Winter water planning... Heated Hoses recommendations?

[Kodidog763]

I’m getting ready for our winter water situation. We need to run water from the house to the horses (apx 355’). I was thinking of getting a heated hose for the spigot at the house, and then using the expandable type hoses for the rest of the distance. The expandable hose would be drained and then brought into the house after every use.

I see that Pirit makes a 100’ heated hose, otherwise the longest I see in other brands is 50’. The Amazon reviews on the 100’ Pirit weren’t very good - does anyone here have any personal experience with them? What about experience with any of the other brands in the 50’ length?

Thanks!

[Mallard]

No experience with heated hoses, but I LOVE my self draining hose. But…I only need to go 50’.
We can only get them in 100’ lengths up here.
http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Outdoor-Living/Yard-Maintenance/Watering-Systems/Hoses/Hoses/5-8-x-100-Clear-Flow-Garden-Hose/_/N-ntlijZ1of43f/No-48/R-I5038332?Num=0

Just a word of advice… do not try and connect 2 self-draining hoses togther… the pressure that comes through them will just blow the fittings right off.
Same thing if you put the self-draining hose first… it will blow the fittings off the regular hose.

[TrailRides4Fun]

I’ve actually been interested in those heated hoses too.
Following with interest

[goodhors]

You should do a search for heated hoses. People who had them liked them, but had comments about using them. I think Sears were a good brand. They needed to let hoses warm up, they were not instantly hot or even warm in severe cold. They needed to be coiled in BIG loops to prevent breaking the heating wires with severe bending.

Probably other pertinent remarks to be found in older posts. There was also a thread on self-draining hoses that turned out to be a fiasco of untruths, so be careful with those type hoses. They sounded SO great we all wanted one! Ha ha

[HPFarmette]

I want one of those self-draining hoses but I am not in Canada. I mean the clear plastic ones. I already have the Pocket Hoses.
I have used a heated hose. Not a big fan. Now I am using the pocket hoses but only need to go 75 feet. I bring them into the house when not in use.
Using quick connects on hoses outside in single digit weather makes me cry. It just never seems to go well. It will always fail when I am not near it. So my plan avoids that.

[Linda]

We have a water heater in the barn. When it freezes, we leave the hot water on with a small drip. It keeps the faucet and the hose from freezing.

[Kodidog763]

You should do a search for heated hoses.

I’ll keep searching. Most of my results have indicated the person had just bought a heated hose, but no opinion on them yet, or suggestions for other types of hoses.

Last year for most of the winter, I carried water in containers down (well drove the containers down) and it was a nightmare. I’m NOT doing that again.

The year before we had a shorter distance to go, but had to run the hoses from our basement, up through the family room, out the patio door, through 2 - 3 feet of snow, to the water tanks. I think we had about 150’ feet of hose. It just gets so heavy when you are draining it and rolling it up each time.

Draining and taking up 225 feet of hose takes a huge amount of time (which is why we switched to using containers), and again regular hoses get so heavy.

I could try going 225 feet with pocket hoses, but I do have concerns about connecting that many together. I do have a 50’ & 25’ connected right now, and they have been ok, so maybe it would be fine. At least 225’ of pocket hose it a lot lighter to pick up.

[Kodidog763]

[QUOTE=HPFarmette;8367820]
I have used a heated hose. Not a big fan.[/QUOTE]

Can I ask what type you have used and what you didn’t like about it? Thanks!

[HungarianHippo]

Was curious about cost so just looked at the NoFreeze Water Hose website. Just a $50 length was $525 :eek: Ya sure it’s not worth just biting the bullet and trenching in a pipe for the permanent fix?

PS That website said it would not keep the spigot from freezing, so you may want a quick-disconnect fitting at the spigot no matter what.

I have the expanding hose and really do love it. So convenient for filling winter stall buckets, then I just pile in a bucket and leave it in the mudroom.

[HPFarmette]

I think it was the Pirit brand. I didn’t like having to plug it in and wait. That’s all. It was perfectly functional and good quality. It belonged to a friend whose horse I was caring for at my home. She took it back to her farm but I don’t think she used it much either.

[Kodidog763]

Was curious about cost so just looked at the NoFreeze Water Hose website. Just a $50 length was $525 Ya sure it’s not worth just biting the bullet and trenching in a pipe for the permanent fix?

Ha! Well, yes, this is the plan, however it won’t happen before this winter sets in (this is MN. honestly winter could start tomorrow!) You know the saying that the shoemaker’s children don’t have any shoes? My husband is a general contractor, so all of my construction projects have to wait until he has time to do them, and obviously paying customers come first.

[Sweetums_Mom]

I tried 4 Pirit hoses, all of them 100 feet. None of them worked longer than a couple of months. The first one didn’t even last that long. On the positive side, they replaced two of them and didn’t ask for the old ones back. They just stopped working, not heating. I had my handy husband look at all of them and he basically thought that the heating coil broke. The first two I was very careful with not to pull or tug too much and they still didn’t work.

Now, I have a 100 ft hose, non kinking type, and fairly lightweight and carry it to the heated tack room when I’m done.

[Kodidog763]

[QUOTE=Sweetums Mom;8368434]
I tried 4 Pirit hoses, all of them 100 feet. None of them worked longer than a couple of months. The first one didn’t even last that long. On the positive side, they replaced two of them and didn’t ask for the old ones back. They just stopped working, not heating. I had my handy husband look at all of them and he basically thought that the heating coil broke. The first two I was very careful with not to pull or tug too much and they still didn’t work.

Now, I have a 100 ft hose, non kinking type, and fairly lightweight and carry it to the heated tack room when I’m done.[/QUOTE]

Good to know. Did you pick up/move the hose each time it was used? Once I put the hose out, it will stay there. The only movement will be to attach and unattach to the spigot. Not sure if that is harder on the hose than being coiled up and moved to a warm location…

[Flying_Hill]

Last winter I tried the expandable heavy-duty pocket hose, which I loved until it exploded all over me. I replaced it with one of the clear plastic self-draining hoses which works very well. I’m not sure if you could leave it out, but they are very lightweight and easy to coil up.

[Sweetums_Mom]

[QUOTE=Kodidog763;8368448]
Good to know. Did you pick up/move the hose each time it was used? Once I put the hose out, it will stay there. The only movement will be to attach and unattach to the spigot. Not sure if that is harder on the hose than being coiled up and moved to a warm location…[/QUOTE]

I have a hose hook right next to my water spigot and it’s coiled there. That’s where I put all of my heated hoses and have it plugged in. When I was ready to use, I would hook it up to the spigot, then start to uncoil it and pull it to the water trough (about 75 feet away) or within the barn to the heated buckets. When the first one broke (by not heating anymore and it got frozen), I thought I had pulled too hard on it. So the next one, I made sure not to pull and carefully uncoiled it. Still stopped heating. This was the replacement to the first one.

I eventually went back to an old unheated type hose and just brought it in to the tack room. Fast forward to the next year…I saw they had a newer version so I bought that one and the same thing happened. Got a replacement and again, stopped heating. I now have a “heated hose graveyard”!

I bought a non-kink type of hose from TSC and have it coiled in the normal place and when it gets below freezing, I take it down and put it on my shoulder and put it in the tack room (only about 15 ft away). This has been my best solution so far. DH says he can build a “box” with a heat source and put the hose in that but I’m thinking it would be very cumbersome.

If you are never going to coil it or move it around and only be hooking and unhooking to the spigot, you may have better luck than I did. Hope this helps.

Edit: The first year another reason why I thought my heated hoses were not working was because of the polar vortexes…Last year, however, the temps did not get down as low.

[eosinophil]

I have a couple of the Pirit heated hoses. They were crazy expensive and just didn’t work. Even on a relatively warm day - around freezing or so - they couldn’t thaw anything. I don’t know if I got defective ones or what but they were an absolute failure for me.

[IFG]

We have attached a hundred feet of hose to a hose reel, then drain and wheel into the house. I heated tank is your friend if you have an outlet.

[Uncorked]

We have a heated hose made by Allied Precision (we bought it from Valley Vet). It is so awesome! I plug it in when I get to the barn and its ready to go by the time I am ready to do the water. This will be the 3rd season coming up for the same hose. We are careful with it - keep it coiled up nicely and never let a horse step on it.

[Mosey_2003]

I’m really not sure messing with a heated hose is going to be that much of an improvement over carrying containers :no: Especially going that far.

How many horses are we talking here? Watering in a barn or in trough(s) outside?

[Kodidog763]

[QUOTE=Flying Hill;8369470]
Last winter I tried the expandable heavy-duty pocket hose, which I loved until it exploded all over me.[/QUOTE] Do you know if this was from Quality Source Products? I just bought a 150’ & 75’ hose from Amazon (through Quality Source Products) based on their great reviews… :eek:

I have a couple of the Pirit heated hoses. They were crazy expensive and just didn’t work. Even on a relatively warm day - around freezing or so - they couldn’t thaw anything. I don’t know if I got defective ones or what but they were an absolute failure for me.

Good to know. I think I might give up on the heated hose idea.

We have a heated hose made by Allied Precision (we bought it from Valley Vet). It is so awesome! I plug it in when I get to the barn and its ready to go by the time I am ready to do the water. This will be the 3rd season coming up for the same hose. We are careful with it - keep it coiled up nicely and never let a horse step on it.

How long is the hose? Are you using this inside the barn or is it all outside?

I’m really not sure messing with a heated hose is going to be that much of an improvement over carrying containers Especially going that far.

How many horses are we talking here? Watering in a barn or in trough(s) outside?

Three horses. Two 100 gallon water tanks. The tanks are outside not near the shelter (the horses are out 24/7). There is no water source down there. We have to bring water from the house. Last year I had 4 containers which totaled around 18 gallons, so obviously I had to make several trips. Filling the containers at the kitchen sink, loading them to my truck driving them down, dumping into the tanks & repeat was a nightmare. NOT doing that again this year.