True, however a greenhouse doesn't have to run exclusively on solar energy - a heater can be installed for instance.
Of course, it might just be simpler and more economical to set up a winter holding tank in your garage - I'm assuming this pool of yours is for fish here
You could use a small under counter water heater and pump to circulate the water. Put a filter on the intake and cover the water heater. May not be the best or cheapest option, but in my head it seems like it would work. Forgot to add you would need a temperature controller.
I ended up buying a sump pump, and pumping water through black hose that was wound up on the ground. This actually got water temps up past 80F this summer...next time we are going to put it on the black roof of the barn, with a timer to turn it off at night. I be that we could get the h2o close to 90F. That being said the pond and filter were both covered by styrofoam for insulation as well.
What type of fish are you keeping that would need/live at 90? Pumping the water 10 to 20 ft to the top of the roof would consume a good bit of energy wouldn't it?
I thought you were worried about costs!!
How many watts of energy does that cheap sump pump use??
I would not pump any water great distances to heat it as it is never cost effective over time.
I have a 7'x5'x4' Boxed pond. I built a box out of pressure treated Ply and 2x4s and dropped it in the ground. Back filled the dirt and put in a liner. Had to do the install this way because of space limitations. The pond is actually part of a flower bed. The first year the pond froze over and I had to run out and get a small pond heater to keep a hole in the ice so allow for Gas exchange, I also hung an old powerhead just inside of that hole to circulate water just under the remaining ice. I didn't lose any fish but had to figure out something to do in the winter as well.
Right now in Hamilton, NJ their is about 2 feet of snow on the ground in my yard. Avg Temp is anywhere between 23-27* in the day and 13-15* at night. And the pond has no ice on it at all. My trick to beat the cold was to drill two 2" holes into my house. It just so happens that my Furnace room is about 15' from my pond. I used rigid flex line from my outflow on my filter to a Piece of PVC running into the Furnace room, Inside I used a 50' pool vacuum hose and wrapped it around the base of the furnace using wire to hold it in place. Then routed it back up to the second hole where I hooked it to the PVC I put their. I then hooked the return to the pond onto the PVC. I used that foam in a can to fill in around the PVC. During the summer I disconnect the set-up and cap the outside of the PVC. Not sure what kind of stress this puts on my Aquasurge 2000 but it's been 3 years without issue.
My furnace is oil heat and old and The furnace room gets up to 110* + when that thing kicks on. Besides the furnace itself stays warm at all times. I figure it's wasted energy anyway and I should put it to some kind of good use.
Very interesting mike...definitely an original concept, at least as far as I am aware.
We do not run the pond during the winter, at least yet...
And the location of our furnace is not really convenient.
However it should be taken into consideration for indoor basement pond use in the future perhaps. Plus our furnace hasnt been working. The wood pile out back is looking a little small.
