Heat displacement issues during winter?

[crsublette]

Howdy!

New guy here. I finished my summer project of installing my small pond so this will be my first winter with it.

Love this forum for putting my mind to ease. I was a nervous wreck about to buy a ThermaKoi heater and all sorts of other craziness until I read the first hand accounts here. Some awesome DIY ideas here. Good thing, ya reduced my anxiety before I did any stupid purchases ... unless, y'all may think I should get it !! I do not mind a little over kill.

Quick background. I am here in Dalhart, Texas. Winters are mild and volatile for the most part. 0~20 degrees F. Some days our hi-temps are the low 20s. Some days our low-temps are the low 20s. Occasionally have one or three weeks where the low-temps reach single digits. For 2010, crazy winter had some wind chills down to -10 on just a few days but temps got up to the teens in the afternoon. We do not get much snow here. We may occasionally get up to 3 feet of snow. If we do get snow, then the wind has to also blow 50mph while it is falling with the way the weather works around here.

I have a 3 foot tall water fall that dumps into a creek (50 foot long, 2 feet wide, 4 inches deep), and the creek dumps into a 300 gallon pond (12 inches deep) with a fountain in the center. Aquascape 3630gph Pump is 18 inches deep, that is built to operate in lower water temperatures. The high gph pump feeds the waterfall and creek with quite a rush of water. Add 50 gallons for all the water in the water features and creek. Overall total of approximately 350 gallons to work with. With the aquascape and 350 gallons, the water recycles approximately 6 times each hour. So, heh, I got alot of movement happening here.

Please correct me if I am wrong, I encourage it !!

I have read the threads about the use of a tarp to obtain a greenhouse effect to maintain temperatures and sounds like an excellent idea, but my area does not get that much snow and so I want to enjoy the aesthetics of the pond feature during the winter if possible.

I want to prevent my pond and water features from freezing over.

After reading the winterizer threads here, I am persuaded to purchase the Farm Innovators submersible stock / pond heater. It seems this heater may increase the temperature in my pond quite significant if what I read is true for my climate as well.

I am concerned about heat displacement due to the water movement over the waterfall and creek and the wind chill over this that will occur; smooth river rock covers the bottom and sides of the entire creek. I did some research on heating cables and found Nelson Heat Trace SLR cables. This heat cable is self regulating, quite rugged, and I was going to lay it down in a zig zag pattern down my creek. Also, I am hoping this will prevent any ice damming and I will use some of it for my water feature piping and wrap around my pressurized filter to prevent freezing. Would this be overkill ??

Should I be concerned about any heat displacement ??

Should I do more to prevent my pond and water features from freezing over ??

Am I on the right path ??


Thanks for reading and I appreciate the time. I would also appreciate any business referrals that could further assist me in my endeavor here.


P.S. :: I am a grain farmer for a living. When the temps here hover for 12 hours or more in the 20s, any operating pivot irrigation sprinklers freeze quite well. It is quite a sight to see when one of these sprinklers freeze over. Granted, the nozzles on these sprinklers only put out around 5 to 20 gpm in a spray pattern. Also, I have seen 1,000 gallon stock tanks completely freeze several inches thick. So, hope this gives an idea of what I have seen the cold accomplish in my area.

 

[addy1]

Here, it would cost an arm and a leg to keep my stream and pond from icing over. There that seems it might work for you.

Without fish, you don't need to worry if it does not. Sounds a neat experiment, you can keep us updated on how it works.

My stream and pond will be shut down once we begin to freeze in earnest. I will have a air pump to keep the water from totally icing over, for the fishes sake.

 

[sissy]

I would worry about the fish you may have as the water may need to be to hot to be effective as I am up on a hill in VA and we get very strong winds here also and not sure the expense you put into something like that would be worth the worry that something could go wrong real fast .The electric could go out in the middle of the night and empty that small a pond in minutes .It would ruin your pump and if you have fish they would freeze fast .Here in the part I live in of VA we usually do not get a frost until November and it has called for a frost the last 2 nights but we have not had a frost here and days have been in the mid 70"s .Would the cost be worth the chances you may take and the cost of a new pump since it seems like you have an expensive pump .

 

[Waterbug]

I will be looking forward to seeing how the project goes. At first I thought it would cost a lot so I ran the numbers for 3,000 watts 24/7 and that would be about $250 a month in Texas. So maybe $1,000 for a winter. Less than I thought. Would have be a lot cheaper before deregulation I guess.

It'll be interesting to see if those sized heaters can do the job.

On the up side 3,000 watts 24/7 would put 1.5 tons of CO2 into the air per month...so that would help warm things up.