wrote in message
...
Between my 198 watt swee****er blower, the 500 watt heater (or 2) and 110
watts for
my pondmaster 1200 gallon/hour pump, I am really eating up the energy
here. So I am
thinking about a solar heater for my pond.

www.sungrabber.com has various configurations. They are made of
polypropylene
(should be fish safe).

a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer to tell me the temp of water and air
with a
remote switch to turn it on and off. I figure to set it up that the water
drains out
automatically when the pump is turned off to prevent freezing of water.

Of course, my pond is covered close to the water, but I am also adding
(hopefully
have it operational this year) another enclosure around it, higher so I
can walk in
and sit down in there.

Anybody use a solar system? Does it work? Ingrid

That type of solar heater looks good, but the pump needs to be taken off
line when the sun goes low in the sky or it will act as a cooler, giving up
the heat to the atmosphere. The design uses small tubes for the water to
travel through, and I would fear biofilm restriction of the tubes or pieces
of algae or other junk stopping the tubing up. .

--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
Zone 7A/B Virginia