Pond Heaters

You love your pond, you love your fish, so come the glorious English inter you will want to keep those little beauties from dying a slow and cold, painful death. You will want to invest in a pond heater before the weather gets too cod and frosty and you’re lovely bond begins to freeze over in those cold winter mornings. There are quite a few months of the year where your garden pond may benefit from a touch of heat, so check out pond heaters today.

There are loads of pond heaters on the market, so be sure to check them all out and compare the prices, you will need to make sure the pond heater you purchase is suitable for the pond you have in your yard or garden.  As your pond provides you with so much joy, it is worth while spending the time to find the best pond heater to keep your pond, your fish and ultimately you happy. Even if you live in a cold climate you can invest in a pond and pond heater for the all year round enjoyment of your beautiful water feature. There are mainly two different kinds of pond or water heaters, ones that are submerged and ones that float on top. They can use electric, natural gas or oil, so you have a choice of the fuel you want to use.  The floating kind sit right on top of the water r ice in the freezing months of the year and melt a hole in the ice, allowing any accumulating gases to escape from the water into the air, this keep your pond healthier.  The underwater or submerged ones, sit under neater the water, sometimes on the bottom of the pond and heat a larger area of water. Although the submerged ones heat the water better, the floating ones consume less energy.  You can choose a water heater between 100 – 1500 watts.

Electric Pond Heaters

Electric pond heaters are more compact, cleaner and easier to install than the gas or oil powered pond heaters, however, they are not as common. Choosing to heat your pond using electric can be an expensive way of heating the water, however you can install a thermostat to regulate the water temperature and keep excess use of the heater to a minimum. Electric pond heaters go from 3kw (for the very smallest pond) up to 18kw (suitable for approx 10,000 gallon, max). The small compact ones are an L shaped design and are pretty easy to install, the pond water is pumped in through one end, heated, then out through the other into the pond. Please be sure to check for any toxic metals that may be passed out into the water as these sorts of heaters are mainly used for swimming pools, any parts of metal that go into the water of your pond may be unhealthy for your fish. On the whole these types of electric pond water heaters are not totally water proof and will need to be situated next to the pond as with the external pond filter. You will also need to have a dedicate power supply for this type of pond heater and it would require some electrical knowledge to fit it, maybe even a qualified electrician.  

Gas Powered Pond Heaters

When it comes to gas powered heaters there are two kinds you need to know about, these are direct heaters and indirect heaters. The gas heaters are generally more economical and they are known to offer a bigger capacity than their electric counterparts. On the other side of the coin, these gas options are larger and require other bits and bobs, like gas and flu, so there is more to consider.

What will it cost?

When comparing electric and gas heaters, units delivering similar heating capacity should be compared. The cost of purchase (not including installation and running costs) for 18Kw or 55,000 BTU units are as follows:

Electric Heater: 600 + VAT

Gas Fired Adapted Swimming Pool Heater: 1100 + Vat

Gas Fired Domestic Boiler with stainless steel heat exchanger: 750 + VAT