Does anyone please know anything about strimmers.  Have had a look on the troubleshooting part of manual but it says nothing - have also searched the internet.  This is a relatively new strimmer but out of guarantee - should have paid the extra homebase were asking at the time!  When the original string cartridge was in it was fine.  As soon as I refilled it started to play up.  I bought a ready-made refill and it just kept throwing the strings out without stopping and it was either breaking off leaving an empty cartridge in the end or tangling up the too long bits. 

As for the rest - my pond pump showered everyone yesterday when the hose came off - it was only fixed with tape because our builder had broken the original bit and had taped it - now I have to try to get the missing piece.  Then my son's pond filter lid catch has broken and they woke up to find the pond half empty the other morning.  I have tried to repair it with wire and the filter is obsolete so the part cannot be replaced.  I think it is a call to get rid of the pond because they can't maintain it themselves and my grandson is learning how to open doors now.  It means rehoming the fish.

Hope nothing else needs mending today because I need a break.

With the pipe for the pond pump you need to buy a jubilee clip and put that loosely on the hose. Then connect the hose back on to the pump and tighten the clip up so it is around the hose at the part where it joins on to the pump - just need a screwdriver to do that.

As to the strimmer I would take it, and the refill, to the store where you bought it from and ask them if they will put the refill in for you. There is a right way round to putting it in and you have to thread it through the correct part of the strimmer for it to work properly.

The catch on the filter box - depends on what sort of catch it is and what it is made of as to the best way to try and repair it.

Thanks Harley - a jubilee clip would probabally hold it - however added complication is that it has been cut too short so the pump doesn't sit on the bottom - it is too close to surface so I really need to extend the pipe - which has been built into the wall so making it very difficult to replace. 
I am pretty sure that I fitted the spool in correctly but will have another look tomorrow.   ~Don't think anyone in Homebase will be interested in something that was bought nearly 3 years ago.   
I have wired up the filter box and sat something heavy on the lid - it has a wire band that holds the lid in place that got tightened up when closing the clip - which went over a hook on one side and then closed by folding it the other way - very fiddly and difficult to wire in place.  It is oozing a bit. 

Nope a jubilee clip won't do - the pipe is smaller than the outlet pipe of the pump.  I have a missing part to chase up.  Trouble is we bought it on the internet. 

If you know the make/model no of both pump and filter try googling them for part stockists. we have a petrol strimmer, local firm quoted something like £70 for supply and fitting of part, we found a firm that did spares, got one and OH fitted, total cost about £18. When the makers stop doing parts there are usually others who keep stock for quite a no of years after.

> Nope a jubilee clip won't do - the pipe is smaller than the outlet pipe of the pump.  I have a missing part to chase up

You can buy various sizes of hose in DIY stores. Buy a piece of hose that will fit the outlet pipe - the shortest piece they will sell you, probably a metre in length,- and have a look on the plumbing section for a couplet that reduces pipe sizes down to a smaller size. One end of your reducer will need to be the same size as the wide pipe and you attach the pipe to that with a jubilee clip and then the other end to the outlet pipe of the pump. The smaller side of the reducer you then attach to your existing small pipe with another jubilee clip. Alternatively you could contact the manufacturer of your pump and ask them if they can supply you with a reducer - even if the model is no longer made they very rarely change the size of the fittings.

I wrote the above in a hurry and rereading it realised I had made a mistake so I'll try again :-)

Attach the wide part of the reducer to the large hose already attached to the pump and the thinner end to the thinner piece of hose. The new wide pipe will increase the length of the hose and should cure the problem you have with the hose not being long enough.

And thinking about it even more I was wondering if you do in fact have a reducer that has fallen off in the pond - your original pipe must have fitted on to the filter pump for it to have worked to begin with. My pump came with a reducer attachment that you fitted to take a smaller hose if required so yours may well be in your pond somewhere :-)

Harley - thanks for your help - no there is nothing in the pond.   Our builder has built the pipe into the wall and he had the 'multi size hose tail as the part is called that screws into the pump.  He cut the hose tail for some reason and then found the hose wouldn't fit onto it.  We bought it from Primrose - london and I wouldn't advise anyone to buy something like this from them.  I e-mailed them.  I had a curt e-mail back saying that they don't do spares and maybe I will find something in a pond centre near me. 

So I have e-mailed the manufacturers - in China!!!!   My husband bought the pump - I don't expect he would have realised that the make was not well known. 

I am sure if you go to any pond pump supplier - you often find them at Garden Centres - you will be able to buy a plastic hose tail. You then just need to attach it to the piece left on the pump (that your builder cut too short) - they are usually a press fitting and then you could put a jubilee clip around the two to make a good, strong connection. The other end you cut to the right diameter to fit the hose you have already got.

Sorted - our local aquatic centre was hopeless - but went further afield - World of Water proved excellent - the gentleman there was very helpful and I have got all the parts I need to put a flow reducer in to stop the pond emptying from the over powerful waterfall - and to extend the hose too.  At least that is one job sorted.  My Heath Robinson repairs are holding at my son's pond and I have bought a pair of shears and put the strimmer away for the time being. :-)

Those basic strimmers always give grief and never last. I use Stihl brush cutters (strimmers) and the line is very easy to fill and costs a few pounds a time to do. I also have a viking electric strimmer FSE81 which is sold under the Stihl brand and has the same operation on the head as my commercial KM130R. I think it cost around £120 when I purchased it where the KM costs £500 plus for the power unit and £155 for the strimmer head.
Well worth spending that little extra, the basic petrol model from Stihl starts about £150 and is a bent shaft model.
If I were local I could soon fit the new line for you.