Another Stock Tank Heater Question

[knightrider922]

Do you all have success with the plug in heaters for your stock tanks? I have a 100 gallon tank and of course it started leaking right before our cold snap. bought another one and it doesn’t work. Just put a floating heater in to cover me for a few days. There is no way I’m changing this one out in single digit weather and wind chills.

So is this common for those to leak and not work? Also, curious about the floating tank heaters… do your horses pull them out? And if so, do they shut off if tossed out of water? And lastly has to do with electrical. I have no choice right now but to use an extension cord plugged into a gfci. So far I’ve been fine and the gfci did trip once with the last heater… I’m so paranoid though about fire that I unplug it at night, break ice in the morning and then turn it on for the day if its below freezing. Do I need to be this paranoid? Right now, the new heater is on so that I can get rid of the ice, but I will probably turn it off at night check…curious…thanks!

[cutter99]

I have always used the plug type heaters and always use silicon or plumbers tape when I installed them. Have not had any issues by installing them this way. Most of mine have been in out tanks for 4 or more years.

I would not use the floating type heater as I have one horse in particular who would kill himself with it. I do have friends who have put a metal egg basket around them and floated them that way.

[Palm_Beach]

I just discovered and put a plug in heater this winter, no problems so far.

[trubandloki]

We cover half our trough with an insulated piece of wood. (It is windy where the trough is, this keeps some of the heat loss down.)
Doing something like that on the side where the floating heater is might help prevent horses from playing with it.

We have a sinking heater, it sits on the bottom, on the covered side. We too use an extension cord. The extension cord is a heavy duty outdoor model rated for the load. The outlet is the only thing that that breaker and the breaker is GFI. We plug it in when it gets cold enough to need it and it runs until we do not need it anymore.

[Mallard]

I know several people who have had issues with the drain hole heaters leaking.

I have always used the floating heaters. With the wire frame.
Some of them come with a large plastic ‘clip’ that keeps the cord secured (sort of!) to the side of the trough.
The very odd time I find it on the ground…naughty pony!

It helps if you can place the trough in the fence-line… so the cord is on the other side of the fence from the ponies.

I also use a heavy duty extension cord… never had any issues.

My guys are usually out at night, but if the weather gets really nasty and I bring them at night, I unplug the heater and cover the tough with a large wooden cover.
I keep a large stick by the trough to bash the ice in the morning. Even in extreme temps (minus 20C last night) I had less than an inch of ice.
I always scoop the ice out after I break it up.