Venting a pond through a prolonged cold blast...

[adavisus]

If you can melt a hole through the ice, siphon out a 1/2" air gap between the water and the ice, the plate of ice can be a 'double glaze' insulation keeping the water surface from further freezing for a week or two

 

[Dave 54]

What a great idea @adavisus we ourselves use policarbonate sheeting to keep the worst of the cold out throughout the winter months and currently have a pond temperature of 10c at this moment in time looking at the remote pond/pool thermometer readout

Dave 54

 

[MitchM]

If you can melt a hole through the ice, siphon out a 1/2" air gap between the water and the ice, the plate of ice can be a 'double glaze' insulation keeping the water surface from further freezing for a week or two

View attachment 107920

Great idea, but cold weather and wind will refreeze the hole you opened. A solid heated tube like what a pond breather provides is best.

 

[adavisus]

The water surface is shielded from freezing air by the ice barrier, the covered vent allows toxic fumes and milder temps from the water to rise. It will be at least a week for the cold to penetrate below the ice plate

 

[MitchM]

It depends on the severity of the cold, but I've had holes I've drilled in the ice refreeze over within a few minutes. Sometimes the water will rise up out of the hole as soon as you drill it.
The ice/water level is constantly changing through the winter so it's a challenge.
Plus there's the question of passive hole size and is it adequate to sufficiently degas the pond.
In milder winters the basket idea would work well.

 

[adavisus]

Yup,the cloth covered vent allows ground warmth to rise up from below the pond beneath the ice plate shielding the water surface, without being cooled by below freezing air temps.

The air gap means the entire water surface gets to vent toxic gases and stop the ice from freezing deeper

 

[Patfish]

Are you trying this now?
You only need to keep the snow off the top?

 

[adavisus]

It's a method I've done when a big freezing system moved in with continuous freezing temps for more than a week on the forecast. It turned out well, no special equipment or costs required. (less to go wrong)

Once the stormy snowy stuff has calmed down, and ice was become structurally sound, melting a hole with a small pan took a couple of trips to do, setting a syphon to drop the water level was fairly easy,

Putting a basket with a bit of cloth over it to cover the vent from colder temps makes the hole secure. A small kerosene lamp was placed in a bowl and floated under the vent to make it easy to see the vent working after dark from the house, the glow under the ice seemed to amuse the fish who huddled around it. after dark

I could go out after dark and peer at the fish in detail....

 

[sissy]

But Mitch you live in the frozen tundra .Here I still use a 4 inch pipe that I put in a bucket in the bottom of the pond with lava rock in the bucket and it comes out of the water by 6 inch's .But I forgot to put it in when our first storm hit .I was not expecting that for December here .Big shock to me

 

[Lizabeth Harris]

Hi,

My pond has frozen over. I have managed to create a space at either side by carefully lifting the edges out where they are covered with snow and not quite so frozen. Unfortunately the spaces have frozen over again. The pump ground to a halt (probably mean a new pump next year). I would be devastated if my fish were to die. Most of them were born in the pond, it makes me feel like a murderer not noticing the situation before. How long could fish survive like this?

Many thanks Lizabeth \Harris.

 

[sissy]

I used a small propane torch to open a hole in my ice when my heater got destroyed by a cat

 

[Lisak1]

How long could fish survive like this?

There are so many variables, it's impossible to say. How big is your pond, how many fish, what type and size are they? Where are you located? How long has the pond been iced over? How thick (approx) is the ice?

 

[adavisus]

On a still pond,with that hole for ventilation, the fish will huddle down in the 40f bottom of the pond, patiently waiting for Spring. For months.

 

[callingcolleen1]

On a still pond,with that hole for ventilation, the fish will huddle down in the 40f bottom of the pond, patiently waiting for Spring. For months.

Your quite the inventor and I give you lots of credit. I used to gets lots of thick ice on my bottom pond before I covered it with a cold frame. Back then I would top off bottom pond from house

 

[callingcolleen1]

On a still pond,with that hole for ventilation, the fish will huddle down in the 40f bottom of the pond, patiently waiting for Spring. For months.

I give you much credit for coming up with a workable solution to your winter problems. I used to get lots of snow and ice on bottom pond and I used to top up that pond with warm water with hose running out of house during a warm day. That would raise the water to just above the ice. The water flowing all year from upper ponds would create friction on ice edges and wear ice away quicker. At night it would refreeze again but at least there was always a hole from where the water would flow from upper ponds. The water would refreeze and make a ice cap and that would insulate the pond too. It did help to keep ice thinner and i aways still had a breather hole from where the water poured into from upper ponds.

Sometimes you have to be creative and find a solution and discover what works for you.