Some of The Benefits of Ice Prevention
With the summer finally being over, and as the weather starts to cool it becomes time to decide what to do with your dock and boat. Generally you pull your boat out of the water and go to store it at home, at a storage place, wherever over the course of the winter, but monthly fees and even moving the boat out can be difficult, especially if you're older or have back issues. This is why investing in a de-icer for your docks can be rewarding, and potentially cost effective solution to that problem.
Now, what is the use for this? Well with boats ice buildup around the hull when they're in the water, especially for wooden boats can be extraordinarily damaging. As the ice expands and shrinks and shifts with the tempurature it can do everything from stripping finishing off of the keel to cracking it entirely. Posts holding up the dock or pier can similarly be cracked and damaged by the shifting ice.
There are a variety of ways to help "de-ice" the water, there are water heaters and certain chemicals you can buy to melt the ice, though these are generally no recommended as they can harm the ecosystem of the pond. What we recommend is a de-icer proper, also known as a circulator.
These work by pulling warm water up from the bottom of the pond to the surface, preventing ice formation through a mix of the warm water and the constant circulation. This method is safe for the pond, as fishes natural sensory organs keep them from getting to close to the propeller. There are a wide variety of these types of de-icers on the market, we recommend our own Naiad pond de-icer, which when mounted with a separately purchased float can also be used during spring and summer for pond aeration, giving you more bang for your buck.
Ice Prevention is also critical if you have geese or swans that stick around during the winter,by keeping the water ice free on a pond or lake during winter you give waterfowl a place to swim and drink during the winter months. Along with that, it also gives them a place to escape from predation, even if they are less active foxes and coyotes will gladly jump for the opprotunity to eat any ducks or geese sitting out in the open. For use in an open pond you mount the unit in a float with chain so it is hanging deep enough in the water. And as a guideline we recommend using darker rope or cable mounted UNDER the float so geese don't attack it and potentially get caught in the propeller.
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