So i got a cast iron tub this fall for my water trough. I love it, but now I’m having an issue of finding a heating element for it.
Those floating ones won’t work. I have a mini mule that will tear that out so fast.
I have a drain plug type that I used in my old trough. Can I just put it into the water? Or would it definitely short out and kill me?
I have never used a drain plug heater so I can not help you with that.
I use a sinking version. It sits on the bottom of the trough. So my horses do not play with it I have a wood cover for that side of the trough.
You can use a floating one, or you can use a sinking one with a cage, but you cannot use a drain plug heater unless it’s installed in a drain plug. With whatever you use, the heating element can’t touch the tank.
If you use the sinking one I imagine the cord will still be accessible to your mule?? Maybe if you run it in pipe into the trough and it needs to be in a cage . Can you go back to a trough with a drain plug for winter and use the cast iron for the warmer months?
I would not.
It will greatly reduce your heating efficiency if the heating element is in direct contact with the iron wall of the tub (because you’ll be heating the tub wall rather than the water).
I don’t know about the risk of shock. You’d have to check the manufacturer’s specs to see if it’s listed as submergible. I mean, the cord/element electrical connection is certainly weatherproof, but that’s not the same as “ok to submerge 24/7”. I personally wouldn’t take the risk. But no matter what kind of heater you use, get a GFI outlet installed so it will trip if there’s any kind of electrical fault.
To keep our trough heaters in the trough, I just put a cinderblock in the water trough and anchor the heater to it.
No, you can’t do that, as the back side of the heating element, the part that’s supposed to be on the outside of the tub, shouldn’t be submerged.
Anchor the floating kind to the bottom, as long as it’s caged, and use a pvc pipe setup to run the cord out and over the edge of the tub. You’ll want a U at the bottom (so the cord doesn’t end up making a hard turn out of the element) and at the top of the tub, with a straight piece in between. I’d make it big enough diameter that nobody can grab it in their teeth.
Ok, I’ve ordered a sinking one. The cord can actually be ran through the overflow so it shouldn’t be so tempting to grab and have fun with. Now to figure out what to do with all these useless water heaters…
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