Insulating your outdoor stock tank, hose question too...all about winter water

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Hey all. First winter with the horses at home, and I am not doing an auto-waterer (aka Ritchie, etc.). I live in the frozen north. I know I will need a tank heater. I have the big Rubbermade tank, so I assume the plug one is the way to go?

Second, what have you done to conserve heat? Did you build a cover, and how? How hard was it to remove to clean and how do you clean/drain those in the winter anyway? Pictures and any thoughts welcome!!

Third, I will run a short hose from the frost-free hydrant to the tank to fill it. Can I use a quick/connect brass valve on a frost free hydrant? If I do will the water still drain out properly below? My understanding is that you cannot leave a hose connected, as it won’t drain back down.

All advice is appreciated! I’ve never had to deal with this as a boarder!

[SLR]

I use floating heaters, but have never tried to conserve the heat with a cover. The tanks stay pretty ice free. I’ve been wary to disturb the plug, so as not to start leaks. To clean I just allow the water to reduce and turn the whole tank over. Don’t leave a quick connect on in freezing weather. Completely disconnect hose asnd reattach as needed or hydrant will freeze. IDK whether it freezes below the surface, but I suspect its just at the nozzle, because I can get them unfrozen by use of a hair dryer at the nozzle/handle area.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I’m just picturing my mouthy horse electrocuting herself…do the floating ones cause any issues with playful beasts?

[UrbanHennery]

I’ve had a series of naughty mouthy geldings and never had an issue with floating tank heaters. But I know others have.

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;7782961]
I’m just picturing my mouthy horse electrocuting herself…do the floating ones cause any issues with playful beasts?[/QUOTE]

I used to use the drain plug heaters in the Rubbermaid tank; even though we have it set up properly according to the directions (i.e. the water is grounded and the plug is in a GFCI outlet, no use of an extension cord), we have had issues with my mare not wanting to drink out of the tank. I do not feel any shock if I put my hand in the water.

I stopped using the drain plug heater last year, and used the floating one, still with the water grounded just in case, still plugged into the GFCI outlet, and never had an issue with my mare not drinking.

I will now be using the floating heater from now on. My gelding is quite playful, and he never bothered it. He rubbed his lips on the top blue plastic when he first saw it floating in there, but he never removed it from the tank or otherwise messed with it.

You can also get the sinking heaters with the metal guard (to prevent them from burning the plastic), if you’re worried about some naughty pony pulling the floating one out. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/allied-precision-sinking-de-icer-1500-w

I do not do anything to conserve heat; probably should, but never have. We had 30 below zero last winter and there was some ice on the top of the tank, but it was along the edges. There was a big hole of no ice around the heater. If you just hit the ice, it falls into the water and melts.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I will check that out. Where do you get your floating heaters from?

[SuckerForHorses]

Tractor Supply

[SuckerForHorses]

My dad uses the sinking ones for his cows…they like to pull them out if he uses the floating ones… …which is how I ended up with the floating ones…

[Kodidog763]

We planned on building an insulated box for the tank last winter, but didn’t get around to it. We ended up with the tank sitting on a sheet of pink styrofoam insulation, and used this tank heater. I bought mine at Fleet Farm.

I did have an issue with my younger mare grabbing the cord for the heater and then swinging the heater at my gelding. So my husband installed a pvc “pipe” bent over the tank (and secured to it) for the cord to run through. Once the mare couldn’t grab the cord any longer, we had no issues.

Oh - we were running the hose from inside the house, so we couldn’t leave it hooked up, so I’m no help there.

This made it through all of the super MN cold weather over the winter without freezing up. I didn’t notice a huge difference in my electric bill, but I’m sure there was some impact (hard to notice since we were also running electric heaters in the house to preserve propane).

[Field_of_Dreams_Mini]

We used the plug-in heaters on ours and they worked fine. Floaters didn’t work, the doobers pulled them out and played with them! The sinkers worked if we ran the card through a PVC pipe and tied it in.

The quick-connects are PERFECT. We have to use them daily here, as our taps are all within reach of pesky mouths. And I know before we got them the one stallion played tug with the hose- and literally broke the tap right off! Niagara Falls in the stallion paddock! SO now all of the taps have them.

Another handy hint: when we lived in PA we had a frost free tap in the barn and kept a heat tape on it. We also had a “spare” tank that we had a floatie heater in and kept the hose in it. Pulled the hose out, watered, disconnect, then coiled the hose back in the water, making sure no part stuck out. Hose never froze if we were careful! Wipe the hose so the water doesn’t get too mucky. We tied a piece of binder twine on the ends so we wouldn’t get our hands wet.

[Simkie]

I wish I had a pic of the water setup at my previous boarding barn.

They had plumbed water and electric to every field for water and light. There was a frost free tap on the opposite side of the fence from the trough, along with a plug and an overhead light on a switch. They used an elbow of PVC or metal pipe from the spigot through the fence to fill the trough, and the drain plug heater was installed and plugged directly into the outlet that was right there.

It was a well thought out SLICK set up. No problems with the hydrant freezing, even with the elbow left on, because it drained right away (although you could really easily take it off and leave it hanging near the spigot.)

They also had a gizmo between the heater and the plug that would cycle on at 35 degrees (I think it was) so electric was only supplied to the heater when it was actually cold enough TO run.

If we had tanks outside, I would do it that same way.

We did have the floating and sinking heaters one year and my horses played with them. The drain plug heaters were the best.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

[QUOTE=Kodidog763;7783020]

This made it through all of the super MN cold weather over the winter without freezing up. I didn’t notice a huge difference in my electric bill, but I’m sure there was some impact (hard to notice since we were also running electric heaters in the house to preserve propane).[/QUOTE]

OMG. Don’t even mention propane and last year! WORST WINTER EVER. I locked in my price already for this winter back in May, but didn’t last year and we didn’t fill after December–which meant a LOT of blankets, wood stove fires, and a heater in the bedroom. I was not paying over 2 grand to fill my tank! I just refused. So we turned the heat down to 50. Horrible, horrible winter last year.

[QUOTE=Simkie;7783103]I wish I had a pic of the water setup at my previous boarding barn.

They had plumbed water and electric to every field for water and light. There was a frost free tap on the opposite side of the fence from the trough, along with a plug and an overhead light on a switch. They used an elbow of PVC or metal pipe from the spigot through the fence to fill the trough, and the drain plug heater was installed and plugged directly into the outlet that was right there.

It was a well thought out SLICK set up. No problems with the hydrant freezing, even with the elbow left on, because it drained right away (although you could really easily take it off and leave it hanging near the spigot.)

They also had a gizmo between the heater and the plug that would cycle on at 35 degrees (I think it was) so electric was only supplied to the heater when it was actually cold enough TO run.

If we had tanks outside, I would do it that same way.

We did have the floating and sinking heaters one year and my horses played with them. The drain plug heaters were the best.[/QUOTE]

That sounds super cool. I wish you had a picture too! I did run an electric box right up to the corner of my dry lot–just a couple feet from my stock tank. My big yard/farm light was already overhead, so that is nice. My water line is getting run right next to the dry lot too. Probably 4’ from the electric. So I think I could do something “innovative” if I could figure out what that was.

[Kodidog763]

OMG. Don’t even mention propane and last year! WORST WINTER EVER. I locked in my price already for this winter back in May, but didn’t last year and we didn’t fill after December–which meant a LOT of blankets, wood stove fires, and a heater in the bedroom. I was not paying over 2 grand to fill my tank! I just refused. So we turned the heat down to 50. Horrible, horrible winter last year.

We were in the same boat. We filled in December and refused to take another delivery. Adding the electric heaters were WAY cheaper than what it would have cost to fill the propane tank. The propane company kept telling us we needed to take delivery or we would run out. HA! We just took deliver about two weeks ago. We’ve locked in our price as well. Last year was ridiculous.

[Scarlet_Gilia]

Drain plug de-icers do not last through a season for me. I’ve had good luck with sinking cast aluminum de-icers like this. The Rubbermaid tank is under a breezeway next to a metal support post. We run the cord through a PVC pipe and plug it into a GFI under the roof, and fasten the PVC pipe to the post with duct tape or worm gear clamps.

[Hippolyta]

Our drain heater worked throughout the very bad winter here last year. I think the tank actually says “use drain heaters only”. The only issue we had was…split tank. which leaked, then froze immediately into place. So much snow & ice that we couldn’t even pull it out with the small tractor we could fit in there! It was there until spring thaw.

[saultgirl]

We have a floating heater in a rubber tank; it’s not a huge trough, just 40 gallons.

My husband built a box/stand for it to raise it up off the ground and insulate it. There is a hole in the lid big enough for the horses to reach in and drink. The sides, top and bottom are insulated with styrofoam and then it’s covered with plywood. The top can be lifted off to scrub, and one side opens so the tank can be slid out to dump.

When it gets really cold, I pile the snow under and around the stand for extra insulation.

This has worked for us the last 2 winters, and it gets pretty cold here (-30C for days, flirting with -40C).

Re: hose – I just put the hose away for the winter and haul water from the house. My husband usually helps me with this. I purchased gas containers for this purpose, since they have nice handles to carry and big easy caps to put on/off (i.e. can do with without taking gloves off).

[the_other_mother]

I have 100 gallon Rubbermaid tank and use the plug heater. No need to make a lid. To drain, I only fill it 3/4 of the way, let them drink it to about half and then bucket some out till its light enough for me to dump. Takes a few extra minutes but it works. I have a frost free hydrant in the barn and use quick disconnect fitings but always disconnect and drain hose by walking it in the winter. The quick disconnect thingie tends to freeze though and I have to use a hair dryer to thaw it out sometimes. My hydrant is also wrapped with insulation and drains below the surface into a bed of pea gravel.

[2DogsFarm]

My outside trough is a 50gal plastic barrel - going on 10yo - I heat in Winter with a sinking de-icer.
I run the cord through PVC pipe I’ve cobbled together into a U-shape that runs from the bottom of the trough over the side so no cord is within reach of horse lips.
Within the PVC the de-icer plugs into an outdoor-rated extension cord that I then run through a cinderblock full of rocks & beneath the sliding door of the barn.
All this prevents my “helpful” pony from lifting the de-icer out of the tank.
This arrangement kept the barrel liquid through the worst of the Polar Vortex.

I don’t refill from a hose during Winter, but use a Bucket Brigade method since the trough is right outside the front of the barn.

[IFG]

I have had the same drain plug heater in my Rubbermaid tub for years. Loveit.

[airhorse]

It would be nice if someone made a double wall, insulated trough with a chase for the cord to run through.

I have heard old chest freezers make good cold weather troughs.