Aaron, why don't you post your question over on the "Plumbing Forum" where I'm sure one of the professional plumbers will give you an answer to your water hammer problem. Just click on the link below. Good luck with it, I'm interested to see what they come up with. I know you can put a tee and a short stem pipe in, prior to a ordinary sink faucet, to stop water hammer,but I don't think you would want a piece of pipe sticking up in the air at your pond? "Horton" Here is a link that might be useful: GW Plumbing Forum.

Horton, Thanks. They are conventional knife or gate valves-just my description is a bit awkward. They are installed horizontally, which may explain something about the gunk in there? Two-inch "flex" pvc comes up from the ground and is attached to the valve. The top of the valve attaches to rigid abs elbow. There is nothing flexible at this time of year. I thought to loosen the valve cover, wedge it open slightly and try to blow gunk out. But, I fear damaging a gasket or something else. It is questionable if I can separate the two cover pieces enough to do anything else. This whole suction line assembly, installed in a huge rush just a year ago in the cold by a first-time amateur, needs to be replaced and should have been this past summer. Since I intend to run all winter I should just leave the valves open and leave them alone as I can do any brief maintenance, like clean leaf basket, by turning pump off briefly? I'm sure you have disassembled these valves. How do they seat, what's in there? Is it worth trying to repair or should I just order a couple new ones (cheap enough)come spring? These posts help me find my own answers sometimes along with the advice of fellow ponders. Tendency to over-worry seems to be one of my senior traits. Any more thoughts or guidance will be much appreciated. Mike

Been a long time since we had that problem, but as I recall we just used a loop of heavy chain and a heavy duty lock at the hasp and hinge end. Make the loop short and attach it low so that the gate and posts would have to be removed together. This assumes you have large wooden posts at each end. Worked for us, chains are still there, but locks do have to be periodically replaced even with oiling. Good luck, Ev

With some extremely rare exceptions generally the water companies DO NOT supply PRV's Whenever we apply for a new water service we have to submit a rough site plan for the building lot. The water company will then determine where they intend to make the tap into the municipal main and they will give us the location where they will put the curb stop valve. They will also inform us where they want the meter installed and the "Fitting Allowance" & type of fittings for the meter. The property owner is then responsible for installing all pipe from the curb stop to the structure. At the meter location we leave a section of the pipe out equal to the length of the fitting allowance specified by the water supplier, and we attach the proper fitting on both ends of the line at the open section. Some require MIP while others may require FIP or Meter couplings on the ends of the property owners line. In warmer climates they may want the meter to be put in a ground vault, while in colder climates the meters must be placed inside the climate controlled portion of the structure. After the property owner has installed the water supply line the municipal water supplier will send an installation crew to make final connection. They will install a saddle valve on the municipal main and tap the main, then they install a short length of pipe from the tap to the curb stop location, install the curb stop and connect it to the open end of the property owners supply line. They will then go to the meter location and install the meter. (That is the total of thier obligation) In the past when the meter was installed inside the structure the property owner had to allow a meter reader to come in once a month and read the meter, but today nearly all meters have a sending unit attached to the meter so it can be read from a remote location. Some have a small round device on the exterior of the building where the meter reader touches his hand held reader to the remote and it reads automatically. Some, such as here where I live, they install a small wireless RF unit on the exterior of the house and the meter reader simply drives by in a pickup at about 10-15mph and their computer wirelessly reads the meters, while in some newer locations they have a sending device which is attached to the house telephone wires and they read the meters from a computer at the water companies billing office. If you need a PRV or boost pump, generally that is the property owners responsibility to install and maintain it.