It sounds like you have everything under control. You can't argue with success.

We run our pump all winter. We divert the water from the stream/falls in the winter with a direct 1 1/2" pipe to the pond. It works great. Sounds like you do it similarly.

Yes, I do disconnect the waterfall tubing and the water fountain feature and just let the connector be under the water a couple of inches. The force is so that it cannot freeze in a round circle in the center of the pond. This year the freeze was very thick and I did have to go out with just a little bit of boiling water to melt the center just a touch but then all was well again. Its so much easier this way then getting a heater, etc.

Ok, I was just wondering if there was a reason more folks weren't running their filters in the winter.

Thanks!!!
Carol

Carol, you know what they say, " if it ain't broke don't fix it"!
That I'm sure applies to what you are doing in winterising your pond.
Much the same as I do with mine. The only difference, I circulate the water through the bottom drain piping to the sump, then pump it back to the pond to keep a hole open in the ice, using a 500GPH pump.
Works for me.

"Horton"

So... is there a reason why someone WOULDN"T do it this way? I was told running water can't freeze but what if it was minus 20 like it was here in Zone 4 a few times this winter... would it freeze up and wreck the pump? I notice you all are in zone 6 or higher.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I've always brought my fish in but next winter theyll be in a bigger pond so I'm new to that whole winterizing thing.

The only time I lost fish is when I didn't run my pump during the winter. I now also cover the pond with old glass storm doors and old sliding glass doors. Then I cover that with a old solar cover left over from the pool days.... and keep the pump running.

The only thing I have ever heard bad about what we are doing is if super cold water gets passed thru the fish's gills it could freeze then and kill them... so I make sure the water stream from the hose does not pass directly over where they stay for the winter.

Tom