Using extension cord for a heated bucket???

[Marty]

It hit zero degrees. (rising slowly thank heavens) but I am ready to hang myself.

I have two mares in the run in that I am worried about who have nice stalls with a whole lot of clean deep bedding and plenty of hay. Problem is their water keeps freezing over and I am not set up for heated buckets. There's no power out there.

I am wondering if I got a heated bucket for out there situated for them, I can put it on the fencline and pull the cord under the fence so they won't come in contact with the cord, then, if I can run an extension cord from it to the barn and plug it in there. It would be about 35 feet or so of extension cord and the barn is the nearest outlet. Would that be safe? I don't know if there are any warnings on the buckets about doing that of if you have to plug them directly into a socket.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I have one of the 16 gal heated buckets and it has been hooked up with a 75 ft extension cord and it hasnt hurt anything it is plugged into the side of our house.

 

[Jill]

Most of our 16 gallon big heated buckets (look like muck buckets) are hooked to extension cords.

 

[CeeGee]

Yes, I have been using an extension cord on my 16 gallon bucket, too. I found an extension cord made for cold weather. I did read the message on the bucket, but didn't have much choice if I wanted the horses to have water versus ice!

 

[muffntuf]

Extension cords are okay with heated buckets. They advise against it, but I have 16 gallons hooked up to 100 ft. extensions and I have the 5 gallons hooked up to 50 footers.

But if they are like my ponies - they like to play with things, so anchor the cord(s) so they can't get their mouths around them and pull on them.

 

[ropenride]

We run 100 ft extension cord from the shop to a surge protector in the barn, and then 2 100 ft cords from there out to the heaters in the water tanks. We have the heavy duty extension cords, and the surge protector will cut out if they get overloaded, and the outlet in the shop is GFI. Been doing this for a couple winters now while waiting on the electrician/cousin to get back out here and finish wiring the barn. So far no problems...knock on wood. For the tanks that are closer to the outlets...one heater is plugged directly into an outlet and one heater has a 40 ft heavy duty extension cord. I like to put the tanks by a post whenever possible so I can secure the cord to the post and prevent any chewing/playing problems that way. We do have one tank where that isn't possible, and I do regularly find them playing with the heater and beating it over the ground

But yet they won't play with their Jolly Balls!!! Go Figure

I allow them one heater/year, and then finish out the year breaking ice and carrying hot water from the house! LOL

 

[Margo_C-T]

I have been using extension cords for my heated buckets for all the years(now about 7-8?) that I've been using heated buckets!

I'd recommend: good HD extension cords, rated for outdoor use(because at the barn, I have two buckets plugged into each ext. cord, I bought the ones with a 'three receptacle' end, and made sure it had adequate ratings for the potential 'load'), making sure both the extension cord AND the bucket cord are WELL out of reach of busy horsie mouths and feet!, protect where the 'male end' of the bucket cord is plugged into the 'female receptacle' of the extension cord from moisture if it's outdoors, and try to plug the extension cord into a GFI outlet. I found you can buy 'one outlet' GFI units that plug into your 'regular' outlet; am using one, and plan to buy two or three more for the barn outlets where the other ext. cords are plugged into.

The 5 gal. heated buckets pull about 36 watts, as I remember; the bigger 16 gal. 'muck bucket' types are more, but not by a huge amount(you can find this out in the ads for them). In my 75 gal. galv. tank, I use a 1000 watt floating tank heater(a bit harder to find than the 1500 watt, but all I need here, and less expensive to operate!)

I also use HD timers with multiple settings for my heated buckets, re a tip from the electrician who ran the electric line out to the big paddock/run-in shed where the large tank is located...surely helps keep the cost of operation more reasonable, as we have high electric rates, which only KEEP going higher--and my place is all-electric!

Margo

 

[whitney]

I ran 400' of extension cord for 30 years out to my barns. Have electric now thank Ed and Ginia EVERYTIME I go to the barn. I've never had a problem but if you have access to a GFI outlet at the house thats what I'd plug it into that way if the heater shorts out it won't put 220 volts into your horses.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Make sure you have a heavy duty, outdoor cords that are plugged into GFI outlets, and you keep the length limited to ONE cord. If you ever find the cord is WARM after running the bucket, immediately unplug it. Replace it with the same guage cord that is much shorter, or upgrade the cord to one with heavier guage.

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

We use extension cords here also, and have never had a problem. One thing my husband does for the outside cord, where the water heater plugs into the cord, he wraps tightly with the black electrical tape to keep it free of snow and ice. It just keeps that plug dry.

 

[Leeana]

Marty i WISH it was 0 degree's out! I would be thrilled! -18 + windchill is a nightmare.

Yes, we use extension cords for our heated buckets, we have several outside and in...really would be impossibly to plug them all in w/out the extension cord. No problems.

 

[Katiean]

I think I would Water proof the plugs. I always worrie about the plugs and starting a fire. If you can't cover the whole cord I think I would use a small section of PVC pipe that the cord would fit into and then with the plug safely inside the pipe I would use silicone calk to seal the ends so it would be water proof. Just an Idea since I had water dripping into a plug and we cought it as it was smoking.

 

[georgiegirl]

My heated water buckets have short cords on them so an extension cord is a must.

I am very nervous about the size of the extension cord because the buckets draw a lot of power.

Right now my buckets have the very heavy yellow extension cords, the type that you use for campers or motor homes. Expensive but well worth the money, to avoid fires. I had the orange extension cords in use for awhile and then discovered they were not heavy enough.

I tie all the cords where no animal can possible get ahold of them to chew. That would be a disaster.

The heavy, long cords can be used over quite a distance.

Good luck.

 

[targetsmom]

I also use extension cords (heavy duty) on my outside tubs, making sure that the connection where they join is not exposed to the elements.

Another alternative that I use (also zero here) is to make my own insulated bucket by putting one inside the other with foam or rubber in between. Then I half fill with warm water at feeding time, and top off with more warm water at bedtime. Until today the most ice they had in the morning was just a very thin layer. I do this for the ones I don't trust with electrical cords.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I use extra heavy extension cord, 100 feet. I put the bucket next to the fence, run the cord through the fence and I also cover the plug part with an inverted muck bucket outside the fence.. Works well. On days above freezing I unplug, really runs the electric but worth it considering the ice. I also wondered if anyone else used extension cords like I do...

 

[Millstone Farm]

Before heated buckets were invented, i knew of some horse owners who used to recycle old insulated coolers. He'd put warm water in them (sans lids, of course). The water of course would eventually still freeze, but it took a lot longer to do so.

It's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying those heated buckets.

I have the heated buckets in all of our turnouts and paddocks and have no idea how or why i dealt with frozen water buckets!!

 

[MyBarakah]

Hi! I run 2 heavy duty extension cords to my one electric water heater. And then another heavy duty extension cord for the other electric water heater. I just make sure the horses can not get to the cords. But have NEVER had any problems and would consider it safe.

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

We use extra heavy duty cords with built in GFI plugs. We got several from Costco. They are rated for exterier use. We zip tye heavy duty plastic over the plugs and tye the cords out of reach of the horses.

 

[Shari]

Get a heavy duty ground fault extension cord. These are not cheap but well worth it for the piece of mind.

 

[picasso]

Just ran a few extension cords last night to get all of our heated buckets working. Have been fighting the ice up until now. Finally got tired of that nonsense!! Have worried about them all night. But we do all the "right" things that everyone has already mentioned. My husband is a firefighter, so you know we have to do it RIGHT!!