Pond Heating (electric)

[blacksmith37]

I got tired of guessing so I looked up a conversion for electric power to heat; The answer is 1 kilowatt.hour = 3,415 BTU = 860 kgram calories. If you forgot , a BTU is the energy to heat one pound of water one degree F. Tough luck if you work in metric.
My 1200 gal pond losses 82 BTU/hr/ F degree (with 80% of the surface covered). Putting in 200 watts (heater) plus 60watts (pump) is 888 BTU /Hr. So the 260 watts of heat will hold the temp constant when the air temp is about 11F lower than the water temp (888/82=11F +/-).Alternatively , my pond losses 0.0082 F /Hr/degree F, or 0.25 F/Hr with an air temp 30F below the water temp.

 

[portabuddy]

COOL so what size will i need for my 13 000gallon pond? lol...9000watts?

 

[blacksmith37]

First convert pond size to mass/pounds; 13000 X 8.3lb/gal = 108,000 lb. So it will take 108,000 BTU to warm it one F degree. To get KW devide by the factor 3415 = 31.6 KW, or 9.000 watts will heat it 1F in 3.5 hr. If your power costs .10/KW , it will cost $3.16 to heat each degree F. Maybe you should get some cold water fish.

 

[RadleyMiller]

Why are you trying to heat your pond. I live in Delaware and just let if freeze but keep a hole in the ice with a bubbler to let gases escape from the water. What is in the pond that cannot be taken inside? If it's Koi or Goldfish, you will be fine.