Originally Posted by canyoncreek
You also had this theory about WHY the pipes work. My f/up question is do you think this same theory of ice not being able to grip the pipe would apply to a PVC pipe (which also doesn't conduct or attract as much heat or sunlight) or does it have to be a metal pipe? It sounds like you won't have to add any paint either, working pretty well.

"Pipe/Buoy color: I do not think the pipe or buoy heating up is what is helping break the dome. I am pretty sure it is a mechanical advantage of sorts. I think the ice begins to lift from the aeration and it slides up the pipe. I think this movement up the pipe creates a fracture OR the ice moves enough to create a gap that allows the air to vent and that keeps the ice from lifting off the water. Since the aeration keeps the ice thin around the pipe the ice can't get a good "hold" on the pipe so it seems no risk of the ice lifting the pipes up. I can always go back and paint black if need be next year."

Canyon - I now believe that theory was correct. The new pipes I put in place are unpainted galvanized with no holes drilled in them and they are working perfectly with no paint so I will just leave them. I would imagine PVC would work fine as well if you could hammer it deep enough into the pond bottom. The schedule 80 Bill mentioned above should handle some hammering.

As far as the windmills go, every windmill I have seen has some sort of furling mechanism for high winds. The koenders starts to automatically turn itself out of the wind around 30 mph or so. This protects it from over speeding. The turbine I have furls as well just in a different way. It actually tips backwards out of the wind around 30mph or so. The Koenders has a fairly simple camshaft that just pumps a rubber flap up and down to produce the air. We get some pretty ferocious winds up there. Worst one ever blew down thousands of trees starting just a couple hundreds yeards from the cabin.The aerial photo looks like an avalanche happened. It also lifted the american eagle windmill about 6" off of the 1" rebar spikes it is clamped to. A few more inches up the rebar and the windmill would have been blown over. Pretty crazy.

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