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Aerator Keeps Farm Pond Open At -40 F
"It'll easily keep a 60 by 120-ft. farm pond open with no ice at all," says Ernest Delmage, Minnedosa, Manitoba about his simple 1/4-hp. one-bladed prop-type aerator that keeps ponds open even under the most frigid conditions.
Delmage first tried wind power to keep his pond open but says it was no good because o
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Aerator keeps farm pond open at -40 F MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 10-6-8 "It'll easily keep a 60 by 120-ft. farm pond open with no ice at all," says Ernest Delmage, Minnedosa, Manitoba about his simple ?-hp. one-bladed prop-type aerator that keeps ponds open even under the most frigid conditions.
Delmage first tried wind power to keep his pond open but says it was no good because on the coldest days when there was no wind, the pond would freeze over. His only other option was to purchase a commercial aerator costing thousands of dollars.
The aerator Delmage designed consists simply of a ?-hp. electric motor geared down 10:1 that drives a long shaft fitted with a single, 20-in. long prop-type blade positioned 5 in. below the pond surface. The blade, which looks like a lawn mower blade except that it's got a slight cant to it like a propeller, pulls water up from 8 to 10 ft. down where temperatures stay at about 35?. It mixes this warmer water with cooler surface water.
"The electric motor runs at about 1,700 rpm's but we gear it down through a 10-in. pulley to about 185 rpms. The driveshaft is enclosed in a pipe with a sealed bearing at either end and is half full of antifreeze to keep it from locking up if any water gets inside," explains Delmage.
The motor assembly, which is covered by a protective sheet metal shroud, floats freely on 3 floats anchored in place in the middle of the pond. Delmage had to run 250 ft. of 14/2 electric wire out to the ? hp. motor. He says it takes so little power to spin the blade that the electric wire doesn't even get warm enough to melt the snow around it.
Delmage uses his aerator to keep rainbow trout alive. "Fish will winter over, even in temperatures down to -40?. It also keeps vegetation alive."
The home-built pond aerator also works great to keep stock watering ponds open. Delmage says it clears ice up to the edges in a "stair step" fashion that makes it easy for cattle to get down to water.
In operation, Delmage generally lets the aerator run 24 hrs. a day, 7 days a week, but he says you could shut it down periodically. "Even if up to 4 in. of ice formed over the pond, the prop could still turn because the shaft is inside a pipe. It would melt off all the surface ice." Delmage made all components of the aerator together with the help of a relative who runs a machine shop.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ernest C. Delmage, Box 874, Minnedosa Manitoba R0J 1E0 (ph 204 867-2866).
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