We make our own aerators to saturate the pond with oxygen in winter
In order to prevent the fish from suffocating in winter, an aerator must be installed on the pond. Without the supply of air under the ice crust, the fish will not be able to absorb enough oxygen, so it will die.
By providing oxygen to the pond, you can keep fish stocks safe. To ensure aeration of the pond, holes are drilled in the ice crust. Since the water in the pond is stagnant, the hole freezes very quickly. At a temperature of -25 ° C, they will need to be drilled regularly.
To avoid frequent trips to the pond, homemade "aerators" can be installed in the holes to set the water in motion. Thus, ice will not form on the surface of the hole, and the water will be saturated with oxygen.
The principle of the homemade aerator
The principle of operation of such an aerator is very simple. The vane blades of the structure will rotate from the wind, transmitting torque to the fan blades lowered into the hole. These blades will propel the standing water.
The resulting vortex flow will erode the ice crust. Thanks to this, the hole will not freeze even in the most severe frost. The area of the hole, over time, will increase in size, and more oxygen will flow into the pond.
This process can be called "automated" because it happens without your participation. The efficiency of the installation depends only on the strength of the wind.
Installation device
"Wind aerator" consists of:
- Of four vane blades. They can be made from two metal barrels that need to be cut in half lengthwise.
- Iron shaft with a diameter of 30 mm. It can be made from a pipe. It is better to put bearings on the shaft so that the blades can be replaced.
- On the other end of the shaft, propellers are put on, which will be immersed in the hole. They will set the water in motion. They can be cut from a barrel lid or sheet metal.
The installation is fixed on a support, which is welded from metal pipes. The higher you place the vane blades, the more the propellers will spin. To increase the efficiency of the "wind aerator", the weather vane blades can be placed in different planes one above the other.
Do not weld the machine parts to the working shaft so that they can be easily replaced in case of breakage. Otherwise, after failure of any of the component parts, the installation cannot be repaired.