Keirin Koi "Koi-Heat" Pond Heater

[farne230]

For those who may one day consider a pond heater for their pond, here is what I have learned.

I ordered my pond heater from Keirin koi after talking to Ray Jordan about his Koi-Heat pond heater. Ray installed his last March and decided to go with propane, due to the cost of running long lengths of gas lines.

It took about a month to assemble and deliver. The unit came via frieght lines and well packaged. They offer a metal box as an option. I located my own and had it delivered. I located the unit as close as possible to my existing gas line feeding my hot tub. I installed the box on 6x6 fur posts, tied back to the bakki shower cinder blocks with metal flanges. Bolted the heater which is mounted on a very nice wood backing in the box, cut holes for the 2" intake and discharge, hole for gas, power cord, and furnace exhaust stack. The unit comes with a 5ft power cord, exchanged this for a longer one. Extended the pop-off copper tubing through bottom of box.

Start-up John at Keirrin koi helped me throught start-up (on Sunday before Holiday) what service:
1. Make sure you do not smell gas, open gas valve.
2. Make sure the pressure gage shows 10 or 20psi (shipped with water in unit under pressure-boiler needs this water and pressure to start up). If you purge the lines like I did you can hook a garden hose to hose bibe supplied with a male to male connector you can get from Hardware store. Turn on water and watch pressure rise to 20psi, then shut hose bibe off and start boiler.
3. open all valves.
4. plug in unit to 110v, program thermostate (very easy, three steps, three buttons).
5. turn on boiler (makes noise, within a few min. pipes are hot and you are on your way.

Set temp to 65f and set differance to plus or minus 3 degrees. Gage temp for boiler rose to 145f then to 170f.

Pond temp started out at 58f at 1:30pm, at 6:00pm the temp is 61.5f.

[Flounder]

Bob, if you don't mind, please share the cost of the unit w/ us for those debating on getting one.

[farne230]

In general the unit I bought will handle a much larger pond then my 8,300 gallon pond, the unite cost $3450 shipped. I bought the nema box separate, Keirin koi does offer this box as an option with the heater installed and all the holes drilled. Carl Forss and John are great, I received the unite on a Wed. and installed it last Sunday, and they were available to answer questions. Keep in mind everyone is differant, I had additional costs; labor & materials (gas line, pvc, valves, insulation, vent stack) and the nema 4x double door box, in my case I contracted and it was an additional $1,400 labor/materials and $772 for the box delivered from PA. These costs could be lowered significantly if you do the labor yourself and purchase the materials from local hardware store, the enclosure you could build or purchase a less expensive box locally (I used a currant breaker enclosure box) and had it shipped from East cost, you could save on shipping too, about 1/2 the cost.

This morning the outside temp is 36f and the water is 63.3f (set at 65f w/+ or minus setting of 3 degrees). The koi love it. For the cost of a good show quality nisai kohaku from japan, you can regulate your pond temp and help protect your prize koi.

My next wish list project is a water softener with a charcoal tank, used during weekly water changes. I suspect this will cost about $1,500 or 1,800. The carbon tank should last about a year. Total heater with box "turn-key" was $5,622.00.

[Eugeneg]

[

This morning the outside temp is 36f and the water is 63.3f (set at 65f w/+ or minus setting of 3 degrees). The koi love it. For the cost of a good show quality nisai kohaku from japan, you can regulate your pond temp and help protect your prize koi.

It is a great heater wish I could afford one . Karl had it set up heating his outdoor pond . It was the most beautiful sight to be seen as in the pond where just 3 fish all jumbo Kohaku .
I ended up insulating my cemment pond and putting in cemment heating coils and a used oil fired hot water tank so the whole system only cost me $ 800
since then the oil prices have trippled . So might change to an Electric hot water tank if they implement a system of lower cost billing in low usage times
Regards
Eugene

[farne230]

Your system sounds great Eugeneg. The cost of this system could be reduced if you install it your self and mount it in a equipement room rather then in an enclosure as I did. We are lucky there are many choices for all koi keepers. This morning our temp dropped to 37 at 8:00am this morning and the system was running steady with a pond temp of 63.5f. I have been very happy so far. I have one hurt koi, which this steady higher temp will help her heal.

[powerman]

i have a system very close to what yours looks like....it is 140,000btu heater with a 135,000 heat exchanger...just finally got it hooked up tonight...it's been a couple hours...so far up only one degree...i have a lot of water to heat..my pond was at 44 and i set the target at 50 for now....in a day or two if all goes well i will raise it to 55 and keep it there until late february

[bone]

I have one of these systems on order. My water temp is 43 degrees right now. I can't wait to hook it up! Hopefully in the next couple weeks!

Daniel

[farne230]

It has been a week now and the temp has been very steady. The pond temp is 64f, and the koi are doing well. No drops in temp as the outside temp drops to near freezing. It is great.
Bob

[luke frisbee]

I live in FLORIDA...today the water was a cool 68 degrees, the air temp was 81.
Cost: PRICELESS

[powerman]

yesterday before the heater was turned on for the first time...the pond was 44f .......this morning the pond was 50f....tonight i raised the set point to 53f ...................................after studying the book on the controller i saw that it came with a 5 degree fluctuation that i have now reset to two degrees.......so with the new setting the heater should stay on until 53 is reached and then turn off until it drops to 51....the water has already been below 50 for about two months so i think the fish would like it if i gradually raise it to 55...inside the garage in the qt i have the fish at 72....i had in my mind the idea of raising the outside temp to 60 by the end of feb and lowering the inside temp to 60 and moving the fish out in march......things would be easier in florida.....but i do like it here....