Dock Bubbler - Best Practices

[Lakegeezer]

After a few winters, it seems like a good time to exchange stories again on dock bubblers. Everyone’s setup is a little different, and I’m curious about what people have found works well in real life. How long do you tend to run them, whether timing matters, and how you position or aim the fan. I’m especially interested in approaches that keep docks safe while keeping the open-water footprint as small as practical along the shoreline. Do you let some ice form and clear it as needed, or try to keep things open all the time? If you’ve adjusted your setup over the years based on what you’ve seen, tell us what’s worked for you.

[DickR]

Although my own dock is crank-up, I've helped monitor/adjust a neighbor's bubbler, and I oversee a friend's bubbler operation elsewhere through the winter. In both cases, the "bubbler" (aka "circulator") is the typical configuration of electric motor with a propeller, which produces an upward and inward flow of water during an operating interval. A timer, digital or mechanical, provides selection of multiple ON intervals and the duration of each.

An operating strategy that works well in one location may not work well in another, particularly when exposed to a lot of wind over a huge expanse of ice. In any case, when spring brings melting of the ice pack at the shorelines and the pack becomes mobile, wind can move the pack, however slowly, faster than a bubbler can melt it. Spring typically is when most dock damage is suffered, and that's up to Mother Nature.

I think it's better to have more short ON times than a few very long ON times. Once the upflow of water has taken out any ice formed since the last interval ended, continued operation accomplishes nothing. One thing a long ON interval does do is set a larger mass of water in motion, and when that inward flow reaches the shoreline it flows laterally, in some cases melting out the ice all the way across a neighbor's property, preventing his access to the ice. Furthermore, it's arguably better to have the the ice pack anchored to the shore on either side of the dock, to help retard movement of the ice pack when the wind blows.

Sources can be found that give expected ice formation rate vs. air temperature. Keeping any ice at all from forming around a dock when the bubbler is not running is not really needed. A very thin layer of ice doesn't have an awful lot of strength to it, and a bubbler doesn't need much time to remove such a thin layer. Some timers, like the old favorite Intermatic, allow intervals in 15-minute increments. Others provide 30-minute increments, one of which I think is sufficient in most situations. One such interval every three or four hours means a 2.5 or 3.5 hour interval of OFF time between ON times, and that's not an awful lot of time for ice formation.

In the case of a multi-dock installation protected by two or more bubblers, the schedule of ON intervals can be staggered across the bubblers, so that the area served by one bubbler can be partially served by the flow from another.

I'm sure others will have their own thoughts on this. It's a hot topic during the winter, as there are too many installations where bubblers run far too long, with little oversight, to the dismay of abutters.

[VitaBene]

Thanks Bill!!

[LIforrelaxin]

The best practice is to Monitor, the situation..... I have seen to many people use the set it and forget it principal. While I understand this if your property is on an island, I don't understand it when the property is accessible through the winter.

As DickR rightful points out there are a number of variables, and they aren't consistent year to year... What may work this year may not work so well next year.

On top of this, what people tend to forget, is the biggest source of damage, comes when the ice starts shifting around... Once the sheets are formed, when they decided to move they are moving until they are stopped.... regardless of Dock Bubblers.... Use a bubbler sparingly, you will anchor ice in front of what you are keeping open, and fend off at least for a while moving sheets.........

[Pine Island Guy]

my solution may not be for everyone, but after many years of changing things around, this is what I have found works best on my dock...

As the posters before me have said, bubblers do very little when the ice is breaking up and large sheets of ice are being blown into your dock! However this time of year it is important to keep the water from freezing around cribs and pilings. Especially with the extremely low lake level, if the ice freezes solid around dock pilings and the lake level begins to rise... the ice will try and lift the pilings along with the water level...

I use a combination of a timer and thermostat (and living pretty much year-round on the island I can adjust as needed). The timer is tied to the outlet, the thermostat next, then the ice-eater plugged into that. This way the bubbler will only activate during the time periods I've selected and ONLY if the temperature hits 30F (and agree with the previous posts that a few sporadic times are better than an extended time). This combination keeps my power bills lower. The "time on" schedule is only during the daytime, my thinking is that it won't freeze up too much overnight, the temps are warmer during the day and if there is sun, it all helps to break up anything.

So far so good, now we just need some ice!!! -PIG

[Dockbubblers]

Hello, I'm happy to answer any questions. We've tried to make our website informative with a guided system selection section and several informational links and videos:
- https://dockbubblers.com/
- https://dockbubblers.com/pages/how-it-works
- https://dockbubblers.com/pages/dockb...tems-selection
- https://www.youtube.com/@Dockbubblers
While we started in NH, we have customers across the northern states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, NY, NJ, PA, MA, etc.
Happy to answer any questions.
- Craig