Heated Water Buckets-fire hazard?

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=Jersey Fresh;8985733]
Actually BeeHoney my dad ran through those scenarios (ie cord chewing. Etc) and said watch for them as they will make the buckets unsafe.

Not his first barn he’s wired :)[/QUOTE]

Horses will chew on, check out just about anything if they can see and or smell.

IMO these buckets are perfectly safe in a barn environment when used correctly and checked periodically for wear and tear. Just like ANYTHING on a horse farm. Fencing, jumps, electric outlets, etc.

IMO the buckets should be hung at a proper height. A hole should be drilled in the wall where the cord exits the back of the bucket and the cord run directly out. Assuming the water bucket can be hung on the isle way wall. Most are.

If one has a horse that tends to play with and or rub on and or is a bucket abuser. Secure with a locking carabiner or something of the like. There are ways of securing the bottom of the bucket to the wall so it can’t be flipped over and stress put on the cord or in eye shot of the horse to pull on, chew on.

[fordtraktor]

That is exactly what we do, gumtree. Bucket on front of stall, drilled a hole right behbd the bottom of the bucket, directly to low outlets on the front of the stall. Works great.

[JesseG]

Yes, that’s why UL or CE tested is so important. I hate how Amazon sellers are so unregulated. Unknown random brands with no reputation to uphold if something goes wrong.

[JesseG]

Can you share which insulated bucket holders you use? This sounds great even if used in conjunction with a heated bucket for energy loss

[JesseG]

Sounds like a good plan, but I personally would worry more about a new bucket than One that’s proven to work well. To me, each new one is liability. That’s good you test them first though!
Are any of the heated bucket brands better than the others?
What bucket insulators do people use?

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

This is a zombie thread but I bought these in 2016 for $45 each from Amazon - and still have them and use them. Since winters have been getting warmer here in Michigan, I have only found a few times they get ice on top. I prefer these to soft sided insulators as I can see my horses destroy those.

Please note that unless they have changed the design, regular buckets don’t fit - I use these:

[trubandloki]

@Jackie_amp_Starlette

Please note that unless they have changed the design, regular buckets don’t fit - I use these:

By regular buckets you mean the typical flat back buckets we use for horse watering?

Is it correct that any of the standard five gallon buckets (they sell at Lowes, Home Depot, Runnings) will fit correctly?

(yes, I know it is a zombie thread, I am responding to a new post in it.)

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

Yes, it was disappointing that the flat backs won’t fit. It’s the food grade buckets that do fit. I think they are the same - will be going back out to the barn in a while and can check.

What I also like about these insulated holders is that in the summer the water stays cooler.

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

@trubandloki Yes they fit!

[Pico_Banana]

I really like that style of insulated holder, but one of my mares flat out refuses to drink out of them! Same thing for the soft-sided insulators.

I use 10 gallon muck buckets on the floor for water year-round. When I’m worried that the water will freeze, I take a regular sized (20 gallon?) muck bucket, put some shavings in the bottom, then put the smaller bucket inside. It’s not perfect, but so far I’ve only seen a very thin layer of ice in the morning on top. And that’s with my dutch doors completely open and on the windy side of the barn. On the other side, they’ve never frozen with this method.

[SonnysMom]

At the farm I work at we had 5 of them in the coldest barn. Most of the horses hated them. In the summer they would drink the flat backed bucket dry in the summer and not touch the insulated bucket. In the winter they would lightly freeze anyway. The hay and shavings would get under the bucket and mold. I took down the insulators last year. 3 of them had rotted the boards behind them. Somehow they trap the moisture there.
I don’t think they were worth the trouble.
SE PA so we get winter but not super hard ones like further north. I frankly don’t feel like they worked that well compared to the uninsulated bucket hung next to them that that horses/ponies preferred.
I kinda wonder if the horses have a bucket they prefer that they break the ice enough to drink through the night. If they don’t like the bucket they don’t drink from it so it gets more ice on the top.

[clanter]

@SonnysMom

I kinda wonder if the horses have a bucket they prefer

well our horses have specific color buckets that they prefer,

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

That is interesting @SonnysMom as I have had up to 6 horses using them and no problems. They actually chose those to drink out of over the heated buckets - I gave them a choice one year as an experiment. These are horses who don’t like to drink out of the heated water trough - and no, it’s not shorting out on them. They will use the trough all summer, just in the winter they get picky.

And I don’t have any rot but I do hate the gunk build up. My barn is an old dairy barn with concrete floors that I have mats on, so I have been known to just pull the buckets out and hose the insulated holders down.

Who knows…it’s horses!

@clanter, my horses don’t have a choice in colors as I like matchy-matchy lol!

[DiamondJubilee]

All 5 of my ponies do not like warm water to drink in the winter. I live in Ontario so we can get -30 to -40c weather, so cold. My barn is an old bank barn and always stays above freezing so the indoor buckets are just regular buckets. Outside I have a large heated tub (the 80L kind that plugs in) and they have access to it all day. They rarely touch it (no it does not shock them as I clean it often and no shocks to me) and will drink the cold water as soon as I bring them in.

I tend to get new ponies every year and they are all the same - they prefer the cold water indoors. But I don’t have too much of a choice as I have to have a heated bucket outdoors or they will have no water through the day…

Ponies!

[trubandloki]

@clanter

@SonnysMom

I kinda wonder if the horses have a bucket they prefer

well our horses have specific color buckets that they prefer,

I have one of these too.