions,ideas,this has happened to me.All replies are recieved with Thanks.
Jon.

vippymini · Post by **vippymini** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:36 pm

your not the only one , the person to talk to is tommy2ponds x

GERRY5 · Post by **GERRY5** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:41 pm

yep, jane is right ....i believe tommy2p sued and won ..eventually .....not fit for purpose etc , search thro the members list and pm him , hes a nice fella and i am sure he will help .....

welcome to koi quest by the way

kwacks · Post by **kwacks** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:45 pm

Thank you so much for your reply,stress level now at 98/100.thank you!.

tomy2ponds · Post by **tomy2ponds** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:48 pm

Hi Kwacks I will Pm you my phone Number so we can have a chat .Say thank you to Jane as she emailed me to tell me about this post.I am here all evening

kwacks · Post by **kwacks** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:57 pm

please keep posting in as this will help all,and highlight a fault.is it the smell given off by the material?,As i watched it was like 20 starving beetles,munching for their lives!,they were not nibbling it was serious munching!

kwacks · Post by **kwacks** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:14 pm

Hi Jane,(vippymini),Please excuse me if I got that wrong,I don't know anybody on here yet.
BUT...Thank-you for forward posting this major head ache to tomy2ponds ,he has got back to me ASAP.
I can't believe how helpful this forum is!

Davej · Post by **Davej** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:49 pm

When I read this for the first time I thought the liner was 35 years old and thought you were having a laugh!!

How long has it been in?

Small claims court limit £5,000 as far as I can recall, very easy process, just need to evidence your case.

Regards

Dave

vippymini · Post by **vippymini** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:58 pm

kwacks wrote:Hi Jane,(vippymini),Please excuse me if I got that wrong,I don't know anybody on here yet.
BUT...Thank-you for forward posting this major head ache to tomy2ponds ,he has got back to me ASAP.
I can't believe how helpful this forum is!

hi ya ,

welcome to koiquest , your very welcome , there is a great bunch of people here in more ways than one x

Jagger · Post by **Jagger** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:42 pm

I had two liners eaten by Caddisfly Larvae.

Both of them were expensive Butyl liners bought from a local koi establishment as koi pond liners.Both were riddled with several hundred holes along the fold lines.I took the hit on the first one (four and a half years) but got a bit miffed when the next one failed (three and a half years) so I did some complaining.My liner was replaced with 1mm Firestone EPDM free of charge by the supplier (not saying).

They explained that the Butyl liners have a textured surface which allows insect larvae/pondlife to get a grip on the surface whereas EPDM is smooth and doesn't allow this to happen.When I pointed out that the textured surface obviously precludes the use of Butyl as a pond liner they went very,very quiet on the other end of the phone.

They sound like big beetles.

kwacks · Post by **kwacks** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 7:41 pm

Good evening to all,
Thanks to LEE for the prompt phone help your a star!.

To Update you all,
Phoned office of fair trading,put me onto consumer direct advice,sent letter to shop,(if you can tell me how to attach it I will).
shop wrote back telling me water beetles are not part of a natural aquatic environment!.(will attach it also).
So..next step small claims.
this is the time scale.
day 1 liner goes in,make folds fill with water,
day 3 water drops to 25 cm in a 63 cm pool,
day 5 repair holes at 25 cm(3 in total)
refil.
day 8 pond back down to 25 cm and am repairing hole on left when see 15?of the #######,beetles eating the liner .
I have samples of the beetles,and the liner,am in process of contacting,several peep for verification.
Thanks for all your replys and support,
Jon.

tomy2ponds · Post by **tomy2ponds** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:15 pm

Hi I have never heard so much rubbish how can a pond beetle that lives in a pond not be Part of a natural aquatic environment.don't let this go peruse it in the small claims court.I am sure the office of fair trading must have said said you have a case.

vippymini · Post by **vippymini** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:16 pm

great to see your making tracks , stick with it and good luck x

GERRY5 · Post by **GERRY5** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:20 pm

jon ...have sent you a pm ....it may have gone more than once though

TicToc · Post by **TicToc** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:34 pm

Kwacks

Good evening. Suggest cutting away a sample (1ft x 0.5ft) and placing same in a sample plastic bag preferably with a beetle. Judges in small Courts Claims tend to be very competant and actually love a smirk on occasions so I'm told.

If you take a few photos of you sweating in the sun doing this and cutting it up all the better. Whilst the retail supplier (otherwise referred to as 'A') will defend their corner to the hilt, on the premise of trade description act, caveat emptor the actual wholesale supplier (possibly not English) may very well have used alternative synthetic materials than envisaged by 'A'. Basically had them over though they will initially refuse to admit it. Theres no harm in asking A for specific description/ingredients of compoound sold to you and whom their wholesale supplier might be starters. Expect them to decline but it builds up a good court case for relative ease. If they provide the information all the better.....

Several strategies quickly unfold: If less than 30 days since purchase, return product and demand refund. If older consult Citizens Advice Bureau and do inform them you have no intention of writing this off. Copy any letter and photos to local and National newspapers, sounds like the nationals might want to run this in the Sundays! Kew Gardens might have an interest and might even examine a piece of the liner for you for free. Anyhow to many mights and getting late no doubt some of the experts on this excellent forum can advise further.

I just need help with a little old pump in the needed list.

Best of luck
Tic Toc

Simply Koi and More Koi

water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.

Re: water beetles have eaten my 35 year pond liner.