Here's what I did, this only took me about 1 hour to make and you
probably have all the parts you need at home.

1 tupperware container approximately 2 ft x 2ft x 1.5ft (LxWxH)
4 milk jugs or water bottles or soda bottles
8 small bolts and nuts
dremel/drill
100 watt light bulb (or whatever size you want)
light bulb to plug adapter - this lets you plug a bulb into an outlet

First cut the top off all 4 containers.

Next attach each container to the inside corners of the tupperware
container (make sure you're jugs are big enough to support the
tupperware so it won't sink). Make the jugs protrude from the container
a few inches so the gases can escape, plus it will sink a little bit.

Cut a hole in the top of the tupperware container for the lightbulb.

Attach lightbulb to extension cord with bulb adapter, pull the plugs
apart so it won't fall into the pond (just to be paranoid). Also, if you
drilled the hole on the tupperware container just the right size the
extension cord will hold the bulb from falling. Just make the hole small
at first, you can always make it bigger if you need to.


That's pretty much it.. here's a pic of what mine looks like

http://members.cox.net/michaelshaffer/heater.jpg

It also lights up the pond and looks really cool.

The only problem might be if you're pond has a few inches of ice it
probably won't make a new hole all by itself.


Hope this helps,
Mike





CLAIRE wrote:
we have tried putting a tennis ball in the centre of our garden pond
to stop the water from freezing however, with the bad weather recently
this hadn't worked. Can anyone suggest an alternative?