|
Home | Forums | Gallery | Webcams | Blogs | YouTube Channel | Classifieds | Calendar | Register | FAQ | Donate | Members List | Today's Posts | Search |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
12-06-2016, 08:27 PM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 94
Thanks: 57
Thanked 22 Times in 11 Posts
|
Water Circulators in the Winter
Hey gang - two questions for you. For those that use water circulators under their dock during the winter, when do you turn them on and do you usually file a permit with the town or state?
|
12-06-2016, 09:04 PM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Moultonboro, NH
Posts: 2,896
Thanks: 469
Thanked 682 Times in 380 Posts
|
I set up a camera and a remote system to turn it on an off. I start it when I see ice. How long it runs depends on temperature. For temps above 20 I usually run about 6 to 8 hours a day. When it gets really cold I run it more, at around 10 or below for highs I run all day. I use a service to install and remove, they will monitor it, but they tend to just leave it on when it starts to get real cold running the electric bill up so I control it myself.
|
12-06-2016, 09:48 PM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 130
Thanks: 70
Thanked 33 Times in 25 Posts
|
I follow pretty much the same protocol using remote cameras and system to turn the circulators on and off.
A permit is required to be filed with the town at a cost of 50 cents per circulator. Unfortunately, you only can pay for the current year, and must apply annually. |
12-06-2016, 10:05 PM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Merrimack and Welch Island
Posts: 4,187
Thanks: 1,274
Thanked 1,568 Times in 1,018 Posts
|
Isa that true for all towns?
|
12-07-2016, 08:00 AM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 130
Thanks: 70
Thanked 33 Times in 25 Posts
|
NH Statutes
270:33 Heating, Agitating or Other Devices in Public Waters, Safety Hazard. – No person shall put, place, operate or cause to be put, placed or operated in the waters of this state any so-called heating, agitating or other device which inhibits or prevents the natural freezing of water, or forming of ice, and impedes either the ingress or egress to or from ice by means of any public access thereto. If the heating, agitating or other device is placed anywhere else, nearby signs shall likewise be placed to warn of possible danger. Said signs shall read DANGER, THIN ICE and shall be of sufficient size to be readable at a distance of not less than 150 feet, and shall be visible from all directions and shall be equipped with reflectors and color-coded in a pattern unique for this purpose only. The department of safety is hereby authorized to establish said unique design and coloring and any homemade copies shall follow this design and coloring. The provisions of this section shall be enforced by any law enforcement agency under the direction of the department of safety pursuant to RSA 106-A:14 and the department of fish and game pursuant to RSA 206:26.
Source. 1973, 321:1, eff. Nov. 1, 1973. 270:34 Registration Required. – Any person operating or hereinafter operating any such agitating or heating device which tends to inhibit the natural production of ice on public waters must obtain a registration to be designed and distributed by the department of safety, from the municipal clerk of the town in which such device shall be operated and said registration shall contain the name and address of owner and the location of said device. A permanent file of such registrations shall be kept by municipal clerks and a fee of $.50 per registration may be charged. Source. 1973, 321:1, eff. Nov. 1, 1973. |
The Following User Says Thank You to Cobalt For This Useful Post: | ||
Descant (12-08-2016) |
Sponsored Links |
|
12-07-2016, 08:07 AM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Moultonboro, NH
Posts: 2,896
Thanks: 469
Thanked 682 Times in 380 Posts
|
Earl Bagley, Winnipesaukee Aquatherm service, that's who I use to install and remove my circulator. He takes care of the permit. He will also show up and repair/replace failed units which usually involves cutting through ice to recover.
http://www.manta.com/c/mm0z45r/winni...atherm-service |
12-07-2016, 08:54 AM | #7 |
Senior Member
|
If you need a water circulator, and do not want to spend the 300 to 500-dollar price for a used or new circulator, I have successfully used the 1/6-hp utility pumps sold by Lowe's now selling for about $80 each........ the Lowe's Utiltech, made in China, 1/6-hp utility pump. I used three pumps positioned for best coverage and ran them in line with a temp/time control for the three winter months. Each pump draws water from below and expels it straight up which agitates the surface water. It is easy to hang each pump with a single rope line from the dock or boat lift.
For its size, compared to other 1/6-hp pumps, the Utiltech 1/6-hp is very heavy because it is made with a vinyl coated, cast iron body and the heavy weight helps to keep it stationary while in use, hanging from a single rope line. Colder air temps call for longer running time to fight back the building ice ..... especially in the month of January ...... it's all about the air temp ..... and ice is much stronger, sturdier and resistant to a hand held ice chopper at say 10-degrees than it is at 25-degrees. Colder = stronger and more elastic and sturdy ice ........ colder temps = a stronger and sturdier molecular bond within the ice. ........... One of the neighborhood issues with water circulators is the noise of constantly splashing water. Is possible to have an unoccupied home, next door, with a noisy, constant, splashy circulator that creates a lot of unwanted noise, like a water torture, for the next door neighbor who lives there in the winter ........ what to do ...... who do you call ........ hello-911......all this splashy, water noise is driving me c-r-a-z-y ....... so's please, let's get a cop down here asap .....pdq ......and make it a code-3 ........ yikes ..... !
__________________
... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake! Last edited by fatlazyless; 12-07-2016 at 10:46 AM. |
12-07-2016, 11:44 AM | #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,570
Thanks: 150
Thanked 229 Times in 166 Posts
|
50 cents per Circulator is that right?? Hardly seems worth the paperwork.
|
12-07-2016, 12:20 PM | #9 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Alton Bay
Posts: 5,578
Blog Entries: 2
Thanks: 2,426
Thanked 1,938 Times in 1,072 Posts
|
Quote:
Sent from my GT-P5210 using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app
__________________
I Live Here... I am always UPTHESAUKEE !!!! |
|
12-07-2016, 12:24 PM | #10 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tuftonboro
Posts: 1,205
Thanks: 184
Thanked 310 Times in 227 Posts
|
We've had Earl for years at our Association and I have never had record of him filing for a permit. I found out about the permit last year and filed for it myself as the town had no record.
|
12-07-2016, 12:59 PM | #11 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 42
Thanks: 22
Thanked 12 Times in 8 Posts
|
Something to mention - try to be cognizant of the affect your water circulator is having on the ice thickness in front of your next door neighbors. If you are not careful you can cut off access to the ice for other people. Just a thought - those who do not participate in on-ice activities might not think about this aspect.
|
12-07-2016, 01:14 PM | #12 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tuftonboro
Posts: 1,205
Thanks: 184
Thanked 310 Times in 227 Posts
|
Very good point TC mike. I have this problem. Neighbor leaves a seasonal dock in all winter and throws a circulator off the end of it so we cant get on the ice off our beach anymore.
|
12-07-2016, 01:21 PM | #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Bear Island
Posts: 1,761
Thanks: 32
Thanked 440 Times in 207 Posts
|
I use an "Ice Eater Thermostat" that sells on ebay for $25. It plugs in-line with a circulator and turns it on under 32 degrees. You can also buy an adjustable thermostat, but its a lot more money and you might set it wrong.
It will pay for itself the first year. |
12-07-2016, 01:21 PM | #14 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 130
Thanks: 70
Thanked 33 Times in 25 Posts
|
Quote:
|
|
12-07-2016, 02:35 PM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: phoenix and moultonboro
Posts: 1,528
Thanks: 59
Thanked 269 Times in 189 Posts
|
I had one thru a local dock company for ten years. As long as you don't impact waterway and have a red danger sign you should not have a problem. I certainly didn't bother with a permit and didn't know it even existed . I also had a temp setting box so I believe it went on and off on its own. The service did come out every couple of weeks to check that it still worked
__________________
it's tough to make predictions specially about the future |
The Following User Says Thank You to phoenix For This Useful Post: | ||
DBreskin (12-11-2016) |
12-07-2016, 03:38 PM | #16 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Moultonborough
Posts: 741
Thanks: 4
Thanked 257 Times in 169 Posts
|
Search for prior threads
This subject has come up before. Do a search on this forum for them. There have been many good points made on the use and overuse of circulators, including how the extent and frequency of time-on periods can depend on location and wind exposure, and on trying to deal with neighboring property owners whose use prevents you from accessing the lake.
|
The Following User Says Thank You to DickR For This Useful Post: | ||
greeleyhill (12-08-2016) |
12-07-2016, 05:23 PM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: pine island of course!
Posts: 406
Thanks: 243
Thanked 246 Times in 112 Posts
|
thermostat and timer
I only had a thermostat on mine until a couple of years ago when we had a few weeks where it never got above freezing, so the unit ran 24/7 and created a pretty wide swath of open water around both sides of the dock, which was problematic for us getting off the ice to shore (had to walk up from the neighbors).
Since then, I coupled the thermostat with a timer, so if the air temp is less than 32, the timer will let it run up to 9 hours (always enough to clear up everything), but just enough around the dock, and saves $$ too! Had to scoop snow out of the boat for the commute this morning -PIG ps: a good portion of Wicwas is frozen... if the cold temps keep up... we should see ice forming in Winni within the next couple of weeks |
12-08-2016, 05:17 AM | #18 |
Senior Member
|
...... arrrggghhhhhh...... here comes the deep freeze!
.....cold....cold....cold......have you seen the weather forecast starting six days from today....supposedly, the weather is dipping into the semi deep freeze with three days of lows down to zero degrees ...... yikes.....it is definitely time for me to go get my 40' dock and boat lift out and up onto the land, dragging it all up and over a six foot rocky embankment....
......don't mean to be braggn' here....but I am like the greatest 65-year old, one man dock removal team, in the world history of removing docks.....ho-ho-ho......and arrrggghhhhhh! ........ :....I do it with a 10' ramp and now with two come-alongs since the winch got worn out last year?
__________________
... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake! |
12-11-2016, 11:57 AM | #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: weirs beach,
Posts: 286
Thanks: 37
Thanked 39 Times in 32 Posts
|
I have a circulator set in front of my dock, last year was my first year on the lake dealing with a dock and Ice. Set mine up on timer to go on for 6 hours and go off for 6, worked well. In reading blogs people talk about a thermostat controlled remotely, how does that work? If it is set for 32 degrees wouldn't run all the time?
|
12-18-2016, 03:48 PM | #20 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 753
Thanks: 59
Thanked 271 Times in 129 Posts
|
Thermostat!
I also use a standard timer and an inline thermostat that cuts out above freezing. Saved a lot on electricity when i added that.
I put up a thin ice sign but have never gotten a permit in over 20 years. I echo the concern about the hyperactive use of circulators by some. It's as much about direction of the flow as hours run. Both matter. I still cannot understand why the town of Meredith runs the circulator so heavily at Cattle Landing that it destroys access there all winter. At the only public parking area on that part of the lake. They can protect the floating dock pilings without creating a thirty foot circle of open water. Yes i reached out to a Selectman a few years back and got a nice response that led to no action. |
12-18-2016, 08:14 PM | #21 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Meredith
Posts: 1,684
Thanks: 1,195
Thanked 675 Times in 178 Posts
|
Quote:
As for the annual permit, I look at it this way: 1) it's required by law, and 2) how much increased legal & financial liability could you potentially incur if someone fell through thin ice near your dock and you had no permit for the circulator? Those two factors make getting a permit each year an easy decision for me.
__________________
DRH |
|
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to DRH For This Useful Post: | ||
smith point boater (12-19-2016), thinkxingu (12-19-2016), trfour (12-19-2016), upthesaukee (12-18-2016) |
12-18-2016, 08:33 PM | #22 | |
Senior Member
|
Quote:
And, on the other hand, could be the town simply doesn't want the Cattle Landing town dock to become a 'go to' spot for snowmobiles, atv's, and bob houses to access the lake via the 60" opening in the blue fence, there? You know that were the opening in the fence to re-constructed from a 60" opening down to a 12" open, the reduced size could restrict the winter access away from the snowmobiles, atv's and bob-houses.....and much more toward pedestrian use by snowshoe, hikers, and cross country skiers ........ here here!!! If that fence don't fit ...... then you must omit ....... git off that machine and go take a hike ..... !
__________________
... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake! Last edited by fatlazyless; 12-18-2016 at 09:34 PM. |
|
Bookmarks |
|
|