My cheap Winter pond De-icer (testing it this winter)

[oldmarine]

Good suggestion, but the stuf I have saw in California never did sink. It was considered to be dangerous if a child or adult stepped oput on it. It would entangle them and drowning would easily result like you suggested.

Good point.

 

[koikeepr]

Oh, you're talking about that pool stuff! Folks use it as a cheaper method of heating up a pool using the sun rather than a real heater. Yeah, I still wouldn't use that stuff in a pond either...

 

[oldmarine]

I would go with what you said, but it was just a thought. Thanks.

 

[koikeepr]

it's like a solar blanket that looks like bubble wrap, but made out of a heavy liner type plastic. Just not worth having something floating in the pond that could endanger a fish in my opinion.

 

[koidance]

I use heavy duty bubble wrap on 3 ponds,but "over" wooden frames,then over that we use a heavy grade white tarpaulin.The temps have plummeted in the UK this week to Zero,due to Siberian winds,I keep checking on the smaller pond as that has no heater,well covered all the same.It is the wind factor that cools the water fast.

A few Winters back I used bubble just floating on the water on a raised unheated pond,leaving the end open.It was pretty good really, we managed to keep the water just above freezing,but the plants died right back,so not a good method for us.

Also there is a risk of fish jumping up and landing on the bubble.This happened to one man when he came home he saw the fish lying on the bubble,he pushed it back into the water and his fish survived,but he now cuts the edge of the bubble into strips,so any jumpers will flop back in..

We live in the mountains but right across Britain on the West coast,it is the East coast that is suffering the most with snow etc.

 

[oldmarine]

Koidance,

Thank you for sharing that. It is always interesting to know how things are done differently in other countries. About the only really difference is the climate variations, and the types of weather paterns.

 

[koidance]

Oldmarine,I think you are spot on in saying that in various countries we do indeed seem to have different methods with fish ponds.As you say it all helps,and does give fresh ideas.

I know most pond owners in this area cover their ponds in Winter.I have just been up to check on the small pond again (about 250 GB gallons),I don't feel happy about it at all,as the temp is dropping below zero now.I rolled up some tubes of bubble wrap to wedge in the sides,and both waterfalls are off now on the larger ponds.I have a water lily blooming in one of them under the frames,it is sitting next to the heater,so that is probably be the reason.The name of the lily is Colorado.

One thing I am glad is that we built the pump house.It is warm and dry and we can check the filters easier.Cold is cold no matter what country you live in ..I hate the cold but if it stays dry I prefer that to the incessant rain we have been having lately.

 

[Catfishnut]

This is an old thread, but I think the subject is very important. Well, it is to me anyway.

I am going to just reply with this message for now. I am quite new to this forum, but on others sites (for my different hobbies) very old threads like this one are sometimes blocked for responding. So, before I write up a long response, I will just check this first, if it is acceptable to reply to this old of a thread, I will return with what I think is a novel idea.

Gordy

 

[Catfishnut]

Ok, I see that I may respond to a quite old thread... Now for my idea.

Why not a solar water heater?

Incorporate a very small water pump, let's say around 2-5 gph. Route the water from an inlet near the bottom of the pond (where the water is obviously not frozen) and route it up, into a solar collector and then into a containment chamber (will explain that shortly) and back into the pond at or near the surface. The sun's radiation during the exposed (daylight) hours will warm the water being circulated through the solar collector. If you route this water through some sort of a containment device, you can store that solar energy for the rest of the day, after the sun has gone down, and take advantage of that stored heat energy.

If you filled several 55 gallon plastic (HDPE) barrels with river rock and routed this solar heated water through them (you could even bury these tanks in the ground to help insulate them) you could store quite a bit of heat energy in the river rock that you collected from the sun during the day and extract it at night. If it doesn't get too cold in your location, you could even incorparate the heat reservoir into a rock wall around your pond somewhere (just be be aesthicly pleasing) and use the rock wall as a reservoir. I guess that depends upon the climate for your zone.

A very small gph pump and a rock reservoir designed for your local climate should provide sufficient water flow and stored heat to keep the surface open and maybe even more than just a small "pond-breathing" hole in the ice.

I am currently working on a solar accumulator for my system of bait tanks. I haven't perfected my ideas yet, but I KNOW that I can do it and I KNOW that it will work. I just must refine the design to make it compatible for my climate zone (Zone 5 in USA).

I haven't got this design that I have up in my head completely figured out just yet, but I am sure that I can come up with something that will work down to around -5°F (as long as the sun shines during the day (even through the clouds). A very efficient solar collector array and a large enough "heat" storage reservoir to last until the sun rises again is all that is needed.

Actually, I think I could devise a system that would keep the entire pond open all season, if I put some time into it. I just need to be careful not to boil my fish! I can come up with something in time, something that works just right and costs virtually nothing to operate. Obviously, such a system is going to have a high setup pricetag, but once it is completed, it will cost virtually nothing to operate. I would attempt to engineer it to use mostly "passive" means of operation (meaning very little electrical power input).

Is anyone interested in brainstorming here? All your ideas are welcome! Besides, it would be a lot of fun designing such a thing.

I am sure that someone else has already done such a thing, but they haven't yet shared it. Ha ha!

Let's get together and come up with something that works really well and then share it with everyone. How about that? Sound fun?

Gordy

 

[sissy]

You can also route your pipe to a hose you wrap in circles around a board that is painted black and face it towards the sun ,but you risk it freezing at night if it really gets cold and drains your pond .I did it one year abd it worked but I live in VA and winters not so bad ,well except for last winter .You would need a back up any way to keep water open and at a go temp .Not sure I would try it again .To much worrying about it freezing up .

 

[ididntdoit99]

I dont see why it couldnt be done, but like you said... it would be expensive... and i would assume a fairly large, gaudy looking thing to try to hide. My grandparents have one of those solar heaters for thier pool... a bunch of black LDPE tubes running across a giant panel that sits there and collects sunlight and heats up the water some.

But even doing a quick search on those, those black panel say they can collect sun and increase the heat 15° F... what if its -5° outside? You still arent collecting enough sunlight to keep your water thawed. What was your idea for the solar collector?

This is another thought... but in this system, you would still need to run some sort of pump, to circulate the water (probably fairly slowly so it would collect heat) But it you really wanted to go all out.. and your pond is located close enough to your house... you could just as easily pump water into your basement... to a large collection area where it heats up, and then pumps back outside into your pond. CRAZY IDEA, I KNOW... im just saying, you are already heating your house to 65-68° through the winter, if yoou had a big enough collection area in the basement for water to heat up before being pumped back out, the water would be failry warm.

That was just a random crazy thought I had one day, I know there are some forum members that have indoor ponds for the winter, what if the 2 were connected and shared the same filtration system and the temp would stayed fairly averaged between the two?

 

[sissy]

I do this every year and even though I bought a deicer this adds oxygen to the water and remember when looking at this the submersible pump and this pipe are all standing straight up under the water .I got the deicer after last winter I am not taking any chances and I feel this idea keeps my water cleaner

 

[addy1]

I have a solar heater on my pool in arizona, and for the house water heater. The pool one has a thermostat that comes on once the water hits a certain temperature. The water heater one has a thermostat that comes one to if the water heater hits a certain low temp, but it also circulates the water if the air temp is too low. This is mainly so the panel does not freeze with water in it and burst. So it actually cools the water in the winter.

The pool one does not run at all during the night, but it also drains back so there is no retained water in the panels at night.

 

[taherrmann4]

Here you go.

http://www.solarswim.net/photogallery.html

 

[Catfishnut]

Here you go.

http://www.solarswim...otogallery.html

Thank you tahermann4,

I just read a little from that site and I think I can use a great deal of the info! That's about what I had in mind for my system, just need to read further to see if they have more ideas that I haven't pondered just yet.

Gordy