Now that the snow and ice are gone, I thought I would tell you how my DIY de-icer worked this past winter.
I bought a small water pump designed for a pond fountain; about 190 gph. I “borrowed” an old Tupperware bowl from my wife. I drilled a hole in the lid for the out-flow of the pump and several smaller holes for wire-ties and attached the pump to the lid. I then skeletonized the bowl part, cutting large “V” shaped holes in it. I removed the small useless foam filter from the pump (it would clog in about three days), snapped the lid (with the pump attached) onto the bowl, and slid the assembly into an old panty hose leg (takes the place of the filter), cutting a small hole when the out-flow is. I set the pump and new filter assembly in the pond with the out-flow about four to six inches from the surface; just close enough to keep the water “rolling”. While there was six to eight inches of ice on the rest of the pond, this kept a large hole open all winter (except when the 2 plus feet of snow drifted it shut).
The pump only draws 21 watts of power, as opposed to the floating heater type de-icers that draw 200 watts and up (and, by the way, did not work as well).
