Dock Deicers & Bubblers
Dock Bubblers and De-Icers are available on our associate site: The Pond Report.com Dock Bubblers
One of the best ways to protect a dock, wall or keep a hole in the ice for a pump intake or a honey hole open for hunting is an Ice Eater. These inexpensive agitator bubblers involve placing a heavy-duty submersible motor that drives a rugged propeller in continuous duty to draw warm waters from the depths of the pond or lake towards the surface.
The warmer waters at the bottom of the pond usually maintain a temperature of around 39 Fahrenheit and by bringing them rapidly to the surface in a directed thrusting stream they can keep large areas of open water even in the coldest of winter temperatures.
This sort of deicer works best when depth is greater than 5 feet but even an agitator aimed at the shallow shoreline, if it originates in waters of say 12 feet deep, can create a large opening under the entire dock structure. The size of the opening in the ice depends on the overall ambient air temperature, horse power and angle of the Ice Eater.
Bubbler systems use perforated tubing placed at the bottom of the water around a boathouse, dock or wall. When using diffuser lines to protect your dock from ice damage there will be some fairly common installation procedures: place the air compressor in a ventilated cabinet or shed and run an airline to the structure where a weighted bubbler hose is placed at strategic points around the dock or against the wall. The air is diffused as coarse bubbles from the bubbler hose slits and this rising warm water keeps the dock ice free.
Build Your Dock Bubbler: Quantum Air Compressor Systems
Another even cheaper technique is to hang a pond pump off the dock and ensure the outlet is aiming towards the surface. A strong enough pump will keep a nice hole open. Sump pumps are not designed for continuous duty so a pond pump is better.
Ice Eaters and Bubblers using perforated hose are the most common ice protection systems.
One of the best ways to protect a dock, wall or keep a hole in the ice for a pump intake or a honey hole open for hunting is an Ice Eater. These inexpensive agitator bubblers involve placing a heavy-duty submersible motor that drives a rugged propeller in continuous duty to draw warm waters from the depths of the pond or lake towards the surface.
The warmer waters at the bottom of the pond or lake typically maintain a temperature of around 37 degrees and by bringing these waters rapidly to the surface in a directed thrusting stream they can keep large areas of open water even in the coldest of winter temperatures. The thrust of these deicers also assist with maintaining open waters and in total the diamter of the hole will be from 5' to 10' in diameter per foot of submergence of the Ice Eater depending on the horse power of the unit.
This sort of deicer works best when depth is greater than 5 feet but even an agitator aimed at the shallow shoreline, if it originates in waters of say 12 feet deep, can create a large opening under the entire dock structure. The size of the opening in the ice depends on the overall ambient air temperature, horse power and angle of the Ice Eater.
Another even cheaper technique is to hang a pond pump off the dock and ensure the outlet is aiming towards the surface. A strong enough pump will keep a nice hole open. Sump pumps are not designed for continuous duty so a pond pump is better.