Good evening everyone,
Been lazy and smart I was looking for a way to de-ice my holes without working hard and having to walk every 10 to 15 minutes in cold day for doing it.
I started last winter with isolofoil circles but even in cold temperature the ice freezed. They were working good for warmer weather tho.
I've seen on youtube videos showing a small box with a candle in it to keep the air around the hole hot enough so it won't freeze. The problem is it will cost at least one or two candles for everyday ice fishing for each hole. That being said when you go on the ice for 20-25 days in a season like I do for the last 2 years that's a decent amount of candles you need. The only good thing about that idea is the girl from the dollar store would think I am a romantic guy if I showed up at the cash register with a 100 candles.
There's also small vibrating floating pucks that keeps the hole from freezing. However their battery life is not that long and I have a doubt about them keeping the ice out of the hole when it's really cold.
That being said my idea came from my backyard pond life and tricks. I used a small air pump to keep a small area of the pond from freezing.
Since we have limited electric supply on the lake I decided to purchase a small 2w solar panel that I connected to a small air pump for aquarium.
When it's sunny outside this device can keep at least 2 holes from freezing at -15°C. I have mounted the solar panel on a small frame and installed the air pump on it as well. I have a splitter manifold to adjust each hoses airflow.
Black air hoses are better since they are not freezing compared to white or clear ones.
The cost per hole to de-ice is between 5-7$ CDN depending on where you take your material. The air hose cost .10$ a foot.
Obviously at night they will not work. (Don't know why
) Since I have a big car battery in my shanty I can power them with it without any issues. They use USB ports so they can be plugged in with a booster pack as well.
The solar panel on is stand in my workshop. For testing purposes I used a USB adapter but with the sun it's working great too.
Simple test I did for a whole day at -15°C with only one hole. The output of the hose was around 16'' deep which is too much for regular use.
The manifold with valves to adjust each output.
Two outputs at the same time.
Around 6.5'' deep and still working nicely.
I will test on the ice next week-end and let you know.
I don't pretend been the first one to use this idea but at least I though it was a good idea to share with you guys.
Sam
