K&H 8001 Thermo-Pond 3.0 Floating Pond 100-Watt De-Icer

I've used this for one season, in the Washington, DC area. We don't have a lot of cold weather, but we get down to 0 degrees occasionally. In a small pond with a rubber liner, I was concerned about a "toaster element" heater melting the liner. This heater kept a perfect round hole in the ice even when it got to 3 inches thick and the fish seemed to enjoy spending time under it. The trick with this thing seems to be that while it has a very large surface area (it's about 12 inches across) it has a small air hole at the top. This apparently lets out all the toxic gases, but manages to keep enough heat in to keep the full circle ice free. There's never any sense that the device is hot, but it always just floats freely with a quarter inch gap between it and the ice. I don't actually know for sure, but I suspect that it will work fine to considerably lower temps (they say they tested in -30 degree Wisconsin) and I'm sure it's not dependent on the size of the pond. That is, it won't freeze even if the pond is bigger. However, you might need additional units to handle extra gas from a larger pond. All in all, a very well constructed, simple, safe and satisfactory device.

my family went through 6 of these over the last 3 years! seemed like a great idea..worked ok for about 2 -3 weeks, then they ALL leaked in water, tipped sideways or sunk and did not work well at all. HAd to return them all. seems are not sealed properly. finally gave up on them when manufacturer admitted they'd had nothing but complaints from almost everyone they sold them to. unless they can guarantee they've found and fixed the problem, I would NOT recommend it!

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Overall I like the Thermopond and I'm going to try another one. It worked great for 3.5 years and has a long power cord. The company does honor their warranty and has fast turn around. The current temp is +5F so I need to do something fast. The modes of failure described elsewhere do seem to be common I've experienced both myself. From just failing to turn on to taking on water and sinking. When it it works it works great.

I purchased my first one back in 2005 and it worked fine the first year, but the next year it didn't even turn on. The company quickly and without hassle sent me a replacement. The second unit had been working like a charm since 2006... It started working fine this season and then around Christmas 2009 the GFCI popped. I went out and noticed that the thermopond was listing to one side and semi-submerged. It was full of water and the plastic on the underside was deformed and puffed out.

I live in northern Vermont. Thermopond has kept a hole all winter no matter what the temp is (-10F a few years ago). The ice depth was ~10 inches last year and I could see down through the thermopond to the bottom of the pond. I pull it up to check on the fish and they swim over to see me through the hole. I also have a small winter pump (650gph) running as a homemade bubbler. The pump keeps a hole in the ice down to +15F (lower when there's a lot of snow holding the ground temp in). The two manage to keep a very large (25%) opening when the temps are in the upper 20's and mid-30's. My pond is about 2000 gals (3100gph summer pump). I also put out a whip a few years ago to hold the cord up out of the water and keep the thermopond from drifting around in the wind.

Thermopond works, just be prepared to buy a new one every 3 or 4 years ($14 per year). Weigh that with a lower electric bill and this does seem to be a good deal. I'm hoping they've improved the design since I last bought it.

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I have a 220 gallon backyard pond, and live in Chicago. I used to use pumps to agitate the water and keep an open spot that way, but the small size pumps I used were not all that durable. I bought this de-icer for less then the price of a 300 GPH pump. I did read all the reviews, and some said the de-icer was not as durable as it should be, but most of those reviews were from a couple years back so I am thinking they have improved it.

This de-icer has maintained a small opening in the ice all Winter. The temperature has dropped down to single digits for brief periods as well as some spells in the teens.

This product meets my needs quite well. Next Winter I will buy another one and save it as a back up de-icer and consider it insurance.

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Using 100 watts could be costly to keep this plugged in all the time. I just ran an extension cord to my garage and turned it on when i noticed the water began to freeze. We had 4 inches of ice on our pond this last winter and this heater worked flawlessly.

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