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Thread: Heating, is it worth it?
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20-09-2021, 09:05 AM #101
Guess it's all about how it's insulated and covered but that dose sound for to cheap . Know samp was running a inline clover leaf type and was a lot more than that but with no covers on
Sent from my SM-G973F using TapatalkFreddyboy the legend
"we are water keepers first"
Johnathan
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20-09-2021, 10:03 AM #102
as Ajm had said insulation makes a big difference.
and it depends on how much you want to heat your pond, and it's size.
also where in the country you are,
those down south and in the west country don't get the deep frosts that central and northern counties do.
if you only want to iron out spring/autumn temperature swings with good insulation and covers on.
short term direct electric isn't too onerous. especially for smaller ponds.
start heating through the year, with anything over 2000 gallons and you could recoup your costs with an ASHP in a couple of years or less...
i was heating my old pond of 1000 gallons to 15C minimum during winter for about £40 a month. and my electric costs are 7p/ kwh economy 7 and 13p/ kwh day rate...
my new pond has much better insulation but would cost a lot more at 2500 gallons. so i'm looking to hook it up to gas central heating.
but at the moment is holding 24C with covers on overnight, and off during the day. with just a 1kw electro heater. and it's only 'on' for a few hours a night.
but in winter it would probably be 'on' 24/7 at a much higher cost...of over £100 a month
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20-09-2021, 12:34 PM #103
Very interesting topic.
I am in the hottest region of Portugal, but the temp fluctuates a lot.
It is not uncommon in some July-August days to reach 40ºC+ and them go down to below 20ºC at night.
This January we had -4 in the coldest nights. But the sun shines more than 300 days in the year. So the pond warms up during the day.
So in case, I do not plan to heat the pond (the electricity is also extremely expensive here), but I will heat the IBC grow out.
Interestingly, there was a koi keeper in Norway that had a fantastic pond (all around his house) with great fish and no heat. The top 0,5m to 1m water freezes completely during their winter.
His fish ate like pigs during the spring-summer and then completely shut down in the bottow of the pond (2,5m to 3m deep if I remember correctly) in late autumn and all winter. He had a window in the basement that allowed him to see the fish.
Those koi were big and though as nails !
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20-09-2021, 12:59 PM #104
Cheers , Dave .
Like you say - so many variables . I do know the guy`s pond is in the NW - as it was on NW koi keepers on Facebook . Other than that , I`m not sure .
I think if I got the inline type , Id probably end up upgrading to something more versatile pretty quickly . Might be better to bite the bullet and spend the extra to begin withColin
2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber
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20-09-2021, 01:15 PM #105
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21-09-2021, 10:54 AM #106
I believe putting the heat pump inside the filter house only turns it into a fridge if the cold air is also vented into it, therefor acting as a chiller. If you vent outside there will be a (albeit small) benefit of any air drawn in being warmed by the electrical equipment inside and any ambient warmth. Any time the heat pump isn't working the air inside the filter house will warm providing a benefit upon start up. Most of the advise about installation on the web refers to heating and hot water for a house, but we aren't using it for the same purpose.
When I finally get round to finishing my filter house I plan to move the heat pump into it and vent it through the fence so the cold air can't be drawn back in. In it's current position I get issues with icing in cold temperatures and I believe having it inside will help. The plan is that it will be a space in the wall that it can sit in so the vent will be outside the filter house so there will be no chance of any cold air affecting the filter house temp apart from any ambient air drawn in.
As I don't cover in winter I plan to have an intake vent that draws in air from over the top of the pond to gain some recycled heating too.
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21-09-2021, 11:35 AM #107
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21-09-2021, 11:48 AM #108
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21-09-2021, 11:49 AM #109
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21-09-2021, 11:51 AM #110John
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21-09-2021, 12:04 PM #111
20210921_115447[1].jpg20210921_115357[1].jpg20210921_115336[1].jpg
not much to tell really, its super easy to do,, yesterday it ran my heat pump and pond for 6 hours straight and sent excess energy back to the house which helped power house loads, then any extra the national grid stole for free,,,, but not for long next year will be increasing solar array to 8kwh and buying lifepo4 cells from china to make a 45kwh 48v storage battery that can then run my shed/workshop/pond
and the heat pump 100% off grid
never listen to the nay sayer's about solar that have zero experience of it, as you can see currently producing 1100w even though the sun isnt out .
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21-09-2021, 12:47 PM #112
How much did that setup cost you?
Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk13,000L fibreglassed raised pond with window
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21-09-2021, 12:52 PM #113
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21-09-2021, 12:55 PM #114
That's not bad for an upfront cost. Should pay for itself very quickly.
I've been toying with the idea myself, i.e. a small DIY set up on the pergola roof, rather than a proper rooftop array installed by an accredited company to get the feed-in tarif.
Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk13,000L fibreglassed raised pond with window
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21-09-2021, 12:55 PM #115
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21-09-2021, 01:00 PM #116
Do you have a smart meter?
If so does it recognise the excess solar power feeding your house, is being fed from the panels rather than your electricity supply?
Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk13,000L fibreglassed raised pond with window
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21-09-2021, 01:06 PM #117
feed in tariff a total waste of time and money, will take years to pay the upfront costs back, and the feed in payments have been slashed by tory governments , so wouldnt be surprized if they slash it further ,
mine isnt legit, as it feeds to national grid, however should the grid go down, my inverter also goes down as its g83 compliant as what installers fit.
i back feed to the house via 16a artic caravan hookup lead , any energy produced is used up by the closest source to the inverter ie the pond/heatpump then whats left goes to house then grid.
ive produce a peak of 20kwh in a day during the summer. average over the summer has been 15kwh
not bad from such a small array 2.8kwh with positive tolerance its peaks at 3100w per hour from the panels that only happens when the sun is directly over the panels for around 1 hour at around 1pm by 6pm producing around 1000w providing you get good clear skies .
even on shaded days i'd harvest around 8kwh
but its dependant on the quality of the panels .
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21-09-2021, 01:14 PM #118
nope , no smart meter, i dont need one
no it doesnt recognise what its feeding to what, it just produces the power and sends it,
a hybrid off grid inverter will tell you power loads and how much it draws from the grid, but it doesnt feed to the grid. hybrid inverters will charge battery backs, if using lithium then a BMS is required .
ive run off grid before with 48v 40kwh rolls surrette flooded lead acid batteries, down side with lead acid is they take far to long to charge 12+ hours , not good with solar , lithium take a few hours .
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21-09-2021, 02:22 PM #119
When finished my filter house roof will be south facing (well half of it) so I think I need to look into solar power, even if it just helps with the costs for the pond.
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21-09-2021, 02:28 PM #120
20210921_141642[1].jpg power increased to 1500w sun is still shaded by clouds, over 5kwh total today so far. Not bad to say this morning we had thick cloud cover .
this is worth doing for anyone here, you only need a small space ideally a shed roof or similar, or even ground mounted will do..
save £100's to £1000''''s on electricity every year.
this installation will save me around £1000 a year in what the pond would otherwise cost via rip off energy companies.
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Best plants to remove Nitrate
pug has a very impressive veg filter on his pond, have a look at some of his his youtube videos....