Goodhors-my dad is a licensed Electrician 
Cool! Then he should be able to answer all your questions when provided with the bucket information of electric usage by the multiple buckets. Then YOU will feel better in using or NOT using the heated buckets for the boarders.
I had my dad (a licensed electrician) wire the barn with GFCIs on every stall and heavy wire for this reason. I have not had any issues with my heated buckets. I have been using them for agesā¦ at least since around 2000ā¦with no issues.
before that I did have issues getting horses to drink enough water even with regular deicing. Cold water isnāt that pleasant to drink ā intake goes up here substantially with the nice warm buckets and Nelsons outside.
So pick your poison, risk fire because of buckets or deadly colic because of low water intakeā¦everything has risk even the āno heated bucketsā choice.
If you donāt want heated buckets, I hear the insulators do a good job as well. No personal experience, but another thought if you wanted to avoid the plug in buckets.
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/smartpak-insulated-water-bucket-cover-11423
Without reading the rest, which I expect is good advice, let me pass on some ways of thinking used in design of industrial hazardous (explosion) areas.
- Minimize the number and size of ignition risks. We donāt use bucket heaters and weāre in PA which has similar winter nights. We fill with warm water at night and top off with warm water in the morning before feeding. At most a horse will have skim ice for a few hours when they are waking up.
If you must include the ignition risk,
2) Double-inspect every component where a failure / fault would cause an accident. (While your father may be a master electrician, perhaps your insurance might not appreciate his proximity to you? Ergo, having an independent review of the work might be good insurance financially even if they find nothing)
3) Have a fail-safe. If the heater shorts - what happens? Does it shut off by the GFCI, does the cord melt, or does it get hot enough to ignite something?
4) Eliminate combustible materials. Keep loose hay, feeder, and shavings as far from the bucket as practical. Donāt feed more hay than necessary, etc.
5) Inspect frequently. If a component has a fail-safe, test it at the start of each season.
David
I have used heated buckets for 20+ years with no problems. I love them!
we use them here and we barely saw temperatures above 0 for the last week. My 2 live in/out and the buckets freeze if not heated. They are big drinkers and usually will polish of a bucket overnight (even having a trough outside the stalls). The buckets are designed to turn on at a certain temperature and turn off as well. I have never felt an empty bucket feel warm. Hope that helps!
I won one once at a feed storeās cutomer appreciation day and it overheated and shorted out. I think I was lucky I was keeping an eye on it. It was only plugged in a short time.
I do not remember the brand. This was about four years ago.
I live in your area and in the past I used the ones that TSC sells during the coldest parts of the winter. Last year someone sent me a picture of one melted to a charred wall. I thought about it and I decided that it simply isnāt worth the risk.
My thoughts on the matter are these:
Any normal barn owner has a powerful fear of barn fires. IMO, this is a very rational fear since barn fires occur with regularity during summer when people are running fans and in winter when people are using electrical heating appliances. Barns are notoriously flammable environmentsāfull of bedding, hay, the occasional cobweb, and often constructed of wood. The barn is also a very tough environment for electrical appliances due to moisture, corrosion, dust, rodents, wear and tear administered by large animals, and the wear and tear of the occasional careless worker. Appliances might start out safe, but after a year or two of service things might be different. Lastly, the result of a barn fire is typically devastatingāmost of the horses in the barn die a horrible death or are grievously injured.
I understand that there are benefits to heated water in the winter, but IME when we have the rare series of days where the temperature stays low enough to freeze buckets the horses might drink less during the early morning hours, but compensate by drinking more at the time when they are watered and also by drinking more from the outdoor heated auto-waterers. I canāt remember if you said that you have those, but using a heated outdoor water source might be part of a compromise to ease your clientās concerns.
I worry about colic as much as the next person, but I donāt think you can compare risking a barn fire to risking a colic. In a barn fire you donāt just lose one horse. You lose multiple horses, a building, thousands of dollars worth of equipment/hay, and potentially risk the lives of people who may try to rescue horses.
In addition to my rational thoughts, I also donāt think you can discount the emotional costs of a barn fire. I once heard a friendās description of finding her horses burned down to their hooves in the aftermath of a barn fire and I pray I never have to face something like that.
Obviously thereās a point where you simply DO need electricity and certain appliances in a barn, but I think that limiting the use of those appliances to what is absolutely necessary and turning things off when no one is out at the barn is the safest option. I think your suggestion of unplugging the buckets at night is a very reasonable one.
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The last item I wanted to include was:
NEVER BUY CHEAP ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES FOR YOUR BARN, EVER!!!
Buy commercial extension cords rated for outdoor duty.
Buy robust bucket and trough heaters.
Buy fans, etc rated for dusty environments whenever such options are possible.
No offense to those who shop at TSC but not all of their products are very robust.
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I tried the bucket insulators, but they did not keep the water from freezing. I even went out at 10 pm and added boiling water. But by morning the buckets were still frozen solid. I have to say that my horses did NOT tear them apart, though.
I switched to the heated buckets about six years ago. I also worry about barn fires.
So, here is my routine to minimize risk while also providing warmed water, and avoiding all of the work associated with frozen buckets:
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ā I only bring my horses in overnight on the WORST of nights. They have a 3-sided run-in with slow hay feeders and a heated water trough. This suffices for 98% of the winter nights.
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ā We have GFCI outlets at each stall, run the wire out behind the bucket to the outlet, which is RIGHT THERE (no extension cords and no wires running long distances).
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ā Throughout the season, I keep inspecting the buckets for any cracks, feel them for excessive warmth, etc.
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ā I throw them out at the end of each season and buy new ones every year. Yeah, thatās some money, but it makes me feel better. I always check the new ones by plugging them in when the horses are staying outside and make sure everything works well before I lock my friends in overnight.
Itās my best plan, and I still worry every time they are locked in overnight. I just hate it, as a barn fire is the WORST. But you manage risk and pray over the rest.
PS ā I also store my hay in a separate building and only put hay nets in the stalls.
If you read the instructions that come with the heated water buckets they read " do not allow bucket to remain empty" most also read ādo not leave unattendedā.
Call the manufacturers and they will tell you the same thing
[QUOTE=Tony;8980283]
If you read the instructions that come with the heated water buckets they read " do not allow bucket to remain empty" most also read ādo not leave unattendedā.
Call the manufacturers and they will tell you the same thing[/QUOTE]
I would guess a good percentage of the electrical items that we (general) plug in and leave plugged in say in their instructions somewhere to not leave the unattended.
That is what happens when we (general) sue over everything and anything.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8980299]
I would guess a good percentage of the electrical items that we (general) plug in and leave plugged in say in their instructions somewhere to not leave the unattended.
That is what happens when we (general) sue over everything and anything.[/QUOTE]
You are correct and most people would not leave an iron unattended plugged in over night, or leave a coffee put turned on when they leave their house etcā¦ Yet people would leave an electronically heated water bucket plugged in in the most combustible environment unattended , thats why they have to make that disclosure. Why take the risk , horse drinks the bucket empty, heating element does not kick off , bucket burns, or horse knocks bucket loose and obviously worse can happen , the possibilities are endless if not monitored .
I donāt think youāre being paranoid for no reason, and 2foals said it very well.
There are climates where you do need an aggressive plan for keeping water from freezing and for preventing colic, whether that plan is auto waterers, round-the-clock heated buckets, frequent top-offs with hot water, etc. Thankfully I donāt live in that type of climate and I donāt think you do either. With your climate you should be fine unplugging the buckets before bed. Like someone else said, the horses will only have a few hours before morning when the buckets are likely to freeze, and as long as they have access to fresh, unfrozen water after that they will drink then to make up for it.
I donāt have boarders but if it were me I would stay firm on unplugging the buckets before bed, for my peace of mind. I would also suggest insulation for those who were extra worried. I have some of those bucket cozies and they do work well. For the mouthy baby horse I leave the cover off so only the sides are covered, and it doesnāt work quite as well but better than nothing for sure. There are also DIY insulation options.
When my horses are stalled overnight in cold weather (rarely, these days), I give them each a bucket of fresh warm water around dinnertime and then again at night check. The old man especially loves warm water and will drain almost the whole bucket right in front of me. Thatās a little more labor-intensive for you though and only works if you have sufficient hot water in the barn, so I donāt know if you want to promise it to your boarders. But I much preferred that to worrying about a fire.
Thanks everyone. A lot to think about. I called my dad, but until I talk to him the buckets will remain unplugged at night. We do not have hot water in the barn so that is not an option right now unfortunately. Thankfully we do not have to deal with this for extended periods, but last week it did get cold enough at night in my barn for my buckets to ice over by morning which does concern me.
A lot to think about!
Iām in WI and we had an entire week of temperatures below 12F, and several days that barely got above 0F. We have heated buckets on 24/7 since they will even freeze solid during the day when horses are outside.
All of the heated buckets that Iāve seen die did so by freezing solid overnight. Seems like rather than overheating they just put out less and less heat and then quit.
As hay intake increases (often increasing with decreasing temperatures), consumption of water increases. I find the horses prefer to drink more from their inside buckets than the outdoor heated tank also.
24/7 easy access to water is nonnegotiable to me as a boarder. I donāt ever want my horse to have to break ice to get water.
As a note - of the three barns at the place I board, our little 10 stall barn is the only one with buckets. The rest have auto waterers that wonāt freeze under most conditions (the year the bathroom pipes froze, a few of the waterers at the corner of the barn did as well). You could look into installing those. One of the barns has larger waterers that span 2 stalls each.
buckets will remain unplugged at night
as an alternative have him install timers to turn the buckets off
but if you buy equipment that has been tested and labeled by Underwriters Lab there shouldnāt be a problemā¦ I used to have to accompany test products to the lab and watch as they attempted to blow the product up, UL is pretty good
[QUOTE=clanter;8980614]
as an alternative have him install timers to turn the buckets off
but if you buy equipment that has been tested and labeled by Underwriters Lab there shouldnāt be a problemā¦ I used to have to accompany test products to the lab and watch as they attempted to blow the product up, UL is pretty good[/QUOTE]
That must of been a really cool job.
