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Eavestrough heating cable
I've seen a few of you using Eavestrough deicing cable to warm/de-ice your
pond. I gather this stuff does not get warm enough to melt the liner? Does it leak current into the water? I did some measuring today and I only seem to have 24" of depth, so I'm a little concerned that the bubbler won't do it. I could swear I had 30" (must be old age :) ), but I'm not sure I was hitting bottom either. The netting was obscuring my view. The plan is to set up a temperature sensor about 8" off the bottom and use the deicing cable to maintain a 40 degree temp. I don't really want to heat the water, just keep it warm enough to prevent fishsicles. Do you think 300 watts will be enough if I cover the pond? |
On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:41:30 -0400, "Bill Stock"
wrote: ===I've seen a few of you using Eavestrough deicing cable to warm/de-ice your ===pond. I gather this stuff does not get warm enough to melt the liner? Does ===it leak current into the water? === ===I did some measuring today and I only seem to have 24" of depth, so I'm a ===little concerned that the bubbler won't do it. I could swear I had 30" (must ===be old age :) ), but I'm not sure I was hitting bottom either. The netting ===was obscuring my view. The plan is to set up a temperature sensor about 8" ===off the bottom and use the deicing cable to maintain a 40 degree temp. I ===don't really want to heat the water, just keep it warm enough to prevent ===fishsicles. Do you think 300 watts will be enough if I cover the pond? === === === === I dunno about using the electric heating cables normally used for on house eaves and in gutters......Are they approved for submersion? Being in ice or in a rain / sleet storm on a rood is not really submerged. Same for outside extension cords, while they may work fine in wet rainy weather, even with the plug ends out of water they sure are not supposed to be submerged...... While I don;t have a dog in this conversation in regards to having a pond in a potential freeze situation, the use of a de-icing cable just spurs my interest in regards to it being safe for such a use...... Visit my website: http://www.frugalmachinist.com Opinions expressed are those of my wife, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy. |
"Roy" wrote in message ... On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:41:30 -0400, "Bill Stock" wrote: ===I've seen a few of you using Eavestrough deicing cable to warm/de-ice your ===pond. I gather this stuff does not get warm enough to melt the liner? Does ===it leak current into the water? === ===I did some measuring today and I only seem to have 24" of depth, so I'm a ===little concerned that the bubbler won't do it. I could swear I had 30" (must ===be old age :) ), but I'm not sure I was hitting bottom either. The netting ===was obscuring my view. The plan is to set up a temperature sensor about 8" ===off the bottom and use the deicing cable to maintain a 40 degree temp. I ===don't really want to heat the water, just keep it warm enough to prevent ===fishsicles. Do you think 300 watts will be enough if I cover the pond? === === === === I dunno about using the electric heating cables normally used for on house eaves and in gutters......Are they approved for submersion? Being in ice or in a rain / sleet storm on a rood is not really submerged. Same for outside extension cords, while they may work fine in wet rainy weather, even with the plug ends out of water they sure are not supposed to be submerged...... While I don;t have a dog in this conversation in regards to having a pond in a potential freeze situation, the use of a de-icing cable just spurs my interest in regards to it being safe for such a use...... Visit my website: http://www.frugalmachinist.com Opinions expressed are those of my wife, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy. My concern too Roy. I've seen the same three or four posters who swear by it, but it does not seem to be in wide spread use. Pond is about 500 gallons (probably less). |
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"Bill Stock" wrote in message ... I did some measuring today and I only seem to have 24" of depth, so I'm a little concerned that the bubbler won't do it. I could swear I had 30" (must be old age :) ), but I'm not sure I was hitting bottom either. The netting was obscuring my view. The plan is to set up a temperature sensor about 8" off the bottom and use the deicing cable to maintain a 40 degree temp. I don't really want to heat the water, just keep it warm enough to prevent fishsicles. Do you think 300 watts will be enough if I cover the pond? Water is densest at 39 degrees. The soil under the pond will be pushing heat to the bottom of the pond. If you use a heater, the warmer, 39 degree water will fall to the bottom. If the water warms above 39, then the warmer water rises toward the surface. If the surface is frozen, then you are just creating a circulation of bottom water toward the top, until it reaches 39, and then it will fall to the bottom again. The ice on the surface of the pond acts somewhat as an insulator, making it more difficult to make the ice thicker and thicker, and with the bottom contributing heat, the pond is likely not to freeze completely to the bottom, though pond depth, and location can result in completely frozen ponds. -- RichToyBox http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/index.html |
"RichToyBox" wrote in message news:2Yn7d.304011$Fg5.28178@attbi_s53... "Bill Stock" wrote in message ... I did some measuring today and I only seem to have 24" of depth, so I'm a little concerned that the bubbler won't do it. I could swear I had 30" (must be old age :) ), but I'm not sure I was hitting bottom either. The netting was obscuring my view. The plan is to set up a temperature sensor about 8" off the bottom and use the deicing cable to maintain a 40 degree temp. I don't really want to heat the water, just keep it warm enough to prevent fishsicles. Do you think 300 watts will be enough if I cover the pond? Water is densest at 39 degrees. The soil under the pond will be pushing heat to the bottom of the pond. If you use a heater, the warmer, 39 degree water will fall to the bottom. If the water warms above 39, then the warmer water rises toward the surface. If the surface is frozen, then you are just creating a circulation of bottom water toward the top, until it reaches 39, and then it will fall to the bottom again. The ice on the surface of the pond acts somewhat as an insulator, making it more difficult to make the ice thicker and thicker, and with the bottom contributing heat, the pond is likely not to freeze completely to the bottom, though pond depth, and location can result in completely frozen ponds. -- RichToyBox http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/index.html So assuming my temperature probe is about about a foot off the bottom (limitation of probe length), I should probably set the ON temperature of my heater around 33 degrees and the OFF temperature at 37 degrees. This will likely require a little experimentation. Perhaps a pond cam to watch the results. |
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