On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)? Should I just
let it chug?

DKat

Is your pond deep enough so the water is not frozen around your
bubbler? That is, is the bubbler below the ice line? If the bubbler
is frozen in you should unplug it. If not then let it run. It will
still be pumping oxygen into the water which will help your fish.
There should be a hole in the ice to let harmful gases out. I don't
recommend "smashing" a hole with a hammer or anything like that. You
could try drilling or sawing in a hole.

My pond is frozen over also. I, too, have a bubbler running and
there is not a hole where the air discharge is located. However, I do
have one of those 50 watt thermostatically controlled pond heaters and
there is no ice at that location. I think they cost about $40 but
they are well worth the money.

Hope this helps.
Glenn

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:18:55 GMT, "D Kat" wrote:

On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)? Should I just
let it chug?

DKat

Is your pond deep enough so the water is not frozen around your
bubbler? That is, is the bubbler below the ice line? If the bubbler
is frozen in you should unplug it. If not then let it run. It will
still be pumping oxygen into the water which will help your fish.
There should be a hole in the ice to let harmful gases out. I don't
recommend "smashing" a hole with a hammer or anything like that. You
could try drilling or sawing in a hole.

My pond is frozen over also. I, too, have a bubbler running and
there is not a hole where the air discharge is located. However, I do
have one of those 50 watt thermostatically controlled pond heaters and
there is no ice at that location. I think they cost about $40 but
they are well worth the money.

Hope this helps.
Glenn

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:18:55 GMT, "D Kat" wrote:

On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)? Should I just
let it chug?

DKat

I agree, if it's bubbling under the ice, everything is fine, air is
probably just leaking out of pin holes around the edges or somewhere.
Unless it's above ground. An iced over above ground pond with bubbler and
the air will actually lift the ice (pictured on my website under My Pond
Photo, Pg 8). As ice is not only on top but the sides of the pond. Small
baby fantails amazingly lived thru it... the picture shown is actually
after it lost some air and started to settle back into place. The basket
shown in ice was several inches above the bottom. This year I put in a
stock tank heater and plug it in as needed. ~ jan

http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 19:45:12 -0500, Glenn Lynn wrote:

Is your pond deep enough so the water is not frozen around your
bubbler? That is, is the bubbler below the ice line? If the bubbler
is frozen in you should unplug it. If not then let it run. It will
still be pumping oxygen into the water which will help your fish.
There should be a hole in the ice to let harmful gases out. I don't
recommend "smashing" a hole with a hammer or anything like that. You
could try drilling or sawing in a hole.

My pond is frozen over also. I, too, have a bubbler running and
there is not a hole where the air discharge is located. However, I do
have one of those 50 watt thermostatically controlled pond heaters and
there is no ice at that location. I think they cost about $40 but
they are well worth the money.

Hope this helps.
Glenn

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:18:55 GMT, "D Kat" wrote:

On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)? Should I just
let it chug?

DKat

I wouldn't worry about the snow cover, it actually keeps the water
warmer by insulating it from the wind chill. Most air pumps work with
diaphragms and do not burn out when blocked. IMO let it run.
If it is only snow blocking the hole the air will find it's way out.
"D Kat" wrote in message
t...
On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need
opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my
bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole
another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)?
Should I just
let it chug?

DKat

I wouldn't worry about the snow cover, it actually keeps the water
warmer by insulating it from the wind chill. Most air pumps work with
diaphragms and do not burn out when blocked. IMO let it run.
If it is only snow blocking the hole the air will find it's way out.
"D Kat" wrote in message
t...
On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need
opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my
bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole
another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)?
Should I just
let it chug?

DKat

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:18:55 GMT, "D Kat" wrote:

On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)? Should I just
let it chug?


Hearing the sound of the pump is no assurance that air is being
pumped. The line could be frozen or, if your bubbler is more than a
foot down there is not air being delivered to it. You have to
actually see the bubbles to be sure that they are there.

When it gets cold the diaprhragm in the pump loses some of its
flexibility and cannot generarate the pressure needed to get air to a
deep bubbler.

Water vapor in the air being pumped can freeze in the line. When I
have that happen I drag the air hose from my compressor out to the
pond and blow it out.

John

Thank you all! I have decided to take a deep breath, relax and wait a bit
(I don't have a compressor and would worry that it would simply blow the
stone off - then what would I do - I can see myself wading in the pond - bad
image - but as I have said it is covered with ice and snow). The bubbler
seemed to have worked just fine last year which I had thought was as bad as
this one. I just may not have ventured out when the snow was fresh and
deep. I wish I could see if the top of the ice was raised as Jan's was but
my pond is lower that the surrounding area so there is no way for me to
tell.

Again, thank you one and all (once again grateful to have this room in
existence). DKat

"D Kat" wrote in message
t...
On Long Island and my pond is completely covered in snow. I need
opinions.
I can hear my bubbler going but there is no visible hole. Will my bubbler
motor burn out? Do I need to unplug it and deal with opening a hole
another
way (when and if it ever stops snowing and being artic cold)? Should I
just
let it chug?

DKat