Hi All,

I've got a pond with two solar aeration systems - one direct drive and one with a battery and timer, which I'm having problems with. We lost all fish in the pond last year with just the direct drive system, and i'm having difficulty keeping the water open again. Condensate freezing in the lines is part of it, and power in the battery system might be a factor although I have yet to find it down on low voltage (cheap charge controller seems to do it's job OK).

I'm wondering if a small propeller or pump deicing approach might be an option. I'm fairly certain they are less efficient than diffused aeration, but still use pond heat to keep the ice open. What do folks think - is the lower efficiency and need to run copper vs. airline a reasonable trade-off to avoid the condensate issue? Has anyone tried a small submersible pump, bilge pump, or similar to keep the ice open with minimal wattage?

Thanks for any input,

Dale

My current line of thinking on condensation solutions after consulting with people smarter and more experienced than me. Put the system out on the water on a small floating platform. Have the airlines go vertical down in to deep water. Problem should be permanently solved. The floating platform could be launched for Winter aeration only if so desired. If you don't have moving ice to worry about just let the platform freeze into place and then it could be accessed when needed.

I have quite a while to consider but I am definitely leaning this direction for our place. I will pull power wire thru the current airline to valve box. Junction box in the valve box. What ever wire I need for an underwater run from valve box to the floating "aeration dock". Your setup would be far simpler with a direct drive system.

I think it's a genius solution.

Sounds similar to MNfish's setup.

MNFish spent two hours on the phone with me. Hard to argue with the guy that is keeping holes open in minus 20 degrees!!

Floating set-up would solve or at least greatly reduce the condensate issue. Maybe best of all solutions. I think I'll work in that direction for next season. Thanks for the feedback and the ideas.
Dale

Good luck! Please take lots of pics and share your feedback! I think a rock solid solution/setup for freezing condensation could eventually help a lot of people.

Will do. I'll likely have lots of thoughts / questions to bounce off folks along the way. Thanks again.

Wouldn't ice always move somewhat and crush anything that is otherwise tethered in place?

I don't know how much of a dryer it would take, but has anyone tried a dryer? We have one on our big compressor at work. We have outside air lines that go down and back up and have never had a problem.

Ice moving / crushing a float system could be a problem. The pond we're having winter kill issues with is small and secluded, so it might not be much of an issue there. In a larger BOW, it might be. Maybe I can build a couple of float systems and put one in our larger pond (7 acreas, fairly windy for western PA) without an aerator / solar system, to see how it rides out the ice. I'm thinking 55 gallon plastic barrels with some water in them for floats with a wood frame.

The "cold" aluminum condensate trap idea is a form of refrigerated dryer, although maybe not very efficient. Dessicant dryers need some air pressure to work and bleed-off a good bit of air during regeneration, but would be workable if power was available. With solar / wind, it might be too large a power penalty. Good ideas.