water tank de-icer question

[cricket]

Yesterday I decided I was tired of boiling pots of water and running them out to the water tanks all evening long, so I went to the feed store and bought a tank de-icer. It works great (when Ariel will leave it in the tank, that is)! She seems to think it's a new toy.

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas about how to keep horses from grabbing the floating tank de-icers? I was thinking of making some sort of cover to go over half the tank, but I wondered if anyone has come up with a better idea.

[wildwoman]

Same problem here-mouthy TB. Spring clamp on cord. Good luck.

[cricket]

Dec 9, 2009 16:49:14 GMT -5 wildwoman said:

Same problem here-mouthy TB. Spring clamp on cord. Good luck.

Ah, I'll give that a try first. Thanks.

[cutiepiepmu]

Well, first - if your tank has a drain plug - go for the drain plug deicers

But, for the loating ones - try putting the trough half under a fence. So it looks like - well - this..lol (l) stupid i know... but the board from the fence is over half or a portion of the trough. The heater goes on teh side that is on the opposite from the horse. Leaves enough area to drink, but keeps the horse away from the fun floaty toy


if that is not possible, the other thing you can do is take a piece of plywood that you take a jigsaw and cut the shape of the top of hte trough with about 2 inches on all side over hang. Cut 3 holes in the top - on on each side and one in teh back. then, cut a small hole Put it so that the heater floats about middle of where the plywood is under it. Run the cord for the heater up through then plug inso it is out of reach. THEN, take strong bungies or rope and run it through the 3 holeso n top and clip to the bottom of the trough. Definately do this - if you think the floating heater is fun - try the heater attached to the board

Did this growing up on the ranches to keep the cattle from mangling the floating heaters!!!


But - the easiest solution is to get a trough with a drain plug and use a plug deicer. I is at the bottom of the tank so eliminates the toy.

Hope that made sence and helps!

Sara

[schwung]

Ok, someone needs to donate some of these tank de-icers to SAFE. I've had just about enough of hauling water from the house.

[wildwoman]

That and the self-coiling hose reels should be on your Christmas list.

[wildwoman]

[e-mail]


seattle.craigslist.org/sno/grd/1504049096.html

[cricket]

Dec 10, 2009 2:05:03 GMT -5 schwung said:

Ok, someone needs to donate some of these tank de-icers to SAFE. I've had just about enough of hauling water from the house.

Jaime, I ordered one from SmartPak, but then got fed up with hauling water from the house and went and bought another one. When the SmartPak one is delivered, I'll ship it up to you.

:-) I feel your pain.

[cricket]

Dec 10, 2009 3:38:37 GMT -5 wildwoman said:

That and the self-coiling hose reels should be on your Christmas list.

A co-worker sent me a link for a self HEATING hose on ebay. She was SO excited for me to get to work to show me. :-)

[jaybird]

I installed a plug hole de-icers in one of my Rubbermaid stock tanks and so far it seems to be working quite nicely. The instructions do specify that you are not to use an extension cord with these, but I talked to my dad about it and he thinks that they say that to prevent people from using extension cords that aren't rated for enough wattage (or whatever you call it) In any case, I just dragged the stock tank to the back door of the barn and ran the cord straight to the outlet.

[Sara]

How much does a tank de-icer cost and how many does safe need? maybe we could do a heater drive?

[schwung]

Well we only have four of the big troughs with the drain plugs, and I am not sure I trust the horses to leave the floating ones alone, but even if we had four that would help a lot for the next big freeze! We'll need to run a bunch of extension cords but it could be done and if we have another stretch of cold like this last week it would be a HUGE help!

[cutiepiepmu]

What address should we ship a de-icer to I am ordering 1 from horse.com to send as we speak but need to know what address to have it shipped to! FYI - the good ones are around $30 each.

Sara

[schwung]

Thanks Sara!

The address is 27706 Old Owen Road Monroe, WA 98272

Awesome!!

[Kea's Crest]

The "drain hole" type de-icers are definitely the way to go. I have two additional recommendations:

1) Always keep the water level high enough in the tank that (a) your horse cant go "bobbing for heater elements" and (b) that the shallow water allows the element to overheat the water and burn itself out from getting too hot.

2) Get the extension cord GFI's. Just go to Home Depot and ask someone to point them out for you. Tell them it is for outdoor use. It is basically an "outdoor" circuit breaker for your extension cord. If you end out with a damaged extension cord/ excess water, etc the GFI will trip (easily reset) and save the horses (or you) from possible electrocution.

So many things can happen to even the most heavy duty extension cord between the outlet and the water tank... and the electrical element is put directly in the water... and you and the horse will, I'm sure, be standing in a puddle at some point that is touching a potential electrical short; well, you get the idea.

We "caretakers" usually have rubber boots which help insulate us a little from small electic shocks but horses dont. They may even have shoes that help conductivity... which makes things worse. Regardless of how strong or big our horses may be, it doesnt take that much of a charge to stop their heart.

I'm not trying to scare you away from the tank heaters. They are definitely the way to go but the extra level of safety is really a good idea.

Dragging water out to the tanks from inside... uuuugh. Been there.