Shop Vac for Pond Vac

[JLEL]

Hello,

After much struggling and hard work, I finally got my pond installed last year.  In the building and design of the pond, I purchased a turtle-shaped bottom drain, that is designed to lay on top of the liner and then you run a pipe up to the skimmer or filtration system of the pond.  I ran a pipe from the bottom drain to my skimmer, with the intention of using my pump to drain the pond or possibly clean out the pond as needed. 

However, I don't want to damage my good pump and I was thinking about purchasing a sturdy shop vac to pump out the water and then drain it into the skimmer.  From the skimmer, I have another pipe that goes to my waterfall weir, but it has a T in the line, so that I can also drain the pond as needed. 

Has anyone tried to use a shop vac to drain a pond?  Some of the more expensive shop vacs have a drain spout at the bottom of the vacuum, so that would work perfectly for me.  I can also use the shop vac in the garage or around the house as needed.  The pond is about 14 x 16 in size and it's just over two feet deep, so it's about 3000 gallons overall. 

Thanks for your input, JLEL

[howardTheHumble]

I have used and destroyed two QSP=20 shop vacs over the years.    the first one I ruined the impeller by running a pebble  (used to top plants) through it. The second had a motor die.  Had I kept the 1st I could have made two out of one but they were too far apart.  By my thinking they have gotten too expensive use that way.

shop vacs will lift water off the bottom of a full pond.  As the pond get emptier the harder it is for it to lift the water over the edge.   You also have to stop and empty the vac each time it gets full.

I use a sump pump to pump it down to where I can clean up the last gunk with a shop vac sitting on the pond floor.  Then I let it dry and sweep the rest into a dust pan.

My current sump pump.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IJR5GK/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[SueSTx]

I use the hose off my 'broken' shop vac to syphon most of the water out of my stocktanksI use two hoses to get the water from where I'm working and under a line of trees.  I start it 'by hand'  (hubby used to irrigate out of a ditch) when the water gets low, then I put in the sump pump.  The last of the water can be vacummed out with less 'dumping"

[dapperponds]

I also do what Howard does.