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Keeping open water in winter

LoessHillsArcher

LoessHillsArcher

PMA Member
We've got a couple ponds on our farms that don't have electrical near them. Has anyone had success keeping small areas of a pond open for wildlife? I'm thinking solar bubbler or aerator. I just have no idea how large something would need to be?

I see them ranging in price from $50 - a few thousand. I'm just looking to keep a 3' x 3' area open. Not an entire pond
 
I'm thinking trolling motor hooked up to a 12v battery and then have a solar setup large enough to charge the battery... anyone know anything about solar?? I'd be running the trolling motor on the lowest possible setting. Seeing some old trolling motors on FB Marketplace for $50. Estimate 12 hours run time on a full 12v battery charge... wonder if a guy could make it run on a timer?
 
LoessHillsArcher said:
I'm thinking trolling motor hooked up to a 12v battery and then have a solar setup large enough to charge the battery... anyone know anything about solar?? I'd be running the trolling motor on the lowest possible setting. Seeing some old trolling motors on FB Marketplace for $50. Estimate 12 hours run time on a full 12v battery charge... wonder if a guy could make it run on a timer?
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FWIW, I saw a brief clip on a Youtube video where an inventive farmer was keeping a water hole open for his cattle with a trolling motor. He had it attached to a generator, the generator would run "x" of hours before running out of gas. Whatever that length of time was it was apparently long enough for the trolling motor to do its thing and stir the water enough to keep the hole from freezing up.

If you sub out the generator for some sort of solar approach you may be able to run it for even longer. I would search Youtube...some ingenious hill billy probably has a video on the subject. :)
 
Daver said:
FWIW, I saw a brief clip on a Youtube video where an inventive farmer was keeping a water hole open for his cattle with a trolling motor. He had it attached to a generator, the generator would run "x" of hours before running out of gas. Whatever that length of time was it was apparently long enough for the trolling motor to do its thing and stir the water enough to keep the hole from freezing up.

If you sub out the generator for some sort of solar approach you may be able to run it for even longer. I would search Youtube...some ingenious hill billy probably has a video on the subject. :)
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That's where my mind is going... just need to find out the proper solar setup!
 
Fresh water in the winter is a magnet !! Keep brainstorming. I’d like to see some responses on here …
 
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Nrharris said:
What about a windmill styled aerator?
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I'm reading today and learning solar isn't in the works... would take way too many panels to maintain enough battery power to run a 12v trolling motor on low nonstop

Windmill is a better option! I've found a number of windmills that pump air and are used to aerate ponds. Now be nice to find one that floats... I'm still looking at options. Tons out there!
 
We have an aeration system in our pond that is electric but the premise is the same. The diffusers are weighted and used weighted tubing from the pump to the diffusers. Then your pump and windmill can be safely anchored on the shore away from the water. I have a landlord that has one that floats that works sometimes but is not real consistent. I can get some pictures of it if you like.
 
Creek/spring on my Minnesota farm. They are getting drinks all day in that area. Even though they could eat the snow !96652A33-73EA-49D4-86A2-9568537C64E4.jpeg
 
Farm I use to own had a small windmill and a bubbler hose hooked to floating 50 gallon drums. Water stayed open in the winter.
 
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Nrharris said:
We have an aeration system in our pond that is electric but the premise is the same. The diffusers are weighted and used weighted tubing from the pump to the diffusers. Then your pump and windmill can be safely anchored on the shore away from the water. I have a landlord that has one that floats that works sometimes but is not real consistent. I can get some pictures of it if you like.
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Pictures would be great!
 
Let me get more info on one. Skips brother installed a solar powered aerator this year. I’ll try to get the info for you if Skip doesn’t chime in first


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
We put a solar powered aerator in our pond about a year ago. Kinda pricey but it works great. We got the larger one with 2 diffusers with weighted line.

US solar mounts out of Sparta, Wisconsin

1ead2a3c6210220a7c62372975032846.jpg
 
Khughes2345 said:
We put a solar powered aerator in our pond about a year ago. Kinda pricey but it works great. We got the larger one with 2 diffusers with weighted line.

US solar mounts out of Sparta, Wisconsin
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I'd need something a fraction of that size really - love the simplicity of that tho!
 
Here's where I'm at on my brainstorming:

Remove the electrical generating portion of this and mount a wheel on it...
1672422885904.png

Connect it to here so it turns the fly wheel and boom, you've got air being pushed out this compressor, into a hose, that's fed into the water and bubbles. Seems doable!?
1672422870290.png
 
Hardwood11 said:
Fresh water in the winter is a magnet !! Keep brainstorming. I’d like to see some responses on here …
Click to expand...
I just bought a small house with a small pond. I ran pex from my machine shed to the pond. Hooked up to a septic pump. It finally froze over during that last -40 wind chill crap, but the ice was very thin and took 2 days of that arctic cold to do it. I could push it with a stick to break through. It appears to be able to keep it open without issue to at least -20. I think it will do even better once I have time to modify it and get it to some deeper water. I threw this together mid November when it was about 15 degrees. Keep in mind this was over 400' run. If I had power closer to the pond it would do even better. I also made my own diffuser out of the pex which next spring I'm going to play with to get more air out of. I split the pex into 2 diffusers which I think it would not freeze at all if I change it back to one. I was hoping to keep a larger area open. I had about a 10-15' open area while it was under 10 degrees.

I first ran power cords down there to test the system and was surprised how little power the septic pump drew. I had to string together some skinny junky old extension cords together to make that distance expecting it to throw a breaker but it was quiet and smooth. It is louder running in my shed so hopefully it's not too hard on it. I'm super happy with how easy it was to get going and how good it's working. I will try some other set ups next year when it's not so cold out and I have more time.

My next option to consider was to put up a small windmill and use wind to keep it thawed.
 
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Here is my set up. It will do better next year when the pond is hopefully fuller. I just got the house this fall and have been remodeling it but stepped out for half a day to run a trench over 400' from my machine shed and ran field tile from the gutters to drain into the pond. It was really low. It also worked a little better with 1 diffuser because better air pressure but I'm very happy since it literally took minutes to set up.
 

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