Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Using Aerator to protect dock

We live on a relatively small pond and during winter months when it has iced over spend time skating. For the last three years we have a neighbor that is utilizing dual propeller driven aerators to keep the ice from forming aroung their dock. While the members of the pond respect his need to protect his dock, the system that they are using has been keeping the ice open and/or too thin to travel over making for an unsafe environment.

Has anyone experienced this and have any suggestions on working through such a challenge?

I use a circulator (1/2 horse motor driving a propeller) on our pond to keep the ice away from our dock area.

I can comment if you answer a couple questions.

How large is the pond?
Can you get a photo of the setup or draw a diagram of the area with the direction that the circulators face?

What kind of a dock? Our dock at the lake is sitting on pipes that are in the lake bottom, and haven't been damaged by ice in the 30+ years that it's been in the lake. We've never done anything to it for the winter, just let the lake freeze. It is on the South side of the lake, and where the house is, the lake is 1/4 mile across.

Do I hear the sound of tempting fate?

That dock would be long gone in our part of the country. 25 plus inches of ice will move a lot of things when it decides to buckle or when a 30 mph wind blows a big ice pack across the lake during ice-out in the spring.

Welcome Silverback from a former resident of Massachusetts (when I was a kid). As Dwight is eluding to, it depends on the size of the body of water and thickness of the ice.

Just like Esshup my piers on galvanized posts in my ponds (one goes 130 feet all the way across) and I've not had any problems. I've had ice up to 18 inches one very hard winter but usually it maxs out at 10 or 12 inches.

I note you use the term "small pond." That makes me chuckle as I recall what you out there call ponds we call lakes.

The original name of a favorite body of water I fished was Big Hell Pond but it was 35 acres! The military renamed it the generic "Mirror Lake" as it was on an Army Post.

As a last resort take up a collection to buy him a floating dock on wheels, lots of people here use them, and pull them on shore in the winter.

PS. A small bubbler system would protect his dock without disturbing a large area in the pond, but it's still up to your neighbor.

I saw a pier on a little Lake called Spectacle Pond near Lancaster, Mass that I haven't seen anywhere else, that would preclude any ice problems. It appeared to be a concrete pier a couple of feet over the water level out probably 10 feet or more with nothing underneath it. It came out from a steep rocky hillside and must have has some steel I- beams through the entire length or something.

Or perhaps a wandering dog will drown that is near and dear to someone's heart and he will be forced to shut if off.

I hope not! All the piers on this part of the lake stay in, although people pull out their aluminum boat hoists. On the NE side of the "big lake", people pull out their piers because of getting them buckled from the ice. The whole lake is 365 acres, but it's broken up into 3 sections with the middle section being the largest.

http://www.landsat.com/koontz-lake-indiana-aerial-a1840464.html

The house is near the center of the south shoreline of the "little lake" on the left. (not the farthest west finger)