During the last few weeks before the ice melts off the pond.. I turn on my aerator for about 8-10 hours at night.... once the water is open... it stays open...and as the weather warms I leave it on 24hrs... this year however, My main aerator (air-pump) decided it was time for a rebuild by not working properly!!! So in an effort yo reduce cost of buying 2 air pumps.. I used a small 3.5 hp Briggs& Stratton horizontal shaft engine. I removed the carb/gas tank... removed the muffler, flywheel, and coil... dissassembled the entire engine and cleaned it with a commecial engine cleaner, and then again in hot soapy water. I filled the crankcase with 30 wieght NONDetergent oil and hooked up a small 1/4 hp electric motor with a pulley to it. I run the motor in REVERSE rotation so that I could get regular water pipe from my hardware store to fashion a air filter to the MUFFLER port as this is now the CLEAN air Intake for the pump. The sparkplug hole on the top of the motor had to be redrilled and threaded to accept a 3/4 inch nylon hose conector. I already had a one-way air check valve for my airline... the "new" pump pushes a little more air.. but has been doing a fine job as my Primary pump is out for rebuilding. total cost for machine work and fittings was around $30.00 and took about 15-20 hours total time to make.

sounds like your a McGiver Pondmiester. Good Job.!!!