Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Frozen up again

Last winter I had an areator going to keep the pond open using a 1/4" dia. air line. It froze up about three times and I cleared it with an injection of denatured alcohol, every time. This year I used a 1/2" dia. air line and it is now frozen. I injected about 6 ounces of alcohol in the line and it still hasn't cleared.

The pump is in a dog house size structure out near the pond and the air line runs about a foot under ground to the pond. It seems to be frozen at where it enters the ground. I was wondering if adding a heat source, like a 100 watt bulb inside the housing would help cure my problem?

Scruffy if you have any heat tape wrap that around the hose and cover it with some of those foam insulating tubes.
It's suppose to warm up here for the next 36 hours, Good luck.

I don't have a suggestion for ya. Another pondmeister here pushes air thru 3/8" air line for 900 feet and his hasn't frozen up since installation. He's using windmills vs. a compressor. The winters that I've run my aerator I've never had a problem either. Maybe we don't get the brutal cold temps that you do? We will hit 0�F or below a couple times a year, but not for an extended length of time. This winter was cold so far, but temps have bounced from the single digits to the mid 20's daily. It's in the low 30's today, first thaw for a few weeks.

Scruffy_f - It is possible the check valve on the diffuser was not working if you shut off the compressor before it froze up. A leaky check valve will allow water to seep into the airline up to the water level where it freezes a plug in the airline. If this was the cause, it is a good idea to always clean the diffuser before winter operation. what type of diffuser and pump do you have??? If diffuser does not have a check valve, always expect the airline to freeze up whenever the compressor is shut off during ice cover. If that was not the problem, then condensation built up in the airline, and that accumulated eventually water froze a plug.
Operating a compressor with a plug frozen in the airline is very hard on the compressor if a pressure relief valve is not installed. I prefer adjustable presssure relief valves to accomodate various types of compressors and water depth situations. Aeration in winter's freezing conditions can be hazardous to the compressor (most expensive part of the system) if not done correctly and not using precautions.

If you want to thaw the airline maybe put the light bulb in an insulated box covering the airline and ground where the ground is frozen.

How much snow you got on the ice? How big is the pond (sqft)? It might be easier to go out and just shovel off an area 3X-4X times bigger area than the area that the compressor kept water open. It would not take a real big snowfree area for natural oxygenation if the pond is relatively small. Shovel an area away from where the aerator kept open water. Test your ice thickness before venturing out over water deeper than waist deep. On snow free ice I have walked on the ice to within 5-6 ft of the open water aera produced by a windmill membrane diffuser; testing the ice thickness as I approached the open water. In cold snowfree conditions, ice can be pretty thick close to the openwater zone produced by low volume diffusers operated by windmills.

AP,
Good suggestion, I might just have some heat tape. I used it years ago on a frozen line leading out from my sump pump at the house.

Bill,
I use and weeper hose coiled in a loop, and no check valve. I suspect the blockage is near where the line enters the ground. The pond is quite small 50'x80'. The pond has about 3' of snow at the moment and it is snowing out now. We are expected to get another 10 inches with this storm. Shoveling is more work than I want to do. The pond is about 4 feet below full pool and the sides are steep, so a snow thrower would be a challange to get to the area. That is why I aerate to keep open water so it has oxygen to break down the rotting fall leaves and vegetation. It also has been below zero for the last couple of nights, not counting the wind chill. It's only January and next month is supposed to be our worst snow month.

I placed a 200 watt light blub in the areation shelter just a while ago, will see if it mkes any difference.

Aeration is flowing again!

The light blub worked with another shot of denatured alcohol, with one exception. The heat from the bulb started to burn the inside wall of the housing. I moved the bulb away from the wall and replaced the 200 watt bulb with a 100.

I hope it's going to be enough heat to keep things from freezing up again. Cheap fix if it works, except for the on going cost of the electic.

Scruffy I have my pipe insulated from the aerator housing down to the water with foam pipe insulation, it's only about 10 ft. but I've never had a freeze up.
My aeration runs continuously in the winter, I don't remember if you do the same.

AP
I had the air line incased in pipe insulation last year. This year I didn't insulate it. My bad.
Come spring I'll have to add insulation, at least where it enters the ground. I still hope the light blub keeps it open.

Looks pretty funny, a hole in the ice with 3 feet of snow surrounding bubbling water.

Scruffy_f - did you shut off the compressor and ice formed or was it condensation ice build up that caused the blockage? 3 feet of snow and rising would be a lot of shoveling. Ten % of your surface area would be a total of 40x10 ft.

Bill,
It had to be condensation in the air line. The compressor was still running when I noticed the areation hole was frozen over. I had an moisture filter (air drier)on the line coming out of the compressor last year and it still froze up.

Looks like the light bulb idea worked, so far. It heats up the air inside the housing enough to keep the air line open or warms the ground to prevent a freeze up. We'll see if it works this weekend, we are to get some brutely cold weather coming. Highs during the day in the single numbers and lows down to minus 20 below. If the wind is blowing it'll get colder.

The first year I moved to NH, it was 40 below one morning I went ice fishing. It was so cold a liter of soda froze soild in my back pack walking out to the ice shack. When we got there the propane was so cold it wouldn't flow to light the heater. Luckly one of the guys had a cook stove bottle of gas on his person and we heated up the shack with that until we could get the big heater going. I'll never forget that day. I lost feeling in all my fingers for two weeks, and still can't take the cold. I now don't go ice fishing if the weather is below zero.

Scruffy- Here is some advice used in another topic from Suz Cruz (Vertex) that may be usable for your situation.
"Our systems can push air thousands of feet if you use 1" PVC from the power source to the edge of the pond. You wouldn't need to worry about burying it too deep either. When running and burying smaller ID tubing you would need to be careful not to have any dips in the line for condensation to accumulate and then it would be helpful to bury it below the frost line or insulate the airline."

As Sue mentions, sometimes using a larger airline from compressor to shoreline will help minimize frozen blockages in airlined due to condensation freeze-ups.