Waterfall frozen drains pond!

[gigigreen]

My waterfall froze so high the water poured over the edge and the pump continued to pump the water out of the pond last night. My faucet is frozen and therefore I'm unable to put water into the pond right now. I'm hoping it will thaw out by this afternoon. Temps are gonna be rising to 40 degrees today, but back down to 12 tonight. Not sure what to do with the pond. If I can get the ice in it mostly thaw and the pond filled, I'm afraid the same thing will happen tonight. And if I leave it off, won't the pump break, if its not running?

 

[dieselplower]

Can you fill it from water inside? And can you just remove the pump? And if you can not remove the pump, can you just have the pump pump the water directly into the pond and bypass the waterfall completely? I know you are in Georgia where it is warmer than Michigan but I would never leave a pump running that could empty a pond.

 

[addy1]

If you pump is a external it will freeze up, if submersible you need not worry about it, as long as it is underwater.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Check to see if you have a farm supply store nearby. They should be able to sell you a floating stock-tank heater for under $25. It won't keep the pond completely ice-free, but it should make enough difference that the waterfall doesn't freeze as badly. The best thing you can do now is try to deal with the ice and keeping water flowing in your pond. If possible, take pics of the ice around your waterfall, and anything that shows where the water ran off. When the weather warms up again, maybe we can help you with changes to contain the ice better so this doesn't happen again.

You might also check with an aquarium store for an adapter to hook your garden hose to your kitchen sink... Then you'll have the option of pumping warm water to try and melt some of the ice.

You folks in the deep South probably never worry about planning for ice and freezing weather, but those of us further North have plenty of experience dealing with it every Winter. We'll help you get things fixed up again!

[EDIT] Now that I think about it, you might not be able to get a heater at your local farm store... they may not stock them in your area! In which case, share some pics when you can and we'll try to help you minimize the damage.

 

[Tula]

I have submersible pumps and they remain in my skimmer year round, but don't run in the winter….never had a problem with them. Sorry about what happened….hoping things warm up enough to let you refill the pond. Kim

 

[tenchi]

How many gallons? I have two submersible heaters from a farm supply that are 1.5 kw each, both in the waterfall reservoir. They keep the water temp around 50 to 55 even with outside temps at -10. Heating just the waterfall reservoir will prevent ice dams and draining of the pond. My recirculating pump is in the deep end and about 1 foot off the bottom so if something happens, at least there is some water left. Fill your pond up again and use dechlorinator
Hope this helps.

 

[gigigreen]

Thank you everyone for your help and suppport. We were able to fill the pond last night and left the pump off since its submersible. We kept the filter running since it sits outside the pond. I have a deicer on also. The temps here in Ga are on the rise, so unless we get another arctic blast, it'll be fine. Heres a picture of the pond. The left hand side where the ice is built up & it where it freezes up and flows out the pond. I was always told to run the waterfall 24/7, but from now on we'll be turning it off during unusually deep freezes, which we don't get that often. That would be the easiest thing, then trying to correct the low area where the ice builds up. You're very right, we are not used to those temps, its been 20 years since the temperatures were that low. All is well now, and I even think the fish survived. FYI, the fish in the picture are not the ones we have now. They were eaten by a heron last spring; they were 5 years old. We have newbies now. Thanks again!!

 

[Andy41]

Hi,

I was also worried about something like this happening so i fitted a float switch that controls the main feed to the pumps.

If the water level drops then all the electrics to the pumps get turned off.

This is the one i bought. It connects to the control side of a relay that switches the supply. You don't want to be running pump currents directly through this!

http://www.allpumps.co.uk/images/Oilfloat.JPG

cheers,

Andy

 

[gigigreen]

Can you fill it from water inside? And can you just remove the pump? And if you can not remove the pump, can you just have the pump pump the water directly into the pond and bypass the waterfall completely? I know you are in Georgia where it is warmer than Michigan but I would never leave a pump running that could empty a pond.

 

[sissy]

I ran water from inside when my pond emptied one winter .I took the shower head off and hooked my hose up to that