FYI Cooler as water trough, no frozen water

[SugarCubes]

My pasture is quite far from the barn and I do not yet have electricity down there. I conducted an experiment yesterday by filling a rectangular coleman cooler as well as a muck tub. Both were filled at 8:30am and temps were in the single digits. The high only got up to 12 degrees, but by the time I brought the horses in at 5:30, the cooler water was still completely unfrozen while the muck tub had a thick layer of ice.

I put the lid on the cooler overnight to see if it would remain unfrozen even with lows in the single digits. When I turned out this morning, the cooler water just had the thinnest glaze of ice.

Just an idea to try for anyone struggling with water in these extreme temps

[equinelibrium]

Brilliant! I’ve heard that old standing freezers work really well too, but I’ve never seen it in person.

[Bluey]

@SugarCubes

My pasture is quite far from the barn and I do not yet have electricity down there. I conducted an experiment yesterday by filling a rectangular coleman cooler as well as a muck tub. Both were filled at 8:30am and temps were in the single digits. The high only got up to 12 degrees, but by the time I brought the horses in at 5:30, the cooler water was still completely unfrozen while the muck tub had a thick layer of ice.

I put the lid on the cooler overnight to see if it would remain unfrozen even with lows in the single digits. When I turned out this morning, the cooler water just had the thinnest glaze of ice.

Just an idea to try for anyone struggling with water in these extreme temps

What kind of cooler, any pictures you could share?

Sounds like an interesting idea!

[SugarCubes]

Just your standard rectangular cooler with a removable lid! I’ll take a picture tomorrow. I’m pretty blown away with how well it worked with these extreme temps!

[trubandloki]

@SugarCubes

My pasture is quite far from the barn and I do not yet have electricity down there. I conducted an experiment yesterday by filling a rectangular coleman cooler as well as a muck tub. Both were filled at 8:30am and temps were in the single digits. The high only got up to 12 degrees, but by the time I brought the horses in at 5:30, the cooler water was still completely unfrozen while the muck tub had a thick layer of ice.

I put the lid on the cooler overnight to see if it would remain unfrozen even with lows in the single digits. When I turned out this morning, the cooler water just had the thinnest glaze of ice.

Just an idea to try for anyone struggling with water in these extreme temps

How did the cooler water do the second day, after getting the ice on it over night?

[4BranchFarm]

I also have been using coolers (in New England) for outdoor water- I LOVE it, I got 30 gal white ones, with covers- they definitely reduce over ice formation- and I like that the inside is white, so you can see exactly how clean the water is!

[ytr45]

totally brill!

[SugarCubes]

@trubandloki

@SugarCubes

My pasture is quite far from the barn and I do not yet have electricity down there. I conducted an experiment yesterday by filling a rectangular coleman cooler as well as a muck tub. Both were filled at 8:30am and temps were in the single digits. The high only got up to 12 degrees, but by the time I brought the horses in at 5:30, the cooler water was still completely unfrozen while the muck tub had a thick layer of ice.

I put the lid on the cooler overnight to see if it would remain unfrozen even with lows in the single digits. When I turned out this morning, the cooler water just had the thinnest glaze of ice.

Just an idea to try for anyone struggling with water in these extreme temps

How did the cooler water do the second day, after getting the ice on it over night?

Just another thin layer (and it was only half full from the night before) so I topped it off with warm water from the house and it was still totally thawed when I brought them in last night. It was 6 degrees this morning. True test will be this weekend when our night temps will range from 0 to -10.

[SugarCubes]

@4BranchFarm

I also have been using coolers (in New England) for outdoor water- I LOVE it, I got 30 gal white ones, with covers- they definitely reduce over ice formation- and I like that the inside is white, so you can see exactly how clean the water is!

I am amazed with how well they work! I thought with these temps there was no way it would stay thawed. Now I need to get a cooler like the size you have, the one I’m using is pretty small, just enough to get them through the day.

[4BranchFarm]

Amazon.com : Igloo Polar 100 Qt. Cooler : Sports & Outdoors