Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Windmill Aeration

Has anyone had any good or bad experiences windmills like the one rural king sells?

Well, after 54 views, I can assume that everyone's experience is the same as mine, I've never tried them.

Bill Cody knows some stuff about windmills. Actually, he knows a lot about them. Hey Bill!

dap: I am going to jump in here since no one seems to have an opinion of the Rural King windmill. I haven't used one but a friend of my purchased one for his one acre pond. He needed it for the typical reasons of oxygen, water quality etc. He used it two years and did not see any improvement, so in the spring of 2008 he got rid of it and put in a "regular" aeration system. He is quite pleased with it, feels his water quality is better and couldn't be more pleased. I am afraid I really don't know any of the details and exactly what improvements he has seen. Overall I think he just felt the Rural King version just wasn't moving enough air and water to do any good.

Bing

Hey thanks for the input. My pond is 1200 ft from electricity so the cost is prohibitive at this time. My other option would be solar but don't know a lot about that. I guess I need to research this more.

dap:

I know the pond is quite a ways from the house, and I know the possible issues with running an air line all that way. Have you talked to some of the aeration experts on running a line from the pole barn to the pond? E-bay has some good deals on 1/2" or so air line (drip irrigation line will work I think) that should make the run if you were to go the electric route.

dap, the 12oo ft is not a problem for most of todays compressors to pump air that distance.Consider having a system sized for your specific situation.Aerial sizing/ mapping services are a free service offered by several vendors that support PB.

Here is the one I bought from American Eagle. I am happy with it.

My buddy and his wife bought one as a "lawn decoration". They took it down 2 years later because it was broke-bent. It didn't get much wind where it was, but I think a tree branch from a silver maple got it.

Windmills do work especially in smaller ponds of 0.75ac and smaller. But the windmills IMO are not as good as an electric system that produces 3-5 cfm of air that can be delivered during low wind or no wind periods and 24/7 if necessary. From my testing windmills do not get pumping a good cfm of air at 8+ft until the wind speed gets up near 10mph. My windmill does not even produce bubbles until it is turing well during a decent breeze. The deeper the pond the more wind speed that is needed to get air released the deeper the diffuser is located. Windmills are definately better in smaller ponds than no aeration. In larger volumes of water there can be issues of not enough circulation and associated dissolved oxygen problems with inadequate turnover per day.