Operate Pond and Falls in Appalachian Winter?

[mrtrumpet]

My builder (and he's good) says it should be no problem to keep the pond and falls running during the winter here in the mountains of western North Carolina. I've never done it, but it has great appeal. Anybody in a similar climate (temps down to -10 once or twice but mostly mid 20s to mid 60s (F.) Some snow, but not alot last year. Anything I should look out for and//or do now?

Thanks.

Dave

 

[MitchM]

Size and depth of your pond?
What is your frost line?

 

[Smaug]

I have kept mine running in much colder then that for years,,,up til last year when my return line froze and destroyed my pump. I won't be doing that anymore!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

The real danger of running waterfalls in locales that will experience ice is the ice that does form on the waterfall may divert water over the liner rapidly emptying the pond.

 

[mrtrumpet]

Sorry Mitch and others. I forgot to add specifics about the pond. It's about 1,000 gallons, 4.5 ft depth at deepest. Size is about 6 X 9. And I've got 6 koi mostly in winter mode now camped out at the bottom. Mitch, not sure what your question on "frost line" means. Can you be more specific?

 

[Gordo33]

Ran my pump and waterfalls the last two winters which were 2 of the worst I can remember from freezing temp stand point. Several times the waterfall created an ice dome with the stream and the water continued to flow underneath into the pond. I was diligent checking the water flow daily to catch issues noted by @Meyer jordon.. I am further north than you in suburbs of Philadelphia and plan to run the pump and waterfall this winter.

 

[Marshall]

Sorry Mitch and others. I forgot to add specifics about the pond. It's about 1,000 gallons, 4.5 ft depth at deepest. Size is about 6 X 9. And I've got 6 koi mostly in winter mode now camped out at the bottom. Mitch, not sure what your question on "frost line" means. Can you be more specific?

I think he means how deep does the ground freeze in winter...

 

[morewater]

As Meyer says, you run this risk of an ice dam directing the water out of the pond. As far as monitoring it, there's no way that you'll be able to monitor it 24/7 all winter long. It won't take a pump long to move 1000 gallons. Ponds are a little difficult to refill in the dead of winter, particularly when you've got to turn your outside water back on, hump out through the snow with your hose, blah, blah, blah...........

The better question is "why do you want to run your waterfall in the winter"?

 

[Gordo33]

As Meyer says, you run this risk of an ice dam directing the water out of the pond. As far as monitoring it, there's no way that you'll be able to monitor it 24/7 all winter long. It won't take a pump long to move 1000 gallons. Ponds are a little difficult to refill in the dead of winter, particularly when you've got to turn your outside water back on, hump out through the snow with your hose, blah, blah, blah...........

The better question is "why do you want to run your waterfall in the winter"?

Let me preface this by saying I've only had a pond for two years so I'm not basing my response on much experience. My decision to run my the waterfall is to keep the plants in the stream moist. I was concerned if there is not enough moisture the plants would die. And who wants to take a hose out in the winter ....The second reason I keep the waterfall running is the moving water thru the stream doesn't freeze as quickly as the pond therefore keeping a hole open for gas exchange . This eliminates the need for a heater or any other device to keep a hole open in the pond...
Typically winters are not harsh here. I won't bore you with numbers but the ave highs are above freezing so even when it does dip below freezing the temps are not down long enough to create quick or long lasting freezes. So no I can't monitor the pond 24/7 but the weather conditions in my zone or the OP zone would not require that.

If my waterfall did not fed a planted stream but dumped directly into the pond I would not run the waterfall.

 

[Smaug]

Gordo,I'm as far south in pa as you can really get and my pond freezes and last year my lines actually froze too. It was like that for a month.

 

[Gordo33]

Gordo,I'm as far south in pa as you can really get and my pond freezes and last year my lines actually froze too. It was like that for a month.

Thanks for heads up

To the best of my knowledge last winter broke records for number of days below freezing. The year before colder than typical. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying I had no problems. I'm hoping if tthings survived an atypical winter future winters will be fine.

Again my concern is the plants in 8' stream. If I knew the normal winter precip is enough to keep the plants from drying out then I would consider turning off the pump.

I am hoping other northern ponders will reply posting their winter routine and experiences. @Lisak1 states in her signature ....."We run our waterfall all year long, even in the sub-zero temperatures of zone 5/northern Illinois, with great success."

 

[Lisak1]

We do indeed run our pond all winter. The design of your pond is critical to the success of doing so, however. We have a wide, concave waterfall, which prevents ice dams from diverting water out of the pond. We also have a submerged pump in the basin of a 1000 gallon rain exchange - at least four feet below frost line. Our plumbing isn't buried deep - maybe 8-10 inches below ground and we've had no trouble with freezing in the lines.

We keep our pond running for several reasons. One is to provide gas exchange without having to worry about keeping a hole open in the pond surface. Second is to keep the wetland filter from stagnating over winter. Third is to keep our marginal plants submerged so they don't freeze and die. And finally because the ice formations are really beautiful!

 

[snoozer]

It is no fun refilling a pond in January when it is 10 below zero. Been there, done that and i am not doing it again. A couple years ago the small pump I kept on the shelf bubbling water domed over. I figured with an aerator going that i didn't need to worry about melting the dome. Well the pump flow made a small opening and pumped 6 inches of water through the hole out of the pond and on to the ice which froze. there was 6 inches between the water and the ice above. Took 6 hours to fill the pond

 

[morewater]

In winter, in nature, lots of waterfalls and streams freeze. The plants come back.

 

[addy1]

My steam freezes solid, the plants always come back.