[Lakegeezer]

The start time depends on where you are on the lake. In coves and northeastern areas, the freeze can come mid-December but it varies. It is important to keep the bubbler going when the new ice is thin. It can move and will move a dock with it if frozen to it. Once the ice is thick, running the bubbler a few hours a day is enough, and only when its below freezing, because the ice isn't moving laterally. In the spring, when the melt starts, you want the posts free from the ice so that the ice doesn't lift your dock up as the water level rises. Then, as winterh said, once the ice is on its way out, there is not much you can do but hope. One theory is that you should still keep bubbling to a minimum, so the ice can't get up momentum. Another theory is that you should bubble 24x7 around mid-April, so the open water is as large as possible. I've see both methods work and not work. Every year is an experiment.