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Heating

Posted by Michael Van Neste on 11/1/2007, 3:04 pm
212.9.29.106

There are some big misunderstandings about pond heating. A couple of years ago I gave a redundant electric pond heater to a friend as I had installed a mains gas boiler to do the job in my pond. He used the heater for a winter season and was shocked at his electricity bill. When I was setting up a quarantine facility he offered it back to me, as he had decided to throw it away, due to its running cost. I had to explain to him that a heater that is turned off is costing you nothing. You can set the thermostat to the minimum temperature you would wish to see the pond to go to, and the very occasional use of the heater is inexpensive and a great re-assurance on cold frosty nights or during a big freeze. Another low-cost use is at this time of year. You set the thermostat at a temperature of say 2 degrees C. lower than the present daytime temperature of the pondwater. You then avoid severe daily fluctuations in temperature but without incurring high electricity costs. (Short term fluctuations in temperature are stressful to koi, especially if repeated, and compromise health.) You obviously need to reduce the setting on say a fortnightly basis to take account of the normal level of ambient temperatures for the time of year. This strategy is even more desirable in the springtime, when big temperature fluctuations occur and the immune systems of koi are operating at a low level. Finally, if it can be afforded, a heater can be used to shorten the long winter months. Our winters are just too long for koi. The carp from which koi were bred would survive a very cold winter but the winters in Japan were much shorter than european or north-eastern american winters. Temperatures can be allowed to drop down to about 14C and light feeding can be continued once daily or every other day. Then, when the winter is really biting, allow temperatures to come down to a much lower level, with the heater there just to protect temperatures going below 5C. In the springtime bring temps back to 14C and start light feeding again. The capital and installation costs of electrical heaters are not particularly high and well worth while to achieve the above strategies. Heaters can be set to take advantage of off-peek rates. Michael

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