I have a large aluminum water trough for the horses. There is electric next to the trough specifically for a water heater to prevent freezing in the winter. What types of tank heaters do you recommend?
Thanks!!
I use a sinking heater, but my horses do not play with the cord. I started out using a drain plug heater, to avoid the cord-over-the-trough situation. HOWEVER – there is a problem with this plan.
WHEN your drain plug heater quits (not if, but WHEN), it will be during the coldest, most disagreeable weather of the entire season. You will discover it is broken one morning, after it broke sometime right after night check. Your water trough will be a solid block of ice, with the broken drain plug heater frozen at the bottom.
Removing said heater will take hours of work in the freezing cold and driving sleet … then you will not be able to find the “plug” that you took out of your tank when you installed the heater.
So … you will have to go buy a whole new trough and good luck finding any kind of trough heater in the dead of winter.
Don’t ask me how I know…
Sinking heater, buy two of them now. Cover the cord with PVC or spiral metal and hope for the best. That is my advice.
I’m the opposite! First sinking heater this year lasted all of 6 days before they destroyed it. If your horses are at all sneaky, destructive little twerps like mine, they will continually grab the cord off the sinking ones, either chewing right through them or playing tug-o-war until it is thoroughly destroyed anyhow. The floaters are even more fun! Think bobbing for apples. They all seem to burn out after a year or so anyhow from my experience. Floating, sinking, drain plug, they’ve all failed me, but at least they can’t eat the drain plug one!
I always just use a cheap floating one from Tractor Supply. My horses aren’t ones to mess with stuff like that though. They last 1-2 seasons before the burn out.
I like the floating ones best because if they fail, they’re easiest to dig out. We have the trough up against a post and the cord is just tacked to the post. My FIL has a couple PITA guys who mess with stuff. His solution is to put a floating one on one side of the trough and he has attached a section of no climb fencing over that part of the trough. That way they can’t/won’t mess with the heater. They still have about 2/3 of the trough to drink out of.
I have spare troughs…and an extra heater. I learned the hard way. Drain plug heaters only for us, we have extremely playful horses.
[QUOTE=candysgirl;5992584]
I always just use a cheap floating one from Tractor Supply. My horses aren’t ones to mess with stuff like that though. They last 1-2 seasons before the burn out.
I like the floating ones best because if they fail, they’re easiest to dig out. We have the trough up against a post and the cord is just tacked to the post. My FIL has a couple PITA guys who mess with stuff. His solution is to put a floating one on one side of the trough and he has attached a section of no climb fencing over that part of the trough. That way they can’t/won’t mess with the heater. They still have about 2/3 of the trough to drink out of.[/QUOTE]
That’s a great idea. I am so tired of putting the floating one back in the tank.
I have one of each.
Sinking de-icer goes in the 50gal plastic barrel that is my horse trough.
So far, so good - noone has played Jr. Engineeer with the cord.
But, taking no chances, I have it run through a length of PVC including an elbow so no cord is accessible from the de-icer unit to the top of the trough & down to the ground.
Joint is wrapped in duct tape.
They have moved the PVC around but it has not unplugged the de-icer.
I also keep goldfish (the size of trout) in a 44gal aluminum stock tank on my back patio.
I have a floating de-icer for that sharing an outlet with a pump that keeps the water moving.
Circuit breaker tripped once - on the coldest night of the year! - but I only had to break 1" of ice to save the fish.
I do the sinking deicer with PVC sleeve, and the whole mess is firmly wired to the back corner of the tank. The boys are pretty mouthy, but (unlike the poor floating deicer that was, apparently, the Best Toy Ever) this setup survives being poked and prodded.
My experience with drainhole deicers is pretty much the same as KR’s. Haaaate. I scrubbed the threads, repeatedly. Used teflon tape. Used plumbing caulk. And I never did fix the damned annoying intermittant leak. It’d be fine for days, then suddenly drain the tank overnight, then be fine again. And it never worked particularly well as a deicer. It’s still in its box on a shelf in the grain shed because I haven’t found anyone I dislike enough to give it to…
Heated muck buckets. Those are roughly 20 gallon round plastic water buckets with an element included underneath. No exposed parts for the bored among us. Great, can’t say enough good about them. They also come in standard stall bucket size and pet bowls.
For the stock tank we use a sinker, one specific type that DH likes and it’s pretty expensive but he thinks it’s tougher than the cheaper kind with the wire surround, both from TSC. http://tsc.tractorsupply.com/search?w=sinking+tank+heaters&searchButton.x=20&searchButton.y=8
1500 watts for those things just kills me – is my math way off or could that cost up to $100 a month to run?
I’m looking for a (much) lower wattage option so I can use the solar setup in the horse shelter. But for the moment, it’s just me and my gallon jugs of hot water. 
I don’t know what your electric rates are, but I don’t even notice the bump when I run the tank heater (1). I saw a small bump when I added four heated water buckets … but it’s hard to tell because it also gets dark earlier and all of the lights are on longer.
I would say there is no way my tank heater draws $100 worth of electric. Maybe $10 … maybe $15 – nothing that I’d notice on my bill. Our house is all-electric, and the barn is on the same meter, so it’s hard to tell. But the entire bill is less than $200 a month, so I don’t think the tank heater is sucking that much power.
Yes, 1500 watts could eas
As far as drain plug heaters go, run far far away. I had one snap in two while gently brushing tank goo off of it. I called the manufacturer and was told “they get brittle when it’s cold out”. Really, I could not have made that one up…
Our tanks hold 80-100 gallons. I can tell you for fact that each one cost around $100+ per month in the coldest 3 months here in SE PA using 1500 watt heaters, float, sink or plug. Tried them all. For horses that don’t “play” in the tanks we have found that the drain plug heaters work the best. Though I totally agree with other posters that they can and do break. It is important to make sure the “leveling” screws are adjusted properly. I have had some that have lasted more then 5 years now. But with the weaners and yearlings there are always a couple who like to play in the tanks. So, no matter what we have used they break them. If you elevate the tanks high enough this won’t happen.
For a number of years now I have been meaning to see if there is any cost savings by placing the tanks on top of a piece of 3 inch sold foam insulation to break the thermal bridge between the cold ground and the tank. Take it on step further and build an insulated box out of wood with the foam insulation and set the tank in it. Also cut a piece of foam for the top with a hole cut out and a piece of plywood to protect it. This will take time and money and how long it last depends on the horses using it. In the end you are far better off to spend the money and install a heated auto water. When I did the math I wish we had years ago. The water is always fresh and you are not paying to heat a lot of water 24-7. For 3-4 horse we use a standard Nelson water that is set in a concrete drain pipe. In seven years we have never had any problems. The only thing on the farm I have not had to fix once or de-ice. For larger populations these waters work great http://www.equuspring.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=40
Someday I will do the heated waterers … though they are a PITA if/when they breakdown (don’t ask me how I know that, either).
I don’t know what you guys pay per kw, but I am nowhere near $100/month for the tank heaters – and KS gets extremely COLD in the winters, and our winters are LONG. My tank is in the run-in shed, right next to the barn. So maybe that is the difference? It is not out in the pasture, being whipped by the wind on all sides.
Airhorse, I really like your PVC rig!
I use a deicer on the cows small trough. I don’t have it on all the time though. I went to a 20 gallon heated water bucket for the 3 horses. It is in the barn, up on a pallet and at only 260 watts it does real well here, plus you are heating much less water. Yes, I do have to fill it a couple times a day, but it doesn’t bother me. My mule will chew on anything and a visible cord would be too much temptation. We use the 5 gallon heated buckets for the pig and goats and the 2.5 gallon heated bucket for the chickens and all that running last year in January wasn’t too bad on my bill. I lived in MO for a long time and used just the deicer( occasionally). We covered the 2/3 rd top of the trough w/ insulation and a board and that really helped.
:eek:
Yikers!
PA must charge a left leg per KW.
I am in the Midwest (NW IN) and my budgeted bill for barn electric is $32/mo and has steadily remained that for the last 5 years.
I consider it probably overstated, but don’t argue with the utility as it allows me to budget that expense.
This is year-round, but for Winter - besides fluorescent lights - it includes running 2 heated 5gal buckets in the stalls, sinking de-icer in a 50gal barrel outside the barn & small (1qt) heated bowl for barncat plus heat tape for the frostfree hydrant inside the barn.
All on 24/7 except the lights that are rarely on.
I guess I’m one of those with silly horses who like to remove the floating (or sinking) heaters from the trough and stomp on them. In fact, even the first year I used the drain plug deicer, one of my horses stood IN the trough and bent it all up. I replaced it with another drain plug model, but that particular horse has since moved away. My playful 1/2 Arab is still with us and while he won’t stand in the trough, he likes to play with things with his mouth. So, drain-plug version it is.
For those of you with the floating/sinking kind in a metal trough… did you follow the instructions and pound a ground pole in next to the trough and attach a ground wire to the trough? I read the instructions after I drove the 35 miles home and there is no way I will convince the barn help to put in a ground pole so wondering if I have to go back out tomorrow.
