Help! My Quick Connects Are Freezing Faster Than My Coffee in Vermont Mornings

[VTDressageGal]

I work on a horse farm here in the beautiful, but oh-so-chilly, Vermont. Each night, our horses come in, and we deal with the freezing cold by dumping their water buckets outside. In the morning, we refill them when the horses head back out, and then again in the late afternoon. With temperatures fluctuating between -20°F to 20°F most nights, we’ve developed a system involving frost-free hydrants and a hose stored in our heated utility room.
The issue comes when our hydrants started corroding, stripping the threads, and making it impossible to just hook and unhook the hose directly. So, we rigged up a solution: quick connects. It works great in the fall, early winter, and even spring—but as soon as the dead of winter hits, those quick connects freeze solid faster than I can say “winter wonderland.” Side note the quick connects are an open port so they allow the hydrant to fully drain.

We’ve tried insulating the hydrants with insulated bags (which helps with the afternoon refill), but those quick connects are still useless first thing in the morning when I need them the most. My back is starting to seriously protest having to drag 150 lbs of water to 9 paddocks each morning.

What have y’all tried? Any magic solutions or creative fixes that have worked for you? I’m open to all ideas (short of moving to Florida… though that’s tempting). Thanks in advance for any help!

[ParadoxFarm]

We keep a little butane “torch” to unfreeze our hydrant. Something like this:

[luvmyhackney]

Are the quick connects plastic or metal?

Cover with a bag and add a rechargeable hand warmer.

[clanter]

@VTDressageGal

The issue comes when our hydrants started corroding, stripping the threads, and making it impossible to just hook and unhook the hose directly.

at least ours the nipple is replaceable

[beowulf]

Would a hairdryer work? A butane torch is a good remote solution too.

Are you sure the hydrant is not leaking a tiny bit?

Not a solution to the quick connects in specific but your struggle is exactly why most barns in the NE don’t even provide water in outdoor turnout in the winter. Yeah, I know, horses need 24/7 access to water… In boarding barns most aren’t even out 8 hours a day. You run the risk of creating ice patches and tripping hazards from all that daily dumping. If you can’t install stock tank heaters, and the quick connect keeps freezing, your only recourse is likely what you’ve already been doing.

My back feels for you. I used to have to run about 150 gallons of water between six paddocks in the winter at one of my barns. You couldn’t pull a cart because of the snow and ice ruts. I started putting them in Tidy Cat jugs and putting them on top of a sled and just pulling one along side me as I lead each horse out. It was still backbreaking work. I used to dream of having a Gator.

[trubandloki]

@beowulf

Are you sure the hydrant is not leaking a tiny bit?

My experience with quick disconnects in the winter is that the simple bit of drip that happens when you disconnect the hose causes them to freeze up. No extra leaking required.

[NaturallyHappy]

Agreed.

[beowulf]

I believe it. Mine hasn’t frozen yet (MA), but we don’t experience the -20F that OP is experiencing. I’m sure that doesn’t help.

[Foxglove]

When I bought my Quick Connects, the hardware store clerk cautioned against using them in winter. I keep an electric tea kettle that boils water really fast in the barn to:

1. thaw barn cat water
2. pour on old horses’ grain pellets to make a hot breakfast
3. warm up the barn cat’s meal (put unopened can into small jar, add water, remove and serve)

Barn cat Gordon expecting table service . . .

[clanter]

@trubandloki

My experience with quick disconnects in the winter is that the simple bit of drip that happens when you disconnect the hose causes them to freeze up. No extra leaking required.

when I was overseeing a manufacturing engineering group I had to show them just by using an eyedropper placing less than a single drop of water on a bare metal thread was enough to completely lock a nylon threaded nut to the metal shaft after just a few minutes in a freezer (this nut needed to move freely on the shaft)

The solution was simple in our case by just applying a lubricant on the threads

They had thought lubricating the shaft was not needed as the nylon nut is self lubricating and did not require lubricant. The lub was needed to protect the threads from mositure,

Condensation was not even considered by the engineers

[ZuzusPetals]

Would the thinnest coat of vaseline do anything?

[luvmyhackney]

That or clipper oil.

[whitmers]

I have had this same problem. Solved it by unscrewing the end attached to the hydrant, blowing the bead of water out, screwing it back on the hydrant and covering hydrant with a bucket. This has worked so far. Also found I have to drain the hose a couple of times to be sure to get all the water out of the other quick-connect end.

[LCDR]

As @Clanter posted, most all hydrants have replaceable threaded hose connectors - the brass part.

I assume you aren’t using plastic quick connects, but these may be less susceptible to the freezing connector problem than the metal ones. Maybe worth a try. And the metal ones from big box stores these days are made of aluminum, not brass. I have about a dozen purchased some 30 years ago that are solid brass and still leak free. Brass ones are still available; they just cost two or three times the price of the aluminum ones.