Obervations on circualtion pumps.

[drewstar]

This past weekend I visited a good friend who lives out on a lake in MA.  He was having an ice skating party. The ice was pretty thick (we have some bitter cold temps here in MA lately). There were dozens of folks skating, a few snowmobiles and quad bikes on the ice.

I noticed several hundred feet away an area by one dock that wasn't frozen.  I thought maybe this guy was draining his septic into the pond? Why else would the entire lake be frozen, yet his area not?

My friend explained that the owner has a 1 hp submersable pump out there that he uses as a circ pump to keep the water from freezing around his dock. (Unlike other residents on the lake who prefer to take thier docks out, he leaves it in all year).  I was impressed.   In the dead of a New England winter,  on a frozen lake, there was this  area about 600 sq feet was not frozen , all beacuse of the circ pump.

Made me apprecaite my insualted hot tub with a surface area of 50 sq feets, circ pump.

[Gary]

It makes absolutely no difference which system you have circ or no circ as long as the spa has power and is functional they will not freeze.

You loose power or have a parts failure and it is cold enough, guess what both will freeze.

So I do not see your point, or do not understand why you now how this extra confidence.


Not trying be rude but pointing out the facts.

[drewstar]

It makes absolutely no difference which system you have circ or no circ as long as the spa has power and is functional they will not freeze.

You loose power or have a parts failure and it is cold enough, guess what both will freeze.

So I do not see your point, or do not understand why you now how this extra confidence.


Not trying be rude but pointing out the facts.

Not sure if I had a point. It was an observation on how circualting the water, even in very harsh enviroments  can be effective. I never really had a sense of just what a small pump could do, but standing out on the lake and seeing it made me think more about it, and I was impressed.

[Reese]

Not sure if I had a point...  

That's how I feel after reading most of your posts!

[drewstar]

thanks guys.

[Gary]

That's cool, I just did not want someone to think that just because they have a circ pump it will not freeze.

[East_TX_Spa]

thanks guys.

I thought it was a lovely story, and you tell it with such enthusiasm.

Would you like to see what Lt. Dan looks like?

Why yeeessss, I would.

[drewstar]

I thought it was a lovely story, and you tell it with such enthusiasm.

Would you like to see what Lt. Dan looks like?

Why yeeessss, I would.

Thanks Term. I was going to also mention how I saved a whole familly of small furry woodland creatures using a spare hotsprings circ pump but Gary and Reese have ruined it for everyone.  

Yes, I would very much like to see what Lt. Dan looks like.

[Brewman]

I live near a relatively large lake- it attracts hundreds of fishing shacks, snowmobilers, and ATV'ers in the winter.  This lake is fed by inflow from an adjoining lake, and with the undercurrent, there are several spots on the lake that never freeze or freeze to a very small amount.  That's the affect of the water moving under the ice.  
 
Moving water will eventually freeze- it just takes a bit more time and lower temperatures to get the job done.  Up near Duluth, Gooseberry Falls State Park, you can see a frozen waterfall.  That's a pretty amazing sight.

[drewstar]

Viagara  Niagara Falls frozen.

[East_TX_Spa]

Yes, I would very much like to see what Lt. Dan looks like.

He ain't got no legs.

[Richs100]

Based on the edumacation I'm gettin from this thread, I just went out and disconnected my circ pump.  Why run the danged thing if it ain't doin no good anyhow.  When my lectricity bill drops, I be able to buy more beer!  

[East_TX_Spa]

Now you's usin' yore noggin'!

[drewstar]

Based on the edumacation I'm gettin from this thread, I just went out and disconnected my circ pump.  Why run the danged thing if it ain't doin no good anyhow.  When my lectricity bill drops, I be able to buy more beer!  

My circ pump wasn't sold to me as anti freezing device.

It was sold as part of the sanitation and heating  systems.


However, my expereince on the lake got me thinking how it might work in relation to freezing. If the heater went out, but not the power, it would make a difference in the tub, nbut would it in the pipes and jet pumps?

[Bonibelle]

Hey Drew, I appreciated your story.  Last year, I left the waterfall in my fish pond running all winter. I usually use a stock heater in to keep and area open, but I kept procrastinating on taking out the pump..It worked better and looked nicer all winter. So moving water is the ticket to prevent or at least minimize freezing.  
I know our dock at the beach gets twisted and lifted every year when we get deep freezes. The water is tidal and brackish but it still freezes enough to lift the pilings (never spelled that before, somehow it doesn't look right!)..I think the guy with the circ pump is pretty smart!  I don't have one in my tub, but I can always just keep my waterfall running