Looking for ideas on how to keep holes from freezing up

[ice_l0rd]

Hey all,

Just looking for some thoughts on how you are keeping your holes from freezing up in your icehouse. I boil lake water on the heater and dump into the holes but this is only a short term answer.

[fishing tech]

How big of a shack do you have? Is the wind and outside air sealed off from blowing accross the holes. You may just need a bigger heater.

[Random guy]

When it's this cold outside not much will slow down the holes freezing shut. The hot water trick does help and make sure you have plenty of banking around the house, espicaily in areas of the tire housing and propane tanks. Those items really help to bring the cold down to the ice.

[Desperado]

do a google search for

holee molee

[End of the Line]

Get your house sealed down better if possible and as close to the ice as you can get. I have never had that problem in mine, but its only 3.5 inches off the ice.

[boneyslayer]

Have no idea, never saw mine freeze up while I fished.To busy catching fish.

[Gadgetman]

I have posted this b4. Reeds sells an item called a "HOle Saver" that is a yellow ballon type deal that you can shove down your hole and you can clip a bait bucket it on thebottom or it. I have left my hard house in one spot for weeks without having to re drill. I am sure it is to late in the season to find them but they are available, and work great.

[somedays]

i have seen before a coffee can, charcoal, and copper tubing set up in a fashion that warm water was always flowing in to the hole. sorry i don't know how to set it up but i have seen it work

[newfoldener]

Try cutting off the bottom of a five gallon pale and putting it down the hole. That should stop the wind blowing over the hole.

[GoodToGo]

Also, if you have the five gallon pail setup, you can stick another 5 inside the first when you leave. Leave the bottom on the inside pail, and fill it with insulation and put a top on it. Will keep holes open for a few days at least.

[Panfish Guy]

Another idea that may help is to use small 12v fans to push the warm air from the ceiling of the house down to the floor.

[ASMOLEY]

I have never done this but i have been thinking about it. Use RV antifreez in the hole. This is the antifreeze that you would put in the water line over the winter to prevent any line breakage. It's 100% non-toxic but it still hold me back because i don't know the effects that it would cause to a lake. I'm not talking about dumping a gallon jug down your hole but if a guy where to put it in a spray bottle and give your hole a few mists i think it would work. Anyone else have any insight to this?

[Bruce Mosher]

The Holee Molee works really good. 4-D batteries to run it. It's a water pump in your hole that swirls the water. I also have been playing with my new "Toy" That works off of 2 D batteries and works Very Good! I can't disclose the idea yet. But you'll see it on the market next season. I used it every time this season in an extra hole. I've left it outside all day in -11 degrees with the Rod Rocker 2 in a hole and it worked flawlessly! A perfectly clean hole. Bruce Mosher

[vikingmeatwad]

Some guys by us at the jaycees tourney had a can or something with charcoal and just moved it to be by theyr tip ups in the hole. Looked like a (Contact US Regarding This Word) good idea.

[crappace]

Every year at at the Jaycees contest in Brainerd more and more coffee cans are showing up. It wont work in a perm shack because of the fumes. The fumes are tough enough when they are blowing in your face for 3 hours at that contest. They would be brutal in a house.

I would say banking better and more heat are the keys here.

[akomadogman]

Haven't been back for a while but Bruce is correct. The Holee Molee does work great. Ran it through a ton of tests under very extreme conditions (North Dakota mostly). You will also find that it makes the bottom of your hole wider, allowing fish to come right up.You will see it on this site next fall, guaranteed!! The Dog

[tjm]

Heres what we do

If you have a 10" hole make a round 10" ring outa steel about 1/4 wide tack 4 small 2" holders on it so it wont fall down the hole.Put this in the hole it will never freeze even if theres no snow on the lake for banking the house

I have used this many times below zero windy no snow and my holes never have froze

This works very well for when you leave and know you'll be back in a day or so.Buy a burner top from a stove hang it by a string so it just sits on the top of your hole even with the surface.Surface wont freeze hole will shrink some but atleast you can get by