It says it heats one gallon of water in 10 minutes. Does anyone heat a five gallon bucket? Does it work, or do you have to do smaller amounts at a time? If it work, how long does it take?
Thanks.
No, but OMG do I ever want one!
IIRC, you can only use them in a metal bucket. Plenty of guys at the track use them to boil their oats. Big buckets–10 gallon, maybe?–water, oats, one of those things. Left to sit all morning.
ETA: Hmmm, maybe this is what they were using to cook oats?
http://www.bigdweb.com/Water-Heater-For-Oats-Or-Water-31in/productinfo/582628/
Better reviews than on the Valley Vet site. I’m not sure if I ever saw the actual element the trainers were using–just assumed it what you have linked…
My computer won’t open the valley vet attachment as it’s in dire need of work but I’m presuming you’re showing the single immersible water heater that’s been around for over 50 yrs. I used to use them to heat a 3 gallon water bucket. I left them in the water for 20 minutes and they heated the water to about 88 F. I then dump the hot water in 5 gallon insulated water buckets and add the cold water that was ~ 55 F from the frost free hydrant. If I remember correctly the end water temp was about 63 F give or take a few degrees. I did that twice/day usually starting sometime in Dec and did it till about mid March. Rarely ever did my water buckets even have a bit of ice attach to the Styrofoam float in the insulated bucket. Even last winter with the bitter cold weather (like we’re having right now :eek:). I’d usually have to add a bit of cold tap water between new bucketsful.
I had 2 horses and used 2 heaters. I figured they were a lot cheaper than putting in a hot water tank.
Also except in bitter cold weather and significant snowfalls, my horses’ stalls opened out to a paddock and they had access 24/7. Rarely (except for last winter) were their stall doors ever shut.
Hope this helps. 
PS. I had horses on the farm for 24 yrs to give you an idea of how long I did this.
[QUOTE=Simkie;7946867]
IIRC, you can only use them in a metal bucket. …[/QUOTE]
I finally got the valley vet one to open and that’s exactly what I had. I used a plastic bucket to heat the water, not a metal bucket. Don’t even think I had a metal bucket in the barn except for the casing on the insulated buckets.
Thanks, all. I have the heater in the barn ready to go. I have only two horses, so maybe I can just split the bucket of heated water and add cold to top them off. 
OP, I’m not sure where you’re located but if it’s as cold there as it is here (teens without windchill for days and single digits at night) that may not be enough to keep the water buckets from freezing overnight. JMHO
I obviously loved them as I had one for 52 yr and 2 newer ones like you showed for probably 24 yrs. They do last and are well worth the $.
[QUOTE=msj;7946939]
OP, I’m not sure where you’re located but if it’s as cold there as it is here (teens without windchill for days and single digits at night) that may not be enough to keep the water buckets from freezing overnight. JMHO
I obviously loved them as I had one for 52 yr and 2 newer ones like you showed for probably 24 yrs. They do last and are well worth the $. :)[/QUOTE]
Thanks. Yeah, I live in middle TN, so we don’t get TOO many of these nasty spells. And I already have the heater, but I’ve never used it! It’s cold now, about 20º and overnights in the single digits. So every once in a while, I think this will help.
Yes, I’ve used them in regular plastic buckets many a time, especially when I needed to spot clean the white pony during winter show season. The heating element is protected by the cage. I recall the old one I used to use wasn’t so protected but I never melted a bucket. The newer ones are also nice with the auto shut off feature.
OP, you’ll be fine with splitting a bucket of warm water between the 2. Twenty F sounds warm!
Tennessee is a wonderful place in the winter! Western NY is not! 
I put my last horse down in April 2014 and am having my first winter not having to freeze my butt off in 52 yrs. Lost my dog in Nov. 2014 so I don’t even have to go out to walk a dog. I’m planning on hibernating this winter. The house cat is going to keep me warm! I do know I won’t miss the snow shoveling with winter but I do miss the horses. Was just over at a friends farm visiting my last horse’s buddy, who went back home when my boy was euthanized but I’ve gone over to visit daily in the summer and back to about 2 days a wk in the winter.
I have an old one like that. It can heat 5 gallons to nearly boiling in about 20 minutes. It can also heat a whole bath tub of water to 104 degrees in 3 1/2 hours or so if the water heater in the house breaks down
How much water are you heating? The heater that you showed does work very well but it takes about 20 minutes to heat the water (IIRC).
Would a hot pot do the job? They heat up water rapidly to boiling temps and you could mix boiling and cold water.
I also made my own insulated buckets that might be worth trying. They do a good job at keeping the water warm or cool, depending on the temp of the water when you put it in.
Here is the link on how to do it
http://thepitchforkchronicles.com/step-by-step/54-insulated-bucket-with-lid
I have that same heater and have used it often to make small quantities of warm water in barns that lack a water heater (which included my own for the first several years we had horses here). I do not leave it unattended, never in with a horse (or mine would be twirling it as a play toy), and always have it somewhere that I won’t forget about. It can get the water quite hot if left long enough, so I would heat one bucket up and add that to multiple other cold water buckets to warm them up a bit.
Paradox, I have one. I’ve abandoned it now that I’ve purchased a cordless electric tea kettle. I bought this one from Walmart for 12.95:
Water goes from spigot-cold to boiling in less than 5 minutes. I actually bought two of them. They have saved me this winter since my old man now needs all his feed softened. Running two pots, I can boil 8 kettles of water in about 20 minutes, which is enough to steam the old man’s meal and steam 6 lbs. of alfalfa pellets for each horse (3 horses).
The past few nights, I poured a pot of boiling water into their water buckets about 1/3 full of regular cold water. It’s worked beautifully.
The cordless kettle is much handier and quicker for my purposes.
They work beautifully to heat water, but be careful–they also have been the source of many a barn fire. Place it somewhere that you’ll be able to monitor it while you do other chores. Near a fire extinguisher would be best!
If you are cooking something like oats that is one thing but for drinking water why not buy a heated bucket? I think if I remember correctly warm water freezes quicker than cold. http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/hot_water.html
[QUOTE=Sing Mia Song;7951462]
They work beautifully to heat water, but be careful–they also have been the source of many a barn fire. Place it somewhere that you’ll be able to monitor it while you do other chores. Near a fire extinguisher would be best![/QUOTE]
Yep, truth here, not just an Urban Myth. Friend of mine left her heater in the bucket, plugged in, by accident. Her small barn burned to the ground, with all contents, though horses were turned out for the day already. Thank Goodness for that.
That “fast heating” you are admiring, WILL steam the water away, set fire to the plastic bucket in a fairly short time. These heaters NEED SUPERVISION, never to be left unattended. I bet it SAYS that in the directions on the heaters.
Have some kind of backup, to REMIND you that heater WAS in use, so when alarm goes off you GO BACK to insure the plug is pulled and heater is off. I do this for just turning on my hose for filling tanks, alarm and check back again on hose, prevents flooding the paddock. BE SAFE using them.
These heaters are ONLY heaters, no auto turn-off feature to them!! They heat as long as they are plugged in. Doesn’t really take very long to boil water away when hot, so bucket catches fire along with any stuff around the bucket as the heater falls over.
Sure don’t want to be reading about how you “lost everything” using these heaters.
Suggest that you plug it in to a timer outlet, like one of these. Depress only one “tab” so that the unit will be powered for a maximum of 30min and then will switch off even if you flake out and forget it’s on. Ignore what time of day the timer thinks it is-- just plug your heater into the timer, rotate the dial until you reach your one depressed tab, and it will power up.
[QUOTE=goodhors;7952269]
That “fast heating” you are admiring, WILL steam the water away, set fire to the plastic bucket in a fairly short time. These heaters NEED SUPERVISION, never to be left unattended. I bet it SAYS that in the directions on the heaters.
Have some kind of backup, to REMIND you that heater WAS in use, so when alarm goes off you GO BACK to insure the plug is pulled and heater is off. I do this for just turning on my hose for filling tanks, alarm and check back again on hose, prevents flooding the paddock. BE SAFE using them. [/QUOTE]Agree on having a reminder. I forgot to unplug mine the other night. I came in the next day (probably 21 hours later) to find a steaming bucket.:no: I don’t know why the workers didn’t unplug it! At least the bucket wasn’t dry and wasn’t on fire–actually they DO shut off if the water is gone. (And BTW, that was my horse’s second bucket, so he wasn’t without water. My previous horse actually drank from a bucket with this heater in it once.)
I would say mine heats 4-5 gallons to very hot in an hour. I set it up, brush and ride a horse, and it’s usually too hot to touch afterward. Add a few inches of cold water and the horses have a nice warm drink.
I’ve had my bucket heater for over 25 years and it’s still working great. I put it in when I get to the barn and when I’m back from my ride I have 5 gal of very hot water to wash up, wash tails, top off buckets - whatever. But even though it plugs in right at the tack room light switch it is a frequent worry when my OCD self leaves the barn. I’ve never left it but still…
We have a large electric kettle in the feed room making feed time hot water and it works great. My horse has a plug in bucket for drinking water.
