Increased water evaporation!

[Master Zero]

My 350+ pond is losing about 50% of water everyday since the weather became cold. If the filter is running, the pond then loses about 75% of water in the course of 24 hours? What could be causing this? I can see no visible sign of damage. It was the same story last year when the water got cold, but during the summer…nothing. Does water truly evaporate at an increased rate in cold weather? Or is there something truly wrong here, a phenomenon perhaps?

[hankn]

What is the water temperature when you have water loss vs when you do not have water loss? What type of pond do you have - PVC liner? Cement? Water fall? What type of pump? What type of filter? Pix?

[Reddog80p]

My 350+ pond is losing about 50% of water everyday since the weather became cold. If the filter is running, the pond then loses about 75% of water in the course of 24 hours? What could be causing this? I can see no visible sign of damage. It was the same story last year when the water got cold, but during the summer…nothing. Does water truly evaporate at an increased rate in cold weather? Or is there something truly wrong here, a phenomenon perhaps?

No way evaporation would remove half your water in a day. Sounds like a hole in a liner, or a hose or fitting leak. Do you have an external bio-filter, or a hose running up to a spitter or waterfall?

[Master Zero]

It’s a hard plastic that of material in the shape of an eight. As for filter, I have been using a pond mater 2000. I also have a 700 UVC pressure-flo high performance system which I was planning on installing as soon as I pick up a pump.

I don’t think it’s a hole in the pond because when the water reaches a certain level, it does not drop anymore, or at the very lest not as rapidly. Two days ago I filed it up to the top, and yesterday the water level dropped to about 45% remaining (just a little bit past the halfway mark). Today, the water level remained the same and has not gone down any further. Oh and it’s colder today then it has been anytime before I notices this. The temperature is at 32 F (it snowed today in the morning, and rained the rest of the day which increased the level slightly). I will not fill it back up tonight so I can see if it will go down any lower tomorrow.

[judgemax]

might I suggest, that since the ground is freezing, or unfreezing, in certain places, that the expansion, and deflation, is causing a fitting some where to not work? It seems the only logical thing, since its happening only at certain times..This happens to my dads, pond,. when the ground freezes , it expands, and pushes on the large plastic tub, and his top pond barrel, it causes just enough movement, that some of the water drains, ..

[hankn]

As the Judge said - it is the only logical explanation other than a flying elephant coming and drinking your pond water at night.

[Desertponder]

Well, it certainly sounds like you have a leak but if you say this happens every year and not during the summer? That is very odd. I guess it could be an expansion issue but it shouldn't be that much.
Where is your pond? Is it open to wildlife? Could something be coming in at night and drinking the water??
I still think you have a leak somewhere though.

[hotpod]

actually my pond has been doing the same exact thing...everyday about 50% water just gone! however i asked my dad who is a ceo of electric coop...and he told me something neat about that....here is what he told me about where my water was going. he got this info from a nursey that was thinking of switching power to my dads company........ they were really worried about electric cutoffs and not having water to the plants during winter...so they asked a lot of questions about...what can they do to keep water moving in the winter but not really summer...and he asked why they needed it so bad. they explained that when the humidity and temp drops, evaporation increases by 50 to 100%....espeically during times of high wind speeds....the winter months are the most critical to have electricity for water pumps becuase the add over twice the amount of water in the winter than summer months becuase or evaporation alone...so all of their plants would die in ONE day! isnt that crazy? if they had to go without fresh water for 24 hours....i thought that was soo cool....so high wind speeds, low humidity, and lower temperatures cause evaporation levels rise at unbelievable rates!!!!!!!!!! so there ya go. sorry for the story but i thought it was cool that a random nursey was the answer to my fish pond problems

[FishyFry]

Nice post hotpod. I have an indoor pond and have noticed the same increase in evaporation due to both lower humidity and temperature. In this case, however, the period of time is one week, rather than one day. Obviously, I do not have to worry about the air temps becoming so low as outside, but it is controlled by a dry heat source (adding to the loss of moisture). Finally, I don't have a 45 mph wind blowing in the house either (unless, of course,... well, no, I don't talk that much). :grinno:

[Master Zero]

I am actually on the losing end of this phenomenon this winter. I had 13 two year old goldfishes that were in there. After a short freeze over of the pond, the next day almost all of the water was gone. Panicking, I added water and forgot to add de-chlorinator…well I have lost a number of my two year old goldfishes and all of my baby goldfish. Only about six goldfish are left but they seem very weak...I feel that it may be only a matter of time before they too are gone with the wind...it’s been a tragic holiday season for me. I can only hope that things will get better.

[PEMfish]

Plastic pond? Those usually only last a few years, tops. With the colder temps the plastic on the fittings or liner may have cracked. A waterfall could also be the problem. Sorry to hear bout the fish.

[Desertponder]

That is an interesting explanation.
I live in the desert where we have very little humidity and wind is common place and I've never had 50% loss to evaporation. Not even close.
Now, you'll lose a great deal of water when the wind blows if you have spitters or a waterfall of any kind. You would be surprised at how much you lose in a short time if they are running in the wind.

[silentskream]

yes but cold air can hold more moisture than warm air.. so it will evaporate more if its dry and cold than if its dry and hot (like a desert)

[PEMfish]

Cold air can hold more moisture? Sure about that? Think about it; When air - like many other substances - heats up it expands. Humidity ( moisture in air ) is only relevant to density of air. The humidity % is the % of water the air is holding and its out of total capability at that given temp. So the warmer the air the more it can hold. 100% humidly at 20* is less water volume then 100% humidity at 85*. So I think that warmer air can actually hold more moisture.

[THE V]

Alright time to throw in a little explanation. Water evaporation from any body of water is due to several things: Air motion, temperature, and relative humidity. These interactions are normally referred to as vapor pressure.

Air does hold less total water at lower temperatures than at higher temps. As the temperature dropped the air becomes more and more saturated. Until the dew point, the point where the relative humidity is 100% and water precipitates out of the air.

Now the speed of evaporation is dependent upon the layer of air directly above the liquid water. This has a micro-environment where due to evaporation the humidity is very close to 100% regardless of what the ambient atmospheric relative humidity. So the speed of evaporation is directly linked to how fast the gases water moves away from the body of water. So in still air, the lower the relative humidity is the faster water diffuses away from the micro-environment (more sucking power from the outside atmosphere. As diffusion is heat dependent the colder it is the slower it goes (the molecules slow down). An important note to remember is that more liquid water cannot evaporate until there is room for it in the micro-climate directly above it.

Now wind speeds up the process dramatically because it removes the micro-environment directly above the water. This means than the humidity right next to the water is no longer close to 100%. Depending on the speed of the wind it can be almost exactly the same as the ambient environment. This means that there is less restrictions to water evaporating and it diffuses very quickly. It also causes ripples in the water which increases the surface area of active evaporation.

So I imagine in the winter with the colder temperatures also comes more wind and less plant foliage to deflect it. So on one night with a consistent cold wind blowing and low relative humidity it is highly feasible to loose this much water from your pond.

[Desertponder]

yes but cold air can hold more moisture than warm air.. so it will evaporate more if its dry and cold than if its dry and hot (like a desert)
__________________

But its not hot here, its COLD and dry. We're in the single digits at night this week.
We get winds, still, I don't get that kind of evaporation loss here.

Perhaps Master Zero does get that kind of water loss but I find it hard to believe he would lose that much every day strictly to evaporation.

[Sploke]

We've been having nights in the teens for the past month, I have a 1200gal pond with a small waterfall that runs year round to promote gas exchange. I haven't seen any noticeable evaporation in the past several weeks.

If you're losing 250+ gallons per day, there's got to be something else going on other than evaporation.

[PEMfish]

And now I'm expected to remember what I almost learned in science class years ago. I had bit and peaces right...