# water heaters



## hitnspit (Nov 26, 2012)

anyone know whats the best one to get. Do they really run up the Electric bill. The lowest one i can find is 1000 watts. seems like a lot to keep on 24/7. Anyone have any homemade plans that seems to work for them. thank you...... I have a 100 gallon tank for my two guys...


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## Harbisgirl (Nov 26, 2012)

Can't you just use an aquarium heater? Cheap and low wattage. They don't run up the electric bill much


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## goodhors (Nov 26, 2012)

We are in Michigan, some years it is VERY COLD during the winter.  Not sure of 
your location, so you might not need to do things our way to still keep your tanks
open for drinks.

First thing is we barn the horses at night.  No one is outside at night.  This helps
us be able to close up the tanks to hold in any warmth, keeps the cold wind 
off the water.

Husband built wooden boxes to drop the metal water tanks inside of.  The wooden
sides are pressboard or plywood, just so they are solid.  2x4 framework inside
the boxes allows sheet styrofoam insulation to fit between outside wall of box 
and outside of tank in the box.  The tank is half covered on the top, so only 
one end is open for drinks when the animals are outside.  We use ONLY sinking 
style tank heaters, so horses can't touch or play with them.  Heater is under
the covered end, with cord coming out the fence side of tank where horses 
can't reach cord or play with it.  The half cover on top is screwed down tight
so horses can't open it or flip it off the box.

We only plug in the heater at night.  The open half of tank is covered nights with a 
second piece of wood, cuts off any wind.  This lets you use cheaper night electricity, 
and there is NO CHANCE of horses getting shocked by a malfunctioning heater 
running while they try to drink.  Heaters seem to go bad for no reason, get to
leaking electricity so horses get a shock touching nose to water, because horse
hooves ground him.  Horse is VERY easy to shock, they feel even the tiniest bite
so they quit drinking from that tank!!  Now you are in trouble if this problem is not
noticed, impaction colic with not enough liquid intake.  Our tank heaters are totally
unplugged during the day.

I usually only NEED to plug the heaters in when temps will get below 25F during the 
night.  Mostly just putting the cover over the open end, will keep the tank ice-free 
overnight and all the next day.  We top tanks off daily, so we keep an eye 
on water consumption.  We KNOW what is "normal" daily amount they drink daily.
Drinking much less or tank dropping water levels a lot, means there is a problem.
Not drinking enough means I have to do other things to get horses drinking enough
that I don't have colic problems.  Water dropping sharply can mean a leak in the 
tank or some equine comedian playing in the water.  Either way, I NEED to know why
the water levels have suddenly changed with this group of horses so I don't have 
a problem to surprise me.

We use the metal tanks because they can tolerate the heaters.  Lots of folks use the 
plastic tanks with screw-in heaters.  I had a Rubbermaid tank that caught fire from a heater
that snagged on the side!  Burned to the waterline!!  So no heaters in any plastic tanks
at this farm. 

We think that the insulated wood boxes save us a LOT in electricity because we don't
need to run the heaters so much.  Running the heaters at night, is cheaper than day usage.
We don't get any "shy drinkers" with them never getting bit by a bad water heater, so
I don't have to worry about colic issues.  Popping the covers on or off each AM and PM 
only takes a couple seconds, and you check the water anyway to make sure it is open,
ice-free before letting the horses out.

Topping the tanks off daily, keeps the water level high for easy drinking.  Some horses 
don't like putting heads down inside the box or tank for drinks.  I am willing to do stuff
that keeps my horses drinking as much as possible.

We have dedicated, GFI outlets, buried wires beside each tank location for plugging in the heaters.  Any
of the tank heaters will draw A LOT of electricity.  The further the wire runs from the circut
box, means you lose fractions of power to supply the heater.  The heater will run longer, 
wear out faster, because it can't work at full capacity when heater is WAYYYY out far from 
the circut box.  Using extension cords is also a power drain, especially if the cord is a small
gauge wire, like 14-16-18 sizes.  The lower the number, means the heavier the wire inside 
the cord, which means the easier the electricity flows to the power user, like a heater.  I only 
keep 12 gauge extension cords in the barn for any kind of use.  They are not cheap, but safer to use.
Using those high number gauge size cords, means electricity is not running full force, so heater keeps 
trying to get more.  These light gauge cords CAN OVERHEAT, get hot, start burning plastic ends
with constant demand by the heater trying to warm up water.  You might even be able to FEEL the heat with
your hands on the plugs or cord.  Heat means it COULD start a fire at either end of the cord!!  Scary thought!!!


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## PattySh (Nov 26, 2012)

I use the green muck buckets with the built in heater as they are 250 watts. Mine are on their 4th year and I use for horses and cows. A drop in ceramic heater will also heat the qty of water in a muck bucket also 250 watts, I use those for the pigs.


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## Alice Acres (Nov 26, 2012)

We are in Minnesota - and it gets really cold. Right now it's 10 degrees out - and it's still November!

We use the electric sinking tank heaters. Our main stock tank is made from a huge old fuel oil tank - the kind that would be in people's basements. Torched in about half, with the edges rolled. It really is a tank!

We run one pretty much 24/7, as it rarely gets above freezing here until spring. We also run one in our fish pond to overwinter our koi and big goldfish.


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## hitnspit (Nov 27, 2012)

Thank you all. Im going to try the fish tank heater. I have one of them and it will go well with using the big fish tank filter i also have to keep the water moving around... Will let you all know how it works... Again thank you....


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## chubbydog811 (Dec 1, 2012)

Careful with the fish tank heaters - fire hazard. I've had a couple near catch on fire because when they come out of the water, they don't shut off. One exploded in the tank, the other blew the breaker. 
For inside the barn, depending on how tight/warm the barn is, those insulated buckets might work. 
We use regular 5 gallon heated water buckets for the stalls, and the stock tank heaters for outside. Inside buckets are only plugged in at night when they are in (unplugged during the day), outside buckets are only plugged in during the day, and unplugged at night. Doing it that way, our bill goes up maybe $30-50 a month (we run 3 stock heaters, and 12+/-  5 gallon heated buckets)
Outside buckets can be done without heaters too - make a box to fit around your water tub. Put insulation from the wall of the box, right to the side of your water tub. Cover the insulation with a board that has a hole cut out for the bucket to sit in. Make a cover for the box, that is also insulated. Make sure the bucket is filled right to the rim at night before the cover goes on.
This worked great until it got in the single digits. Only a hairline piece of ice in the morning. When it was in the single digits, the biggest problem was it freezing when it was open.


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## allbyme (Mar 24, 2013)

Don't forget to make sure ya have GFI breakers on the fuse box that they are run off of. Some old time barns have old time electric! I lost a mare years ago with her muzzle 4 1/2" in the water, electrocuted !I was young and boarded her with no knowledge of GFI breakers. She was still on her feet leaning against a post and had expelled her foal just 6 mths into gestation. I was 9 mths prego myself at the time. Good thing dang barn owner shut off the power before he phoned me or I could've been laying right there with her.


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