Quote:
Originally Posted by Webbsatwinni
When we arrived at Rattlesnake we noticed that our bubbler was not working and the ice around the dock was thick. The timer and temp control was working and with the silence of the lake, we could hear the bubbler below the ice.
We cut a hole in the ice where we thought we placed the bubber (the ice near the dock was 9+ inches) and found that the plastic fins on the prop were sheared off. We were able to get a new one from water mark and fixed it and now the ice is wearing away.
When we drove around Rattlesnake, we did make an observation. Although there were many docks with thin ice signs, only a few had open water, the rest looked as solid as ours did. Do most people come back (or have a service do it) towards the end of winter and start the bubblers to save power or is there a larger issue that may be caused by debris or the electrical issues that island experienced (or is still experiencing)?
Being new to the bubbler thing (last year) we were told to set it when we left and let it run for the winter.
I guess my concern is for those who left their bubblers set in October and assumed that they are working away, to me, that did not seem to be the case.
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Webbsatwinni - I can tell you from our own experience this winter that the bitterly cold stretch of weather we've had, coupled with the high winds, have made it a challenge for us to keep open water around our dock even with a circulator going 24 hours a day! I've had to go down to the dock a number of times with a long, strong pole and whack at the ice that has formed even where there is good water circulation. It seems that the water temp even 4 - 5 feet down (where our circulator prop is) is so close to 32 degrees that the bitterly cold air temp. and wind have been able to flash-freeze the surface of the water even though it has been in motion. We've even had a frozen dome of ice that has formed directly over the circulator. I think without my whacking the ice with the pole on a number of occasions, our dock would have probably frozen in too. Even with the manual whacking of the ice, the area of open water at our dock is the smallest we've ever seen in our 15 winters at the lake.
One other factor that may be affecting Rattlesnake is the length of time the power was out after the ice storm several weeks ago. Days without power no doubt let the ice grow fairly thick where circulators/bubblers weren't able to run.
Any idea what caused the prop. blades on your circulator to shear off?