Waterfalls and winter

[Fraxinus85]

you are absolutely correct, lindsayanng! :coolgleema: dave simply misunderstood how cold it gets over where you are and the fact that you would need almost arctic conditions to support his theory of freezing waterfalls. so yes, if you leave your waterfall running, you will be fine and able to enjoy it during winter (but don't forget to insulate those pipes! :icon_smile. unfortunately, it seems that when i corrected dave, he took it as a personal attack; i apologize for any negativity he's brought to this conversation, and hope it doesn't prevent you from becoming more involved in our forums! thanks for your question, and i hope that helps! :banana:

 

[DrCase]

linsayanng,,,we are very close to being in the same zone ..if not the same..water will freeze here...but its never super extreme ,without a warning...if i feel its getting to cold,,and its going to be here a while i turn my pump off

 

[lindsayanng]

that sounds reasonable. I just REALLY want to see what it looks like.. Who knows, i might end up liking it better without it on because of the lights.. I do plan on definitely turning it on after christmas..

If i get it up and running, i will be posting pictures

 

[clm]

I know people who leave their waterfalls running year round here in Ontario. It get's very cold and the falls do freeze, you can see and hear the water running behind the ice. It's pretty neat actually. There is a definate danger in having the water get blocked by ice and having it divert out of the pond, however no one I know has ever had this happen. I run 3 submersible pumps all winter, they flow directly back into the pond with a 6 - 18" drop. Ice formed all around those hoses and the full length of the drop into the pond this past week, but you could still see and hear the water running behind the ice and the pond was still open where the water hits the pond. Fortunately I don't have to worry about water diversion this way.

Cindy

 

[DrDave]

Everone's waterfall has it's own set of parameters. Weather, no matter what your zone, can become extreme. For example, I am in So Cal and right this minute, the temperature here is 42 degrees and dropping. We had a killing frost 2 years ago that killed all of my citrus trees, Coral trees and a wiped out all my avocados. I had an inch of ice on my pond where the waterfall enters. I figure it was the "refrigeration effect" that caused the ice.

Examine the geometry of your waterfalls and try to determine that if the water freezes, will it divert the flow? My waterfall has to travel 10 feet over rocks before returning to the pond. By design, it was intended to create a several degree water change in that fall. In the summer, this is great, in the winter, that can work against you.

Water under pressure will not only not boil at 212 but will not freeze at 32 degrees F.

When it exits the pipe, everything changes and prevailing weather prevails.

Just beware that caution is better than blind faith.

 

[Fraxinus85]

awesome we love pictures! :coolgleema: with a big pump like yours, i'm betting you'll have a rather nice winter waterfall. :goldfish:

 

[DrCase]

yes we all need to watch the weater..my pond temp is 42 yesterdays air temp was 60 today its 26 sleet ,snow ,,,buy wedneday it should be 60 again

 

[DrCase]

had to turn the pond off this morning...temp last nite was 14deg and was only going to get in the upper 20s today ..turned the pump off and drained the filters..the ice was building fast

 

[DrDave]

What a lot of people don't know is that water is the only liquid that expands when it freezes. It has to do with the 104 degree bond of the Hydrogen molecules to the Oxygen. So your filters, as DrCase has indicated, need to be drained if the temperature drops low enough to freeze the system.

 

[DrCase]

Good Point DrDave!! if you do let your filter freeze ,it could take a while to melt that giant ice cube. i hope to start my pond back up later today,,,warm weather is comming..

 

[nigil]

Well, here in Indiana I have had my pump running all winter. It had done fine until this past week when the pump got really clogged from the muck(the stuff the filters take care of during spring, summer and fall)and burned up. My neighbor also has been running his waterfall with no problems (i think he has a much better pump than I did). So I guess it just depends on your entire setup and equipment quality. I have since learned my lesson and am now in the market for a true quality pump. The pond also has yet to entirely freeze over.

 

[lindsayanng]

I hate to resurrect this old topic again..but my husband and I were talkign about running the fall all winter again.. mainly because the pond is done and it looks awesome, and I was just imagining it with snow all around and a broken pond surface looking very pretty..

Anyways, I have two main concerns.. The tube that goes from the pump to the top of the fall.. THAT can freeze and clog the output..

the other is, even though i do not thing any amount of ice will cause water to spill out of the pond (we really took a LOAD of precautions about this when building) IT COULD expand the rocks and when it melts, dislodge a LOT Of my hard done work!!!

Most of the rocks are glued in place, but not all.. i would hate to loose my fall because of expanding water.

 

[oldmarine]

Before I put in my 365 gallon pond last fall, I took into consideration should I install a waterfall (water Spill), or not. At first I didn't have the water fall installed and run the pond without the water fall.

After deciding to go ahead and install the water fall during the winter months. I found that by having water heater inside my filter seservor I could keep the water fall running all year round without have to worry about anything freezing up and loosing my water pump for the pond.

Of course the problem this created was rapid water evaporation and the problem of checking my water level every day. I would imagine heating a really large pond would create an even greater problem with keeping up with refilling a pond.

I'm thinking that if one was to have a heater in a large pond, they would need to install a water fill float that would automatically add water to the pond as the water evaporated. Now we are talking about plumbing water from the house all the way to your pond.

I would think that in the long run, it would be worth it.

 

[lindsayanng]

well, the autofill wouldn't be too hard.. I dont know if you have seem pictures, but my watering hose is RIGHT over the pond.. no plumbing needed.. i just never installed a "float automatic filler" But the heater in the TOP of the fall is a GREAT idea

 

[Hopperjohn]

I ave a 1500 gallon pond with a 2 ft. high waterfall. 3600 gph pump. We live in Columbus, OH (home of the Buckeyes!) I have been running my waterfall all winter and it has been below zero couple of times. I do have a bubbler at the opposite end of the pond. Ice does build up at the base of the falls but as soon as it gets in the high 20's starts to disappear. Pump is at the bottom of pond. 2.5 ft down. Works great. Most likely due to how the falls was constructed (natural stone) and the size of pump.