Trying to keep water from freezing...

[KanoasDestiny]

I know that this has been discussed before but I can't seem to find the post. It is getting pretty cold here and the water buckets are freezing over. By morning time, there's a huge chunk of ice instead of water. I've noticed that even after the water thaws out, it's too cold and the horses don't drink much of it. I've resorted to offering buckets of water, gatorade and apple juice (at room tempature). I know that many of you are in much colder environments than I am, and I was just curious to what you do to keep your water warmer, or what you offer to your horses to encourage drinking?

Sara

P.S. I don't know if there is electricity that runs back to the horses, as I board them at my neighbors house and she is out of town for the next few weeks.

 

[Miniv]

Hate to say this but your best bet is to find out if you can stretch a couple of extension cords out from her house some how.

You have two options with the extension cords. One is to have individual heated buckets out or put larger troughs out with tank heaters. It just depends how you have your horses situated and how many there are.

Another method that we tried years ago that doesn't require electricity is having a half barrel with a large water bucket set inside, and insulated with either shavings or even an old blanket. Fill the inner bucket with water. It's not fool-proof, but it slows the freezing process a bit.

MA

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

Well I have to say running extension cords makes me a bit nervous I had a bad experience and even the the tank grounded it was giving off a shock.

I personally dont worry to much about it overnight to be honest. I make sure they have water to last for a couple hours after they eat dinner I get all the ice out of the bucket and don't fill it till I feed even in the coldest of weather(for us here in ID) this usually buys some time before it freezes for that week or 2 we are in the single digits I do use warm water to fill them up.(or in worst cases leave them out in the turn out all night) They get beet pulp so have plenty of soupy fiber

In the morning they all have heated water in there turn outs and they are out all day so again I don't stress to much about it. Most horses can go a little bit without drinking and I have found so far anyway it works for me and is actually much less stressful then worrying about something faulty going on with the de-icers- after hearing my vet tell me shortly after my bad experience that he had a client who was using a extension cord and the horse actually died from the shock.

I think it was Kay who suggested and I am going to try it this weekend to take house insulation and wrap the bucket in it cover all of that of course with duct tape so the horses can not get to it and that is supposed to really slow the freezing down as well.

 

[kaykay]

the method lisa talks about at the bottom really does work. the water doesnt freeze. a couple times we had just a very thin layer of ice but those were really frigid nights. just BE SURE the insulation is totally covered by the duct tape

Hubby is working on a better version of this this weekend. will let ya know what he comes up with lol. hes been drawing it out hmmmmmmmm.

we dont like to run exstension cords all over either but i have a couple that drink heavily at night.

oops wanted to also add you can buy the insulated weighted buckets like getitia has. but they run 100.00 a piece with shipping. no cords etc and they keep water cool in the summer

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I think it was Kay who suggested and I am going to try it this weekend to take house insulation and wrap the bucket in it cover all of that of course with duct tape so the horses can not get to it and that is supposed to really slow the freezing down as well.

I never thought about this! Please let me know how it works. Being in Southern California, our water freezes every year but when it was just the dogs and cats water, it was so easy to dump it and replace it with warm water. Now that I have horses, it's a huge difference with the big buckets.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

oops wanted to also add you can buy the insulated weighted buckets like getitia has. but they run 100.00 a piece with shipping. no cords etc and they keep water cool in the summer

:lol: You posted while I was writing. Thank you for that suggestion. I will be sure to talk to my hubby about it. I liked MA's idea as well for the bucket inside of an insulated bucket. I'll turn this into a science project to see what works the best.

Do you know where Getitia got her buckets? $100 seems like such a small price to pay in order to keep my sanity. :bgrin

 

[Reble]

Have not tryed it but heard a tennis ball floating will stop water buckets from freezing. :new_shocked:

 

[~Karen~]

Reading the posts gave me an idea, and would add further protection from the horses getting ahold of insulation by gnawing or ?? If you could purchase 2 buckets, of 2 similiar yet different sizes, and stuffed the insulation between the 2 and placing insulation between the bottoms, and then sealing the edge with the duct tape. This was just a brain storm idea, may or may not work.

Good luck! I never thought about the shock since it was put out for water buckets, glad it was mentioned because I had my eyes set one getting one.

~Karen

 

[VerticallyChallenged]

I have not tried it...I've just taken the easy way out and use tank heaters, however a friend of mine has a 50 gal or so rubbermaid tank, and she custom made a box that it sits in. The box is quite heavy, yes, but she lined the inside of the box with those sheets of insulation like you see on a house....I think there are there are two sheets on each side. Bottom as well. On the top, she just uses a piece of plywood, with some insulation underneath it, with a big rock on top so they don't knock it off. I'm in WI, and she has gotten away without having to use a tank heater at all with this. I've always been meaning to try it.....

 

[KanoasDestiny]

:aktion033: I knew that this was the place to come for ideas. Thank you so much.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I just wish there was something easier to wrap with then duct tape something like 2-3 ft wide and giant and sticky to sort of roll the bucket in and call it good but I have to go to Home Depot this weekend and will get some stuff to try the insulation thing

 

[Beccy]

We use trough heaters and have thought about trying to insulate them somehow to help keep the heaters from having to work so hard. Gets bitterly cold here and our heaters are I think 1500 watts each. Hard on electricity but they do work great. We do try to put one trough under a fence to serve two paddocks thus cutting down on the number of heaters we have to run.

As Lisa said though, I wish there was something easier to use, duct tape would be hard to wrap around great big troughs, and for several I think we would need a LOT of duct tape :new_shocked:

 

[Miniv]

We use trough heaters and have thought about trying to insulate them somehow to help keep the heaters from having to work so hard. Gets bitterly cold here and our heaters are I think 1500 watts each. Hard on electricity but they do work great. We do try to put one trough under a fence to serve two paddocks thus cutting down on the number of heaters we have to run.

As Lisa said though, I wish there was something easier to use, duct tape would be hard to wrap around great big troughs, and for several I think we would need a LOT of duct tape :new_shocked:

Beccy,

We use timers. When it would get really cold, and all the trough heaters were working it used to flip the circuit breaker.........So Larry got the timers that switch your lamps on and off (people use them to make it look like someone is home, when they're out of town.). He has them set for being ON at staggered times, so now the heaters aren't ALL on at the same time.....

MA

 

[Jill]

I would also (and have in the past) used extention cords. Now we have electrical outlets at each paddock, but that has not always been the case. I use those 16 gallon big "muck bucket" using things in each horse paddock and smaller heated buckets for the goats and in the small horse pen (where I have a weanling filly).

 

[Beccy]

Beccy,

We use timers. When it would get really cold, and all the trough heaters were working it used to flip the circuit breaker.........So Larry got the timers that switch your lamps on and off (people use them to make it look like someone is home, when they're out of town.). He has them set for being ON at staggered times, so now the heaters aren't ALL on at the same time.....

MA

That is a great idea Maryann, thanks!

 

[targetsmom]

I have been using the home-made insulated buckets for several years in CT and they work well.

I use the 8 quart buckets and have some different styles that are slightly different sizes so they "nest". I put a layer if insulation in between them (I use an old closed cell foam inusulation pad from my backpacking days) and make sure that the horses can't get the 2 buckets apart. I find that a regular carabiner (I used to climb as well as backpack!) works well as it can hold the bails for both the buckets. I have also used one of the "over the fence" style buckets for the outer one, because even if it did get separated, it wouldn't be a safety issue (no place for a foot to get caught). It has never gotten separated. I also add a bit of warm/hot water to each insulated bucket just before I go to bed. The most ice I have ever seen on these buckets is a thin layer the next morning which is very easily broken. And it can get pretty cold here!

I do have electricity in the barn now, and use heated buckets in some stalls and also have heated tubs where they are turned out. But I still like the insulated buckets in the fillies' stalls because they LOVE to chew things and basically get in trouble.

Mary

 

[whitney]

I wonder if a 5 gallon bucket with a 2 1/2 gallon inside it, and instead of house insulation you used that spray foam insulation in a can?

 

[kaykay]

kim that is similiar to what hubby is going to try. hes going to use the spray insulation all over the outside of a bucket and then put it inside a larger bucket before it sets. That way no worries about insulation and duct tape. But that stuff sets so quick that ill have to stand ready with the other bucket and try to get it in quick enough but still get the bucket straight. Does that make sense?? LOL

I believe jeffers sells the insulated buckets. Think cashmans does too. I just have too many stalls!!!

 

[ibquackers20]

This is what I did , I have a big cattle rubber stock tub that you can use heaters in and I use a submersable one I then wrapped it with insulation all around the sides and bottom then again many layers of duct tape over all the insulation - seemed to work till I noticed my guys were ripping off the duct tape (not good)who said they will not eat duct tape / lol was finding strips on ground. So I went off to the lumber store and looked for plywood peices that were left over and was cheaper that way then big sheets. I measured 2 times the height and width of the stock tub and built a box around the front and sides. Boy are my guys smart because they started to pull and push around the box so they could get at the tape. Now I fixed them but since I only have to fill it or top off the water and not dump it I used a (not sure of the name)looks L shaped and drilled it to the plywood and to my log rails - they can not move it and nore can I till summer when I have to dump the whole tub and give it a good cleaning. With the heater inside on the bottom and the insulation and box cover I get no ice in there at all. I also every time the water is 1/2 empty and needs to be filled I add a package or 2 of electrolites (get it from my vet ,in canadian it is $2.50 a pouch)works great and even in 30 below they drink the water. I have attached a photo not sure if you can see it in the right hand corner. It is light wood color, email if you want and I can go out and take a closer photo - I also have a thick extension cord that the heater plugs into and have had no problems with the heater at all this is the heaters second year.

 

[Debby - LB]

It's not a HUGE problem here in Georgia but the water does freeze especially Jan. through March. The freezing solid isn't as much a concern as the fact that several of mine won't drink cold, cold water so I went the route of buckets inside buckets, electric buckets and the drop in the bottom of the bucket heaters.

Now what I did a couple years ago was this: Dig a hole about 12 inches deep and only big enough around to sink what ever size bucket you want to use half way into it, then Dig a post type hole, at the very least 4 foot deep, into the middle of that hole. If you have an auger use a 8 or 10 inch one. Once you get that dug out and all smooth around it pound a 8" or 10" in diameter length of pvc down into the hole, pour a bag of sacrete or quickret around it, cut the pvc off flush with the top of the ground and smooth out nice and flat in the circle you dug to set your bucket in. Set the bucket in this hole and fill with water.

The warmth coming from 5 ft. under the ground comes up the tube and warms the water to keep it from freezing.

I use a Hudson valve for an automatic water supply and crimp the hose once a week so once they drink it down over half way I can then dip out the rest with a smaller bucket and then uncrimp so it refills with fresh water, cause since it's set in the ground it's a witch to turn over and empty to clean like I used to. :bgrin