Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Iced Over

I have a 1 acre 16 ft deep pond that I run a bottom aerator in the center of year round. We had a recent very cold spell and the aeration line coming out of the compressor sprung a leak, and before I could catch it the water above the aerator froze over. So now I don't know how thick the ice is there and whether or not I should continue running the aerator underneath it. I do have a dock and I'm wondering if I should just go out on it and poke some holes in the ice and if that would be enough to vent the pond. I'm guessing continuing to run aeration underneath a totally frozen pond is not good for the fish.. We are not expecting any relatively warm weather in the near future.

Evidently the ice is thick enough to go out there and remove a couple or several length wise strips of snow across the pond. Get some winter exercise. This will be more beneficial than "poking holes" in the ice. Light through the ice allows phytoplankton to produce dissolved oxygen. 7" of ice allows an ATV with a blade to travel on ice.

Yes, but stay far away from your previous aerator location while clearing snow!

If you fired up the aerator now, you’d have open water in a day.
I’d be reluctant to drive on 7” of ice, because thickness can easily vary by more than several inches without a good way to know where

I don't recommend running it in the deepest part of the pond during the winter, it should only be about 1/4 the total pond depth.

Get another diffuser and more self-sink airline. Poke a hole close to the compressor in 4' of water, drop the diffuser to the bottom there, let the airline stay on top of the ice and fire up the compressor, leaving the deep diffuser off for the winter.

I actually have another diffuser that I place in about 5 ft of water in front of my dock. However this year it stopped working, and I don't know why, possibly some water in the line that froze. Obviously I can't check it out until everything thaws, unless it's not too late to try to run some alcohol through the airline. I like your idea of moving just one winter aerator closer in to the compressor.

Yes, run some 99% isopropyl alcohol through the line. If the line is froze, I would try to pour at least 8 fl. oz. in the line. and hook the compressor back up. Fire the compressor up, run the pressure to 12 psi if it's a rotary vane, 15-20 psi if it's a rocking piston and let it bleed down to 0. Do that about every hour if you can until the line thaws out, then run it 24/7/

What size lines are you running? 3/8" or larger?

3/8" weighted

Yeah, you will have problems icing the lines shut. A customer had that problem, once the underground lines got cut for some reason we trenched in 1" poly lines and never have had a problem since. You will have to pour in iso and baby sit it until it thaws, then look into getting one of these until you replace the lines with something bigger.

This is a freeze control unit that works on the amount of backpressure in the system. You put at least 2 gallons of iso alcohol in the tank and when the pressure builds up it releases some into the line automatically. It won't work to unfreeze a line, but once the line is thawed it will stop it from freezing again.

https://store.koenderswatersolution...d-electric-aerator-freeze-control-system

I currently have regular 3/8 black poly lines running from the compressor on top of the ground about 20 ft to the pond edge where it transitions to 3/8 weighted line. So I should plan this summer on trenching that line and replacing it with one inch poly or even PVC? I'm guessing I would need to go below the frost line, which is pretty deep here in Western Iowa.

Once the line is in the pond below the ice thickness depth you don't have to worry about it freezing. Here the frost line is 38" IIRC, we only place them about 12" below grade. You can buy low pressure black poly pipe like they use for sprinkler systems and running water from the well to the house. The less connections you have under ground the better.