Anybody build their own hay steamer?

[Hermein]

Several years ago, there was a thread about diy hay steamers which sounded interesting and I put it in my “someday” file. Since it’s winter now, soaking hay in cold water then feeding it seems like animal cruelty. The retail hay steamers are expensive, and I’m not sure they would soften the hay enough for my old guys, so I’d like to take a try at building my own.

Have you done this? There are some instructions on the net, but I’d really like a first hand report on whether it’s really as easy as it looks.

Here’s one I found: http://wholehorse.co.uk/blog/home-made-hay-steamer/

[Hilary]

A friend of mine did - it took longer than the commercial ones (several hours), and she had to put in flakes, not a full, strings on bale. Her electric bill went up some, but not staggeringly.

But she and her horses really liked the result so it made the extra work worthwhile.

FWIW, the retail ones DO soften the hay very well - plus they are faster, you can put in a whole bale at once, and it gets the hay much hotter. Not sure the home versions always get the whole bale up hot enough to kill any molds, but they soften, moisten, and warm up it nicely if that is your goal.

[Texarkana]

I tried to build a hay steamer, unsuccessfully, a couple years ago when I bought my winter’s supply of hay from a farmer directly out of the field, only to discover it had been baled too wet. It wasn’t moldy in the sense it was discolored, but it was all musty and dusty with spores. I thought maybe I could steam it to make it edible.

I think my mistake was using too small of a handheld steam cleaner instead of a wallpaper stripper or a larger model steam cleaner (I already owned the small steamer). I drilled a hole in a large, rubbermaid storage bin and hooked up the handheld steamer-- that part worked well. The problem was I could only get about 25 minutes of continuous steam, which wasn’t enough to make any difference. Even with insulation attempts, there just wasn’t enough heat and steam in the box.

If I were to attempt it again, I’d invest in something much more powerful!

[walktrot]

I don’t know how to turn this into a URL, but this is from my vet’s website. He has a lot of interesting stuff out there, and I don’t know why I remembered this one, except that I must have thought it was pretty cool. The articles have appeared in The Horse’s Maine, which is a monthly newspaper, for years. He’s a good writer, and a fantastic vet.

http://maineequineassociates.com/equine-articles/horse-management/steamed-hay/

[flyracing]

I steamed hay for one horse for a couple of winters. I put a bucket of water inside a full size trashcan. I put in a bucket heater (http://www.horsehealthusa.com//details/bucket-heater/4-1.html). Then fill a small hole hay net with hay and hang it in the trashcan, above the heating bucket of water. The net stays up by closing the lid down on the string. Then let the bucket of water steam off for 30-60 minutes in a safe place. Results in beautifully steamed hay.

[csaper58]

I made one, with a wall paper steamer, and a big plastic storage box. It worked very well.

[BUSY]

hijack csaper58 check your thread …pharmacy number

• hijack … csaper58 check your thread before logging out …pharmacy information has been posted … two posts !

[QUOTE=csaper58;8424437]
I made one, with a wall paper steamer, and a big plastic storage box. It worked very well.[/QUOTE]

[Raincityrider]

I made one that worked adequately well. If you have a drill and are comfortable handling a few tools it is not a difficult project. The trip to the hardware store (Ok, two trips) took longer than the project once I knew what I wanted to build. I started by piping a wallpaper steamer tank into a heavy plastic tool trunk. To distribute the steam evenly across the bottom of the trunk I used a grid from Pex tubing (PVC will melt) drilled with holes every few inches. To hold the hay off the tubing I used a removable grill made from hardware cloth than fit in the bottom of the trunk. The ad hoc steamer could handle three flakes at a time providing I separated and fluffed them up a bit. I also attached a 30 minute countdown timer just to make sure it would not accidently be left on. The barn staff used it to steam hay for my oldster when he was going through a coughing phase and it did the job without causing them too much extra work. Fill it with water, hit the count down timer and come back 30 minutes later. I will eventually add a drain to make cleaning the thing a bit easier. Horse no longer needs steamed hay so I was glad I didn’t drop a few grand on a commercial model. Bonus feature- It made a wonderfully toasty bench to sit on during the winter.

[anthonyjohn]

very good discussion !!!
please help me out to find best steamer of 2018 ?
looking forward from you.
thanks

[2Below]

I realize this is originally an older thread, but DH built one for me Jan 2017. Rubbermaid with pvc inside, a bazillon holes drilled in the pvc. I use a wallpaper steamer and in a year and a half have gone through probably 8 steamers. I also live in a place where it’s below freezing to significantly below zero for about 6 month a year and I do all steaming outside-pretty sure the wallpaper steamers aren’t made for that! I can steam 4-5 flakes and it takes 1-2 hours. Most importantly my RAO horse can breathe, Dex free. Totally worth it.

[hosspuller]

I built a diy steamer based on a Wagner wallpaper steamer. Took about an hour from a cold start for half bale. Steamer is better than soaking.

[bburrell]

Can those who made their own steamers please post their photos and DIY instructions? I feel like this is going to be an unrealistic task because if I feed 4-5 hay bales a day to my 6 horses, so steaming that many bales daily will be quite a long project, but it may be worth it to get through this horrible hay season. The only reason I am wanting to do this is because I recently purchased hay and because Iowa has been so incredibly wet, hot and humid our hay production was terrible. Mold is apparent on some of my bales which I wouldn’t feed to my horses while other bales have a little bit of the white powder that I feel terrible about feeding to my horses but because of the weather hay prices have gone up and hay is NOT plentiful I need to feed it because if I dont I may run out of hay before winter is over if I have to toss half a bale daily. thoughts?

[Harley_s_mom]

I just stuck a child’s dehumidifier (leftover from when my kids were little) in the bottom of a rubber trash bin, made a wire shelf using an old BBQ rack and some coat hangers, and I would hang the hay in a haynet on the metal rack for about 45 minutes. Worked great, and I don’t need to steam anymore (the horse it was for has recovered very nicely, and I no longer have to steam his hay), so I can still use the rubber trash can as a trash can! Not fancy, but it sure did the trick.

[andre_l]

I wrote down some instructions with photos on how to build the cheapest and most simple hay steamer you can imagine:
http://schimmelblick.de/en/dyi-hay-steamer-an-easy-how-to-guide/
The parts just cost about $70 and it’s very easy, you don’t need to be handyman. In case you want to build one of the better models later, you can reuse the parts.
For me however this one is sufficient, and I use it successfully for several years now having a horse that is very sensitive to moldy hay.

[starsandsun]

Glad this thread has popped back up!

Just a word of potential warning. I’ve used the Wagner wall paper strippers for their actual purpose, and I’ve had two now catch on fire. So, just be careful! The timer sounds like a super smart idea.

[walkinthewalk]

I am forum acquainted with someone who used a dehumidifier she had once used in her children’s bedrooms, a 50 gallon garbage can, and some sort of kitchen rack that fit over top the dehumidifier. She put the hay on top of the rack.

No timer so she was in the barn starting the chore routine. By the time feed setups were done for night feeding, the hay was steamed and she could unplug her steamer.

For her the only investment was the 50 gallon metal garbage can and a heavy duty extension cord, as she already had the other items:)

[Pehsness]

I’ve just started down this path myself. Currently just pouring two boiling kettles of water in to an uninsulated rubbermaid deck box. I’m just trying to get rid of an irregular and elusive cough, no formal diagnosis from vet. Next I’m going to try to make a pluggable hole in the lid so I can pour in the water without having the lid open. Maybe add some insulation. If this doesn’t work I’ll go the wallpaper steamer route.
I read lots of conflicting things that say the diy versions just don’t work and are a waste of time, but I can’t see my way to dropping 2k on a professional version so diy it is.