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mini ponds - pumps, fountains and icing up

FireFire Posts: 19,096
edited 19 January in Tools and techniques
People on the forum have asked in the past if pond pumps/mini fountains will keep a pond un-iced. For the record, I have two mini ponds and I kept the pumps on this winter and yes, they have kept ice from forming. With night temps 0 to -7C  over seven days the area around the fountain splash had no iced formed, although if we had more -7 nights I think one of the ponds would have frozen over eventually. Locally the cold weather is ending over the weekend.

Mini-pond one: 60cm long, 20cm wide, 30cm deep. Window box sunk in the ground. Small pump 450 lph. Zero ice.

Mini pond two: 20cm deep, 60cm diameter. Above ground pot. This got very much colder - being not sunk. About half iced over, away from the pump. Small pump 450 lph

Trugs with water in around the garden have at last two inches of ice on  (a kind of control).

It might be useful to know if you are concerned to keep an open water source available for wildlife to drink. Bobbing corks etc have never worked for me.

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think it depends on the design … in other gardens I’ve known the water in the pipe between the pump and the outlet to freeze solid  and split the pipe joint and connections at less cold temperatures than we have at the moment  … so while a fountain may work a ‘waterfall’ type probably won’t. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited 19 January
    For sure the spot and local conditions of the garden will dictate how a pond responds to ice. I can only report on the test going on in my garden. I haven't risked it before.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    Better to float a ball on the surface than to keep the pump running.  Although the pump may stop the surface freezing it can actually lower the temperature at the bottom of the pond where fish and other creatures are in a state of semi-hibernation.
  • AnnaBAnnaB Posts: 524
    That is interesting @KT53, can you explain how/why please as we have kept our pump and waterfall going during this cold snap and we have fish as well.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    KT53 said:
    Better to float a ball on the surface than to keep the pump running.  Although the pump may stop the surface freezing it can actually lower the temperature at the bottom of the pond where fish and other creatures are in a state of semi-hibernation.
    Very true about water temps.
    I have a 7000lph pump in my fish pond for waterfall and water feature.
    The pump runs 365 days/year and in over 35yrs the water has never stopped flowing due to freezing.
    In late autumn I lift the pump from the bottom (about 2ft 6") of the pond and place it on a shelf about 6" below the surface.
    This helps to keep the water at the very bottom of the pond less cold that it would otherwise be.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Mini ponds are likely to work quite differently to large ones with fish in etc. I have no outlet pipes or falls - just pots with bubblers
  • TheVanguardTheVanguard Posts: 136
    I would have thought the pump would heat the water slightly.

    Nothing is 100% efficient so some of the waste in energy in a pump will manifest as sound, vibration and heat.

    Moving the water will also create heat via friction.

    I have a small mist propagator and the temperature is consistently 2-3c higher than ambient, when in use.

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