Has anyone else seen the auto waters from Cascade Equine?
It looks like the first ones ship out in May. My main concern would be no water if the wifi signal goes down but other than that it looks promising to me. Thoughts?
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Thank you for posting this. They say that it continues to dispense water without a wifi connection, but the data collection component does not work. It will stop dispensing water if there is a power outage, from what I have read so far. It runs on low voltage, but that depends on incoming 110V power to a transformer. I suppose one could install a backup battery.system.
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I donât see how this doesnât freeze. They talk about a low voltage heater in the unit, and theyâll sell you a heated bucket, but never mention (that I was able to find?) the water line to the unit itself, or show you how this connects outside the stall.
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When the water line freezes and the bucket is empty wifi will tell you that your horse has not been drinking. 
I think Iâll be giving this a pass, at least until first year reviews are in. Especially at $800 per stall.
They cover that (some what) on the page called âYour questions answeredâ. Here are some screen shots.
The bottom line is they say to use heat tape and insulation on on the supply lines.
What I do not like about it is that it will lead to the user always having to pour out a full bucket to get a clean bucket.
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If thatâs their answer, itâs laughable.
Might at well pick up a wifi water monitor that attaches to a hose:
And a basic waterer:
Saves hundreds of dollars, and thereâs no monthly subscription fee (really, weâve gotten to a monthly fee to water your horses.)
Who in the hell wants to pay installed auto waterer prices for something that drapes hoses all over your barn to every stall and requires a boatload of heat tape? What a fire risk 
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Oh, I agree. It does not seem like the safest answer.
Interesting idea. Made me think of a rehab barn I used that would keep a chart to record water intake of the rehab horses. Maybe less critical in some cases but definitely a great idea for post-surgery horses or colic cases. Poor execution, and I also dislike the subscription trends in general in the health and fitness space (for humans, horses or otherwise). The business model that necessitates a subscription even for a very pricey device doesnât cover the ongoing cash flow needed for updates, improvements, R&D, and maintaining operations. Thereâs a problem somewhere. Not to mention a lot of barns do not have quality internet due to where the barns are located and available infrastructure. And often are big metal boxes or at least have metal roofs making it difficult to get good signal even when available.
What would be interesting would be to see if the tech concept could be picked up by an established waterer company, where things like water lines, thermostats, and safe installation are already farther along. And the receptacle / bowls are smaller, to the point about cleaning.
Perhaps eliminating subscriptions for those without good internet WiFi but have an option for connecting them together over a local connection (close WiFi without internet) and then barn manager updates the app each morning and/or evening when present. Sure maybe you miss real time alerts but you can track trends. And if the horse is unwell enough to need very close real-time monitoring, someone ought to be there with it at regular intervals anyway.
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Gee if you want to monitor water consumption just use water buckets. Pretty easy to tell if the water level goes down. Technology is not always better. Donât some of Nelson waterers already have built in water meters? Or are those just on outside waterers? I wouldnât spend money for a wifi water meter.
Maybe their technology has changed, but when I talked to them about this feature it is not actually a meter, what it does is use a timer and some base numbers for how a horse typically drinks to give you a calculated number.
I learned this because I was asking about using them for a species they did not offer âmeteringâ for and they explained that it was not a meter and they had no calculations for that species.
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Built-in meters are an option for Nelsons.
If you live out in farming country and donât have WIFI all over the place, including the barn, Cascadaâs âfeaturesâ arenât. Putting chips, sensors, and a power source in everything isnât making life that much better.
My horse was on heated Nelsons for at least 17 years at 2 farms in Maine. He was on pasture board. The BO installed a water system for the horses, includng barn and stalls. She installled 7 heated Nelsonâs outside. It was on its own well with a hookup for a generator. Supply and heat were always on. The outside horses always had water available. Barn always had running water to fill buckets. No one worried about the humans. When we retired to a new barn he was in a stall with runout and a heated Nelson. They never froze at either farm. Never. Once in a while there was a problem with water lines, but the Nelson was still fully functional. Cascade says they are good down to -10. For a bucket filler ? Itâs regularly colder than that night after night. If it hits 32 in the winter itâs a warm day. Heating tape? No way. A PITA besides being a fire hazard.
Cascada touts the elimination of floats or levers âto fill your water buckets perfectly every time.â I aways thought the ideal was horses diong it themselves. Did the Nelsons stop working? Occasionally. But the horses took care of that also. They would stand around looking at it. Next step, one of them would jiggle the waterbowl to get some attention. If no one showed up soon enough they kicked it. Nelsonâs stainless shows no signs of that. DH had parts on hand. If they needed repair he replaced everything including the heater.
Iâm still trying to maintain an analog lifestyle. Itâs not easy I still use Powered Tide with Bleach. No computer screen in the dashboard. I want the CD player. I text on my flip phone. Putting chips, sensors, and a power source with software on a platform and an app on your smartphone isnât making life that much better. I guess this newbie might work for city-slicker farmers who take care of a few horses and the temnperature never dips below 35 degrees. I prefer that my horse has access to water when he needs it. I like being comfortable that my horse is well-cared for and I donât have to go check on him. Iâd prefer the BO didnât have to hunch over her phone to check on his water supply. Heated Nelsonâs meet the standards for the analog lifestyle. Whatâs next? Installing a smartphone in the pastures so they can take selfies or summon help?
My first reaction was critical, too. But one upside I see is that it looks like a pretty cheap install that could be DIY for many (I think?). Auto waterers with easily removeable or cleanable parts are always better than the fixed style.
I like the data concept, but balk at the idea of paying $10.99 a month to see my horseâs water consumption on an app. It seems like a really niche market of people who would find the app useful- I canât imagine a barn manager of a large training barn keeping up with a water app for dozens and dozens of horses.
A Nelson or equivalent high quality waterer costs that much and is a trickier install.
You can install the paddle or float style much cheaper, but they have so many limitations (mainly hygiene).
Iâm not defending the price, I personally wouldnât pay it, I just donât think itâs completely out of line for auto-waterers.
This price seems crazy to me for something that offers no real good options for a climate where things freeze.
At least things like Nelson waterers have good freeze proof installation options, not just âadd heat tape and insulationâ.
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Thatâs what gets me, thoughâitâs not at all comparable to an installed auto waterer, but itâs just as costly.
I feel bad for the barn owners who have boarders show up with these things. Unless your barn is already set up with a hose run to every stall, these arenât a fit. And the website sure does hide how ugly and complex things are on the other side of the stall wall. Seriously, you need three outlets and a hose at every bucket to run these in the winter! WTF!
This looks like a solution looking for a problem, and was created by someone who has never lived where hoses freeze 
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I feel bad for barn owners with boarders who absentee monitor the app and freak out on the barn owner for any little change.
âI see Dobbin only drank a half a gallon between 7pm and 8pm when he usually drinks 2 gallonsâŠâ
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I did not look long enough at the website. How does one clean the bucket? When you open it does it turn the sensors off?
A really tough cold spell around here means high temps up to about zero to 10.degrees The toilet in the barn bathroom had to be shut down. The drain pipe to the septic tank froze. There were 19 stalls bedded with sawdust which beats a porta-potty. The Nelsons just kept chugging along.
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Iâve been seriously thinking about getting one of these. I keep my horse at home. He is psychogenic drinking a ton of water in 24 hrs
(~40gal at least). In order to reduce his consumption gradually 1-2 L/3-4 days, I feel I need to know exactly how much he is currently drinking and a gradient in Liters to read or record. I donât think I can do it accurately enough filling up buckets day & nite, and havenât come across a waterer that will. Has anyone had any luck with these Cascada waterer yet? P. S. I live in Cali where heating the water is not an issue.
Before purchasing two of the Cascada waterers a few months ago, I read through the comments below to learn what I could. Now that Iâve been using them, I can relate (for anyone interested) how our experience has gone. In May, we bought two Cascadas as a âtrial.â The app is a little quirky but once youâre used to it, pretty easy to navigate. Our wifi (Starlink satellite) went out for a couple of weeks due to router issues, and the Cascada waterers worked perfectly even though I could not track my horsesâ water intake during that period. For those worried about pouring out a full bucket when cleaning, there is a setting that provides the bucket only fills half-way for easy lifting. Itâs so easy to just remove a bucket and replace it with a fresh one. The waterer fills it for you so no standing around with a garden hose. Installation was fairly easy for my very handy husband, but we did call in an electrician to install the junction boxes where needed. I canât report on the heater because we live in Florida where we do not need our waterers heated. The best feature of the Cascada is their Customer Service. The owners and reps are always quick to reply and dedicated to making things right. When there was an issue with one of the waterers, they sent a new one to us express mail at no charge. Theyâve responded on weekends and evenings, and are always helpful and professional. We are definitely going to replace our old waterers with Cascadas as our budget allows, and I feel comfortable recommending them to other barn owners who have relatively stable wifi.
