Anybody here have experience with them?
I am in central Alabama so extreme cold is not a problem. I would prefer not to have to deal with electricity if I don’t have to. I am going to replace my frost-free hydrants and I am looking to install one waterer across the fence from a hydrant so I am not going to be running water pipes very far.
Thanks!
I don’t have any experience with them, but here’s an article with first-hand experience you might find useful:
http://equiery.com/archives/April2014/AutoWaterer.html
I am investigating installing one this spring!
I have one and LOVE it. No electricity. Never, ever freezes. I am in northern VA and it gets COLD at night. It took a few days for horses to learn to press the paddle w/their noses but if mine can do it, anyone can 
My spookiest horse figured it out first. Not what I expected. The quietest smartest one took a few days. I did have to pull ALL other water…they figured it out pretty quick. I never have to worry about it. Never have to fill troughs unless I have a muzzled horse. The muzzle won’t fit in the bowl and I’d worry about it getting caught on paddle anyway. In winter, the water comes from deep underground and is not as cold. In summer it’s nice and cold. I’ve had no issues with sediment, clogging. Nothing. They rock.
In one stable, we had paddle on demand waterers and some horses would play and flood the stalls.
How do those work, do they also could possibly have a horse keep them running and would the water drain down or around the waterer?
The bowl is empty when horse approaches because the water drains down slowly from the bowl. When the horses presses the paddle with his nose, the water rushes into the bowl…if they hold the paddle down the bowl can overflow but really by then, the horses’ nose would be submerged. Mine have never done that. Even while they drink, the water slow-drains out from bottom of bowl back down through the Bar Bar A and down into the ground. It works exactly like a frost free hydrant. I don’t have them inside. Mine is in the pasture with gravel and small rock around it as a little “pad”. When my craziest horse is really thirsty he’ll press the paddle, drink, press, drink. Sometimes I hear him press it a few times but I’ve never seen mine overflow and it’s close to the barn so I see/hear it in use. I’m not sure if they have a different version for stalls?
[QUOTE=tpup;8583238]
The bowl is empty when horse approaches because the water drains down slowly from the bowl. When the horses presses the paddle with his nose, the water rushes into the bowl…if they hold the paddle down the bowl can overflow but really by then, the horses’ nose would be submerged. Mine have never done that. Even while they drink, the water slow-drains out from bottom of bowl back down through the Bar Bar A and down into the ground. It works exactly like a frost free hydrant. I don’t have them inside. Mine is in the pasture with gravel and small rock around it as a little “pad”. When my craziest horse is really thirsty he’ll press the paddle, drink, press, drink. Sometimes I hear him press it a few times but I’ve never seen mine overflow and it’s close to the barn so I see/hear it in use. I’m not sure if they have a different version for stalls?[/QUOTE]
Interesting.
The ones we had were a bowl with a paddle, it didn’t drain anywhere, we cleaned them every day, but had to shut them off for some horses and go back to buckets, because they would play and keep them running over.
Right now, we prefer the 6’+ water troughs between runs and in pastures.
Some have drains and are easier to clean, the others we pump them out to clean them.
We have “bird ladders” in all of those, so there are no dead critters in there, they can get out, but they don’t stay very clean, not like the kind that don’t hold water or very little and gets cleaned daily.
Then, horses tend to drink out of puddles on the ground …
The reason for the larger troughs, they always have water, they can drink and dunk to their pleasure and if the well would quit, there are days of reserve left there in a pinch.
Since we freeze hard in some of the winter, we are wondering about the Cobbett waterers, that use ground heat to stay open in the coldest weather and seem to at least hold a good supply and be easier to clean than our big troughs.
I am afraid of horses not having water with a very small bowl or on demand only if something happen and no one is there to see they are not getting water for any length of time.
They work basically on the same principle as a frost free hydrant. The shut off valve is at the bottom below the frost line. The paddle is connected by a spring loaded long shaft. When released the water in the riser pipe drains back down and the bowl also.
The reliability is completely based on how well it is installed. I know several people who have and like them. All of them said the same thing. Horses can and do break the paddle. So keep an extra on hand.
Installation is not cheap if paying someone to do it especially if you have to deal with a deep frost line. As shown on this link;
http://horsedrinker.com/automatic-waterer-installation/
IMO if one doesn’t have to deal with long freezing winters its not worth the expense.
They work basically on the same principle as a frost free hydrant. The shut off valve is at the bottom below the frost line. The paddle is connected by a spring loaded long shaft. When released the water in the riser pipe drains back down and the bowl also.
The reliability is completely based on how well it is installed. I know several people who have and like them. All of them said the same thing. Horses can and do break the paddle. So keep an extra on hand.
Installation is not cheap if paying someone to do it especially if you have to deal with a deep frost line. As shown on this link;
http://horsedrinker.com/automatic-waterer-installation/
IMO if one doesn’t have to deal with long freezing winters its not worth the expense.
The expense is relative to the length of hose you have to roll up after filling a trough!
[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8583283]
The expense is relative to the length of hose you have to roll up after filling a trough![/QUOTE]
Our troughs are plumbed permanently and have an extra box over the intake and float.
It has never frozen inside that box, even when the tank itself was seriously frozen, so we have a water source, but we have to break ice in the tank itself.
The incoming water is the same temperature all year long.
We were installing a dawn to dusk light there, so we can watch the horses in the dark, but you can see the trough and it’s box:
For those who have the Bar Bar A waterers, do they have an option for any sort of water meter to measure the amount of water intake?
Not having any reference for water intake is something that scares me to death with all automatic waters. Nelsons have the option of installing a meter, which I like a lot. I’ve not seen a meter on other brands, but that does not necessarily mean they don’t have them.
But what terrifies me about the Bar Bar A is the “out of sight, out of mind” factor (same reason I dislike the type of waterers with the ball float the horses have to depress). I would worry that if a horse was feeling a little punky, they might be even less inclined to drink if the water is not there for them to see and smell. I also dislike the fact that the waterer could malfunction and you would not know by cursory glance, since you can not see the water.
Otherwise, I really like the idea of no electricity. I also like the cleanliness/freshness factor. And there’s a good chance my worries are nothing but my own neurosis-- I’m just kind of OCD about water.
I think I am going to install one. The horse that would be using it would have access to her stall with 2 buckets of water in the stall. If both buckets in stall were drained at night and she was still thirsty then I would assume she wasn’t using it. If stall water is untouched then I know she is drinking outside. In the summer here she can drain 3 buckets of water.
If this saves me time in the morning before I go to work it will be worth it. Mornings are always a mad rush to get everybody set for the day before I head for the Interstate.
Didn’t Chocomare have one installed at her new place? I think she mentioned it on a thread somewhere, lemme see if I can find it.
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?465981-UPDATE-Forever-Free-Farm-Farm-Warming-SUCCESS!!&p=8361206#post8361206
We have three and love them. I guess we have had them for going on four years now. Installed them all ourselves. Actually fairly easy install but we did rent a small backhoe to dig the holes. We just changed the filter in them for the first time yesterday. I was worried that would be hard or time consuming but it only took a minute. The horses all adore the waterer and will choose it over the bowl style we have at the barn every time. Their customer service is excellent too. Highly recommend.
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