a new gizmo for keeping holes open

[renny]

saw it at game-fair, was good idea, a little air pump that circulated the water in your hole to keep it from freezing up, till the next time you can get back to your fish house. made sense simce moving water does'nt freeze as quick, plus the guy said that your mixing the warmer water at bottom of hole with the top and that keeps it open. there around 35.00 a pop, but if a guy has already invested 8 to 12,000 for a house?? another new toy, what could possilby be next?

[Chris_Wallace]

How did the pump run? Batteries? Solar? I like to re-auger my holes, I think when you get a fresh start the edges of the holes are alot crisper.

[PikeTipper]

I saw the same deal and I think the guy said it would run for 72 hours on a vex battery.

[akomadogman]

Newbie that was my invention you are talking about. It runs on a battery, 12 volt same as the vexilar. As soon as it is done, started production today, I will be advertising it on this sight. Akoma Dog Man

[akomadogman]

That's 500-1000 hours without the Vexilar going....Akoma Dog Man

[renny]

thats alot of hrs, now if it works as good as you say, and i want one for every hole in fish house, could you hook up all 6 or 8 to one big battery, how long would that last. I hate reopening holes. and i forgot,but how long would this keep a hole open, other than the battery going dead. 5 days?? good luck with this.

[akomadogman]

Newbie, A 7 amp hour battery (typical Vexilar) will run one unit a minimum 500 hours. A typical deep cell is 70-100 amp hours. If you do the math, it could run several units for weeks. In your case running 6 of them would be a breeze as they have such a small wattage draw.The neat thing is even though cold really can hammer a battery, if you lose 75% of a battery's power, you still have enough to keep this thing rolling. I am very excited as we tested this thing at very cold temps and it really came through. The Dog

[Ice9]

If the power supply fails, does the pump freeze into the hole, and that's all she wrote? Not that I'm more likely than the next guy to let that happen, but...well, OK, I'm more likely than the next guy to let that happen.

???

Ice

[renny]

I failed electical stuff in shop class! but i see point, 500 hrs thats 20 days, of course its not like i would be away from fish house that long, but there are times 4 or 5 days can easly pass before i get back to fishing. that would be the beauty of the thing. by the way what do you call it or can't you give away the secert yet. I,am sure i would start with one and check it out. hope this adventure turns out for you, its fun thinking of the next thing you just got to have.

[Tyler Holm]

A concern I may have is my holes getting too skinny. If this device in fact keeps the ice off the top of the hole, does it also keep your hole at its original diameter?

There are several times where I can just kick the ice off the top of a hole, but I don’t use it since the 8” hole has shrunk to about 5-6 inches. This forces me to fire up the auger.

[vexilar65]

In my opinion its just another marketing item. If you cant keep your hole clear of ice, then you shouldnt be ice fishing because thats just plain laziness. Its becoming a joke with all the new equipment out there to make fishing so much less challenging, and fun. Its ice fishing, love it and deal with the elements.

[beer batter]

Easy Vex65. With that kind of mentality we'd all be sitting on buckets all winter chipping holes with a steel rod. I'm all for new inventions. The power auger, the electronic depth finder, the portable propane heater - these all make things much easier and comfortable on the ice.

Don't get me wrong, I still spend a fair amount of time on a bucket, just not in conditions below zero. Reopening holes inside of the carpeted shack always creates a mess. An invention to maintain open holes inside the shack definitely has a market if it can be had for a reasonable price.

Some ice fishing items are more cumbersome than beneficial. Those are the things I choose not to purchase.

[renny]

vex65 I hear what your saying, and there are times that I want to do what my great grandfather did, but as time went on he to probley bought things that started to improve his time in the harsh outdoors. Your not the guy he's marketing to anyway cause you enjoy a more primitive style. Why do guys muzzleload, and the next whats 5 shells in the clip? I do a little of both worlds, but in todays hurry up world, and I can only get to my fishing holes every 4 or 5 days, having something keep them open for me is a convenice that i would be willing to pay for. So do I fight to reopen holes, move my house, or just start fishing?

[vexilar65]

i understand what you are all saying, and some took me wrong. Im not 100% primitive, i have a vex. and ice house, but my point is when is it going to stop with all the new equipment. we dont even need to hold the rod anymore, they have something made that does it for us. Now thats just plan laziness, but for some reason we buy in to it. Thats my point, and just hope you understand that just because its out there doesnt make it right, and for sure doesnt make the fish bite.

P.S. im not mad about this, just stating my opinion. that's what this site is about.

Thanks

[akomadogman]

Thanks for all the input guys. It is these types of comments that really make this "hole" endeaver so fun. There are a couple of questions I want to address. If you left it in the hole and it froze solid below the pump system, that's down about 10 inches, well ouch you would have to some careful surgery getting it back out. It is made of an extremely tough plastic so I think it could survive. If the pump part was still in the water, start it up and it should melt away the ice enough to retrieve it. As far as will it keep the hole the same diameter all the way down, not for an extended period of time. The "negative" comments are also very much welcome. Even with my dog house heater, I sometimes get guys who say "my house is insulated and my dog does just fine!" I say , you crawl in there at -20 F and tell me how you sleep and how well you hunt the next day. This devive was invented to help a person spend more time fishing and less time screwing around with ice in their hole....ps it also keeps your line in constant motion without tangling. It is called the De-Ice Device and I will have it on this HSOforum as soon as production is close to done...end of Oct. Keep the comments coming and pray for early ice. Good Luck to all the grouse hunters next weekend. The Dog

[beer batter]

How about when the weather warms and the wind picks up? I've seen it where the snow banking around the perms melt away then the wind blows underneath the house opening up the holes wider and wider to the point where the holes connect and the fish house falls through.

I would guess having a device like this in those situations would accellerate the holes to melt away. User beware in those type of situations?

[folke2000]

[Note form admin: Please stay on topic]

[akomadogman]

Beer Batter, If the weather warms up, there won't be any ice forming in your hole. In reality it may enlarge the hole slightly over time but not to any significant degree. The Dog