I am in process of constructing a 2.5 acre farm pond in upstate NY. The siphon system looks like a very good idea and I considered it for awhile as an emergency overflow spillway, but I began wondering what would happen in winter time. When the pond freezes with ice up to 3', the plug of ice lodged in the tube at pond water surface height would render the spillway siphon tube inoperable. We periodically get winter warmups, rain & snowmelts while the ponds are still frozen over with a couple feet of ice. I would think that in the 'hard winter north' an old fashion riprap spillway in the berm is the way to go. Has anyone tried this siphon system where winters freeze over the pond surface ??
