Have any of you used Bar-Bar-A auto Waterers in cold climates (like Colorado)? If so, did you like them? Did you use the tire method (which the website says is for “extreme climates”), or the regular method?
Thanks!
We have a Bar-Bar-A here in central Minnesota. We installed it 6 years ago, and we love it! Our horses are stalled overnight, so it is used 12 hours and idle 12 hours. We did put in tires at the bottom (I forget how many). It works great in all weather. The only times it has frozen up has been with issues in the well pump itself.
We have a separate well in the barn and it’s a shallow well with the pump in a 6’ deep pit. One year, after a week of -30F straight, the bulb in the pit burned out and the well pump froze and cracked. The water line to the waterer then froze somewhere between the pump and the waterer. Because we couldn’t pinpoint the issue in the subzero temps, we did have to wait until we could find the frozen area and thaw it out.
The only issue we have ever had in the cold with the waterer itself is that very occasionally, if frost gets into the housing, the paddle will stick down and the water will keep coming out and flood until the paddle thaws enough to release. It doesn’t happen often, but that’s something to watch for.
As a precaution every day (regardless of weather), we test the waterer by pushing on the paddle at turnout and turn-in. If the well pump is out or there is a problem with the waterer, we will know since no water will come up when you push it. We bring hot water down in the winter time and run it over the paddle/into the basin as an abundance of caution to thaw any possible frost around the paddle when we do our regular test. If heavy snow is expected or super super cold overnight, we do out a bucket lid over the top of it (with a brick to hold it down) just to try and keep out extra moisture/cold. If yiur horses are out 24/7, you wouldn’t need to do that.
If something goes wrong, it’s super easy to fix and access, even in winter. You can pull the whole assembly right up and out. There is no electricity needed (just the well pump). We do keep a stock tank on hand just in case, but none of the issues we have had with it not working have been related to the waterer itself, it’s turned out always to be a water supply issue.
I have talked this waterer up to everyone I know. We have been super happy with it and so are the horses. Customer service and troubleshooting is good and parts are easy to get/replace if needed. Get an extra filter to have on hand, that way if you have to clean it, you can just switch them out and keep the waterer going.
3 Likes
I am not in a super cold climate, but we do get plenty cold and stretches that are below freezing in NJ. Last year we put in 2 Bar Bar waterers…they were AWESOME!!! Like…why didn’t I do this years ago! I put two more in this summer so that the fields we have in winter all have them.
No freezing issues…even when the snow and ice were crusted on top. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was not to have to chip ice chunks out in the morning.
My older gelding actually now prefers drinking from the BB waterer. My younger gelding just moved to the field with one in there and he is being really dense about figuring out how it works. Which is so odd because he usually plays and messes with everything. I am traveling this weekend and had to put a regular trough because I didn’t want to have him not drinking while I was away.
Parts are really easy to manage…company is great if you have an issue (we put a new one in and it wasn’t shutting off…called them and then gave us a list to troubleshoot. Turned out a itty bitty stone was lodged right were they suggested to check. Removed that and all worked fine.).
Installing was actually not bad at all…once we sorted out what we needed and how to do the first one the other 3 were easy.
Definitely really happy with them and so glad we installed them.
1 Like
Agree that this company is great! When we did the install, one of our waterers wouldn’t work. My DH disassembled the waterer, put it together again and it still didn’t work. The service rep stayed on the phone with my DH after he had disassembled it and piece by piece, they put it together again. It turned out there was a hole missing from one of the washers. Absolutely great customer service!
1 Like
Wisconsin here. I installed a Bar-Bar-A in a new pasture a few years ago where electric wasn’t available (I have Nelsons in the others), and did use the tire method. The waterer works perfectly year round, with no problem at all. Love it!
1 Like
