My two waterers are intermittently shocking my horses. They are 3 yo Ritchie Omnifounts in two separate fields both on two separate electrical panels located in two different structures half a farm apart. The electrician who installed electrical to the waterers came out and said everything looked fine and was grounded properly. His recommendation was to replace all electrical elements in the waterers. Replacing all the elements is not cheap so I called Ritchie and they talked about stray voltage, especially since nothing is kicking the breakers. How do you begin to test for stray voltage?
There are multiple threads on here about this. Many of us have been where you are now! A “micro meter” is available that can measure the voltage in the water, but you know it is there already, obviously. The charge is very low, and humans can’t feel it, but horses can.
Do you have an electric fence wire nearby? That is what I found was the source of the current in the water. The ground pole for the barn needs to be further away from the fuse box, and in damp ground. I found that putting a solar powered ticker box “remote” from the barn area (where my auto waterers are), and running the wire from that box not connected to the barn circuit solved my problems. It wasn’t the heater element that was the problem here. I also had an electrician friend look at the situation, he had the micrometer. He couldn’t believe that this was happening, he “regrounded” the units, but that didn’t help. He said that “electricity is magic, and does some odd things sometimes”. Good luck solving this, I hope you can find the other threads here to help you with some ideas to pursue. You are not alone with this problem.
Our BO put heated 7 Nelsons in the outside turnouts years ago and they are very reliable. We had a problem with stray voltage several years ago with the unit for the turnout where my gelding is. He is boarded outside and there are currently about a dozen of them. I got a lot of help from the Nelson company. Horses are sensitive to a very tiny amount of voltage. You can generally tell if there is a problem because several of them will stand around looking at it and usually someone will start kicking it. The stainless steel doesn’t dent.
Fences are a very common problem. The DH put in a ground rod. Nelson said the state of Wisconsin has a lot of information online because cows stop making milk if they get a shock. I called the electric company to have them check all of their wiring. They came out the following day. They suggested that we check all of the fuse boxes and connections. I don’t remember if we ever figured out where it came from but the ground rod seemed to do the trick. The BO put a tub out and it left it for a couple of months. The boys didn’t have a problem going back to the waterer. Given a choice they prefer the waterer over the tub.
The best thing she ever did was put that system in. They run of their own well and she had a hookup for a generator installed. I used to do chores years ago and a waterer sure beats pounding ice and dragging hoses all over the place. And you eliminate heaters and extension cords.
I like the assurance that they have water which is the right temperature no matter what the weather.
.
