Today I cruised through Home Depot to check brands, & found that they stock only Beckett. Looking at Beckett's site, it seems they're still made in USA, & are "oil-less". I guess we can debate quality forever, but I prefer to deal with a brick/mortar retailer, rather than on line as to any return hassles. There's also a Pondmaster retailer available to me. HD had a Beckett in pond filter system that I can't seem to find on line, even on Beckett's site. It's a "flatish" box with bio balls, attached to 5 vertical cylindrical course "sponge" filters on top. Looked to be easier to clean than the in-box types. Anyone here familiar with this set-up? My preformed sguashed amoeba shaped tub is closer to 140-170 gallons. Would a 400 GPM pump be overkill? Sorry to pile on. Thanks for the responses so far. Ron.

Hey there, Deborah. I still have no ice on my pond and it is two weeks since you posted last. Your weather leads ours so maybe your water has frozen since then. I thought I would add a comment or two. The Barley straw ball is not going to do anything to keep the ice open. It will just freeze in place. The tennis balls might work but I always found them on the bottom after they broke open and sank at the first hard freeze that lasted long enough to close the ice. They hold up just fine when you are hitting them around in hot weather but cold makes them brittle. You need something that can be compressed like an inflatable pillow tethered to the bottom so it stays in place. Ping pong balls work if you don't mind the dents that appear. You need to confine them to a small space so there is not a lot of water between them.If the ice gets thicker than the diameter of the ping pong ball the hole will close up anyway. I tried to keep a pond the same size as yours open all winter with a heater and wound up with a heavy frost layer on everything around the pond. It looked like the worlds heaviest fog. I wound up removing the fish on Christmas day. What a mess. I kept the fish in the garage in the winter after that until I could dig a bigger pond a couple of years later. Horton's wood cover sounds like it could be a lot safer than a plastic sheet. The potential problem I see would be if the wind could lift it up. A cement block would solve that problem. There have been a number of threads on keeping the frogs alive during the winter. Lots of failures too. I haven't tried because frogs don't manage to get to my pond. However, after reading many threads on the subject I think I can suggest a solution to the problem in the future. By the way, this is not my solution, it is suggested by someone else who has a web site elsewhere. I just can't remember where it is. An area close to the pond should have a hole dug 12 to 18 inches deep that is backfilled with loose compost or chopped dried leaves or even sand. The frogs will go to the bottom of this backfill and hibernate until spring. Material such as quilt batting can strangle or suffocate the froggie as it shifts around. Otherwise, if you have a properly maintained garden area, the frog will be just as happy there since it would be easy to dig itself in. Freezing does not harm a frog. They produce their own anti-freeze. They are killed by dehydration. I once found the dissicated remains of three frogs who made the mistake of using a bag of lime in which to hibernate. I have also found a seemingly dead frog in the bottom of a ball of soil in a flower pot that broke. I left the ball of dirt in the sun frog side down and as it thawed the frog thawed too. It found a new spot to dig in since the soil scattered. In a deeper pond they would be safe in a bucket or pot of sand or clay such as you would use for a water lily. Sandy

I would (at least) go with flushing the lines out, adding a 2 way liquid drier and a suction drier. pull a micron vacume to 400, lock the system in the A/C mode and run it a week, then replace the liquid drier and remove the suction drier. Was the cut in the aluminum coil? A repair kit for that will be permanent. I don't know what you mean by damage to the "condensor"- that is the outdoor coil section. It is possible the system ran while it was raining (heat mode) and if a lot of moisture is suspected, checking the oil in the compressor would help make the desicion on which course to take. Many american standards have a 10 year warranty on the compressor and coil, so doing the above first would be my choice. If the unit needs replacing because of moisture contamination and it's that bad, the best route may be to replace the whole system for the long haul. Green oil and clumpy oil in the compressor or lines will indicate this extreme moisture contamination and installing filters driers won't work.

replace the nozzle with a .85 or .75gph x 70A Make ABSOLUTELY sure the retention head isn't burned off (look down the blast tube) you'll need a "F-3" head if it is, if it's carboned up clean it. Replace the electrodes with a standard kit ( cut to length) and use the provided tool to gap them PERFECTLY. Oil furnaces/boilers are simple, reliable pieces of equipment that is inexpensive to service yourself; they do require some knowledge or aptitude however. If you plan on servicing this unit yourself, you'll need to know how to tune it properly, and clean the furnace/boiler throughly. Do lots of reading and learning if you plan on doing this yourself. If you don't have the necessary experience, you probably should call a tech to adjust your air, fuel pressure etc. w/ a bach kit. You should also have a filter in your oil line JUST before the burner (even if you have one at the tank, if not, install one just before the burner); these filters also need to be changed yearly.