Just had a very bad experience. Just a few days ago I was talking about how nice it was to have an automatic filler valve for the Koi pond. This morning I cycled the filter for the pond, fed the fish and noted that the auto fill valve had maintained the pond level and shut down. The wife and I went to the movie (Pirates 2) and when we came home water was running down the drive. Went in the back to see what was going on, found the pond flooded out across the patio and down the sidewalk. All 12 of the wife’s Koi were dead, and the auto fill valve was running full tilt. I’ll never use one again. The brand name is “Hudson”, if you have one or are planning to get one I would advise caution.
Very sorry to hear this Tom.
I have 2 fountains that can hold fish. I have electronic water fills, but I have overflow tubes in each one of them so if the filler sticks, the fountains do not overflow. I’ve turned down the water supply such that the overflows can handle “wide open” filling.
Maybe you can add some kind of overflow plumbing, with a grill on the intake so fish cannot go down it too.
Regards, Greg
Greg;
I’ve got an overflow pipe already. that is where the water going down the driveway was coming from. What killed the fish was the chlorine in the water. The filler system delivers 5 gallons per minute. During the four plus hours we were gone puts a lot of chlorine in the water that killed the fish.
My intent is to warn others that this brand may not be the one to get.
That really sucks. Sorry to hear about your fish. I’ll never use that or similar products!
(it’s one thing when equipment or trains fail; it’s quite another when your pets are killed)
Too bad about the Koi, they can be very expensive. I took a sample of our tap water to the local swimming pool dealer for testing and he lauded me on how nicely I keep the pool! Yes, there is that much chlorine in tap water. Perhaps a water purifier added into the system would protect the fish.
I certainly won’t buy that brand of auto filler, thanks for the heads up.
Sorry to hear.
I know my pump is not in the lowerest spot and once when the hose blew off and pumped most of the water out over night I still had about 6" in there. Got lucky that time.
The hose now has double hose clamps and wired on.
Hurray for the local merchant.
We went to our local pond supply business on Monday, and explained to the owner what had happened with the auto fill valve. He examined the valve, could not find anything wrong with it and called his vendor. Seems as though there has been a problem with that particular unit, the vendor told him they would cover the cost of fish replacement and take back all of the recalled goods he had on his shelves. Richard, the owner, kicked in another dozen of the baby (2-4 inch) Koi, gave us a years supply of testing sets and strips, and a 50 pound bag of Koi food. The wife said she could not take that many fish and stuff, but Richard said that since we had done close to $10,000 worth of business with him in the last two years he had to take care of his regular customers.
Once again it proves that there are some really good small business owners out there. If you are in the North Coastal San Diego area, Carlsbad, stop by the Pond Source and say hi, and that you heard of them from us. I know I shouldn’t be plugging a local business here but when you have an outfit that treats you more than fair, they need to be recognized a little.
I’m really happy to hear that. It’s good that some good news came from this bad story. It’s really great when people do their best to be helpful.
Well, that’s what I’ve wondered about fish in ponds. What do you do about the chlorine when you add water?
Of course, I did a pond a little different:
On hot summer days when oxygen would be depleated, I added small children:
good one, Torby 
(but where’s the train going around the “ocean”???)
(i feel like taking a cool splash on this hellashious day)
I was planning one. 1/6 scale 9.5 inch gauge. X had other plans. Now the house, kids and pond are hers.