Pond Heaters

[casey]

I contacted Keeton Pond in CO re. heaters and learned that the titanium heaters Sean has are no longer on the market.  The only ones available now are the inline heaters.  Kirk recommended 1 KW per gallon.  These heaters come in 1,500, 6,000, 11,000, & 18,000 KW sizes.  Our 5500 gallon pond would use the 6,000 KW heater, which costs $849.00.  That also means an increased electric bill in the winter of from $50.00-$400.00 at .10 per KWH because that particular heater runs at 6 KW per Hour, or .60 per hour. 

Would love to know if anyone has any differing info.

Casey

[LeeAnne151]

I use an aquarium heater in my greenhouse pond but it is only 125 gallons.

why do you need a pond heater in Tucson? I know it is slightly cooler than Phoenix but I know my friends in Phoenix grew tropical waterlilies year round in their ponds with no heaters.

[bunny56lbc]

I use a 800w aquarium titanium heater in the 750 gallon pond in my greenhouse .
It kept the water temp. at 70* all winter , I had it set on 72*. We had some pretty cold weather this year . All my tropical waterlilies are living & doing Great !

bonnie

[Sean]

Hi Casey,

Here is the contact information of the manufacturer of my unit. Contact them and see if they still make this unit and you can let them know your information.

http://www.clepco.com/contact.shtml

LeeAnne is right however, you shouldnt need a heater in Arizona. Your tropical waterlilies might go dormant for a few weeks but your shouldnt need one to keep them going.

Cheers,
Sean

[casey]

Maybe we shouldn't need a heater, but we do need one.  Our pond gets cold enough that every tropical we have tried to winter over has died, except this year when I took them all out and put them in a kiddie pool with aquarium heaters.  Oh, and we have one in the pond this year in a Thermo Planter that looks like it will make it.  Statistics are one thing but reality is another.  I will try the link.  Thanks Sean.

[Dkoinut]

Hi Casey. What zone are you in? Guess it's not that important, but I'm in zone 5 here and even with several days of temps in the -30 degrees range my 5 ft deep in ground pond stayed in the upper 40's just using a greenhouse cover. I onlt had a thin sheet of ice twice all winter and it was gone by afternoon both times. The cover actually keeps the pond as warm as if moved to 1 warmer growing zone. In my case that might be from zone 5 to zone 6. That might be enough to solve your problem w/out busting your utility budget.

[casey]

Thanks for the suggestion Dkoinut but no cover for our pond.  If you look at the link to the photos of the pool to pond conversion you may see that it is an integral part of our backyard.  The deck over half the pond/pool is used very often for entertaining, and more so in winter than summer.  Putting a cover over it would really make it unsightly and we practically live out there all winter.  We are in zone 8a and have winter water temps of 50 and maybe occasionally a little lower.  I am going to contact the manufacturer of Sean's heater and hear what they have to say.