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Running skimmer in Winter

Posted by koidog10 6b utah (My Page) on
Fri, Oct 1, 10 at 14:35

Hi I was wondering if anybody ran there skimmer in the
winter months I have a Savio skimmer with a big bahama
bio falls My piping is 3" flex PVC I have a Y with 2 ball
valves by the falls so i can bypass the bio in the winter
or would i be better off covering the skimmer wier and draining the skimmer. My pump is 6000gph submersible in the
skimmer. My pond is 9x16x4 at the deep end 3000gal Koi pond


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Running skimmer in Winter

Howdy..
I'm in Zone 8b Olympia, Wa. I keep my Savio skimmer and pump going 24/7/365. My pond is 4500gal. and I have an external Sequence pump.. We're not as cold as you, but we did have a week and a half of single digits last December,... No problems with the Savio at all... Pond completely iced over to the point I could walk on it..

I might worry about your pump in the Savio, if the pond freezes in front of the weir... Do you have a mid-intake into the Savio, in case the weir opening freezes?


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RE: Running skimmer in Winter

No i have 2 heaters i was planing on puting one by
the wier opening taking the wier door off leaf basket out and filter out to give it better flow. Besides I need to keep an opening so the gases excape I have air filtration towards the bottom any how to keep the water from freezing
This is my first year with my fish in a bigger pond out
doors. I used to have a preformed pond I would put my fish
in my shed for the winter because i did not want the pond to freeze over it was about one and a half foot deep

Thanks for the info


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RE: Running skimmer in Winter

I run mine with a small pump. The outflow pipe goes thru the skimmer door and an 90 degree elbow for the water to reach up to the surface and keep a hole open in the ice.


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RE: Running skimmer in Winter

Zone 6a here, and I've kept my skimmer running through most of the past couple winters - only ever have a problem when the weather is too cold and turns much of the water to ice. In this case not enough water is flowing into the skimmer, so I turn the pump off until it warms up enough again. Piping is a combination of 2" flex and PVC.

I also don't use a heater at all - I only use an air pump to keep a hole open in the ice.


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