Winter water planning... Heated Hoses recommendations?

[pony4me]

A cheap solution is to use regular hoses and make sure they are drained after use so that there is no water in them to freeze. We had a winter situation the year before last where the water spigot at the barn had broken, and we had to get water from the house to the barn, which is about 275 feet.

I used three 100’ hoses put together, detached the hose from the faucet after use, made sure one end of the hose was much higher than the other and then walked the length of the hose a few times, making sure to get all the water out. It takes about three walks before you won’t see any water coming out of the lower end. It’s still not fun to have to be out in the cold, walking the length of the hose, but it’s more fun than bringing the frozen hose into the house and letting it thaw out in the bathtub.

[Kodidog763]

[QUOTE=pony4me;8372458]
A cheap solution is to use regular hoses and make sure they are drained after use so that there is no water in them to freeze. We had a winter situation the year before last where the water spigot at the barn had broken, and we had to get water from the house to the barn, which is about 275 feet.

I used three 100’ hoses put together, detached the hose from the faucet after use, made sure one end of the hose was much higher than the other and then walked the length of the hose a few times, making sure to get all the water out. It takes about three walks before you won’t see any water coming out of the lower end. It’s still not fun to have to be out in the cold, walking the length of the hose, but it’s more fun than bringing the frozen hose into the house and letting it thaw out in the bathtub.[/QUOTE]

We did actually try this. The house is on a hill, and once we disconnected the water, I would walk with the hose over my shoulder 2 or 3 times, while my husband blew them out with the air compressor. Unfortunately they still froze. But this is MN, and it gets really cold, so I’m sure the water had already started freezing while we were still filling the tanks.

[HungarianHippo]

yeah, pony4me, in Tennessee that would totally work, but up here in the northern Midwest, when it’s 10 below, and the hose is therefore 10 below, and the water’s coming up out of the well at 40deg or less, it starts to freeze on contact.

[ML]

After a few very chilly winter in nj. Bought the pocket hoses as back ups to fill 100 gallon water troughs. Love them. Light, quick to drain store in a 5 gallon water bucket in the laundry room. Replace s few each year but much easier to deal with on 20 degree high days.

[katyb]

[QUOTE=ML;8373411]
After a few very chilly winter in nj. Bought the pocket hoses as back ups to fill 100 gallon water troughs. Love them. Light, quick to drain store in a 5 gallon water bucket in the laundry room. Replace s few each year but much easier to deal with on 20 degree high days.[/QUOTE]

I love mine too - and they have held up well, other than the one I ran over with the bush hog.

[2Below]

I have the 50’ Pirit. I leave it uncoiled laying the length of the barn, it doesn’t coil well anyway and drains better. I plug it in first thing when I start chores, by the time I’m ready for water its fully thawed out to use. It’s heading into it’s 3rd year and I love it. I still need to pull the regular hoses out of the basement to fill tanks, but that’s usually about once a week.

[Frog_Pond]

My barn is 750’ rocky, bumpy, uphill feet from my frost free hydrant. Last winter – the first the horses were home – I hauled water in 5-gallon containers on a deer hunting sled with a waist belt, which totally sucked, but did a lot for my quads.

This winter I’ve got a 40 gallon sprayer tank from TSC that fits into my dump cart that I tow with a 21hp mower/lawn tractor, and, strapped onto the ATV I am about to buy, for worse weather conditions. The pump’s necessary when it’s in the cart because gravity is not on my side. I drive up to the barn, hook the tank up to the battery on the lawn tractor, connect one of those retracting/shrinking hoses up, and drop it in the stock tank. It takes about 15 minutes to empty, which works fine, since I’m feeding and mucking.

I do have to bring the tank into my mudroom at night to keep it from freezing & cracking the pump and parts . . . but, I’ll take it!