Exposed extension cords for outdoor water troughs

[cyberbay]

The barn I manage is located in New England, so it means cold winters and frozen water troughs. Yet strangely, the barn, in 30+ years, has never addressed how to keep the outdoor water troughs from icing up in the winter. (Its solution, so far, has been to make the young and naive barn help carry water on a daily basis to six paddocks. And it is a LONG walk.)

Anyhow, that said, I’ve been really pushing this topic to be addressed, and so far, the only solution that seems most realistic is to use hot water heaters connected to extension cords (that will plug into an electrical outlet that is fairly nearby).

But I have a real concern with the positioning of these extension cords: they will need to run across several yards of lawn (exposure to wildlife, but no horses) and then once at the pasture, they may need to possibly run along the shared fencelines. I am afraid of the horses playing with them, or tangling in them, or you name it.

-Am I overly concerned, or is this a realistic problem to have long stretches of exposed extension cords right within a horse’s reach?
-Also, has anyone had any experience with horses playing around with the heaters in the trough?
-And (one more query!) are there types or brands of water troughs especially well-suited to being positioned under a shared, electrified fenceline?

Any input greatly appreciated.

Signed,
Worried about the upcoming Winter Wonderland

[walkinthewalk]

“Once upon a time”, I had to do something similar but it was for a fan in the loafing shed.

i went to Ace Hardware, bought a 100+ feet of OUTOOR/waterproof 12 gauge electrical wire and made my own extension cord with a 4-plug box.

something similar could be done but in New E gland winters, I would also put that wire inside waterproof conduit.

It is still iffy to try and get that done for six paddocks — it really does sound like a big fire hazard. BUT if someone is going to insist, use HD outdoor commercial continuous wiring and build your own. Believe me, it is not difficult – at least I didn’t think so and I was "just a dumb secretary:)

[cutter99]

When I lived in a colder climate and had to use an electrical extension cord for the stock tank heater, I did two things to name it safer. 1) I taped off the connection with electrical tape to help keep it dry, and 2) I ran the cord through PVC to help keep it dry. I did it this way for years with no issues. The PVC pipe just needs to wide enough to get the cord and outlet through. I also used a 12 gauge cord made for outdoor use.

[DunByMistake]

I live in Canada so this is something I deal with every winter. I have an extension cord plugged in inside my barn and then we use fence staples to run it along fence and keep it off the ground. I tie the cord of water heater to fence so there is no possibility of it reaching water. The plug in of extension cord is stapled to fence also. I put a cover over the plug in so it stays dry. I haven’t had a problem so far.