# Won't drink out of electric water tub



## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Can you leave it out unplugged until they get used to it? And maybe float some chunks of apple in there so they have incentive to check it out?


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Take away the other sources of water.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

How exciting to have electric and heated buckets!!! Like a dream come true  

So, think baby steps once again. The horses are used to different tubs in a different location. 

IMO horses like things dirty and avoid new/clean things :rofl: 

What I would do is move the existing water buckets closer to the new ones. Don't know how far away they are, but maybe move them 5 feet or so closer each day until they are next to each other. 


Once the horses are used to the new location, then if they still aren't drinking out of the new tub you could slowly decrease the water in the old tubs while keeping the heated tub nice and full. 


Also helpful to put some hay about 10 feet away to encourage them in. 


Let us know how it goes!


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

Are the tubs near an electric fence? I've had horse's that have been shocked by fence when water tank was right next to hot fence. Then they are leery of water tank,because they think water tank bit them. Just a thought.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

The water may still be too warm for them. Horses prefer cooler water so the heated water and the new plastic tub will smell and taste different to them. Leave the tub out there and dump and refill every couple of days. The horses will get used to it and drink eventually. 

As a word of warning heated tubs will get the fish tank smell pretty fast so you have to dump and refill quite often.


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## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

Might the new tub have a new-plastic smell they don't like? I would think the heat would only increase it. It's good they are drinking out of the heated buckets at least. This may sound silly but I think I would maybe toss some dirt and hay into the tub and give it a good scrubbing, and rinse well. If you can kill any plastic smell maybe that would help it smell more like normal to them.


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## Boo Walker (Jul 25, 2012)

In your picture, is that an electric fence. The horse may be getting the ear tips shocked when trying to drink. With dry static weather and fuzzy winter hair they can get a tingle by even being very close to the fence - the current will make a little jump.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

OK so where is the actual water supply?
If you have the horses drinking from tubs you are filling someplace...
Get a float valve and on-demand it refills will give the horses a unending supply of water won't it?
Or can you not keep that from freezing?

As for the big tub...you just put it out there 2 days ago...
The horses haven't got used to it being in their space enough to truly investigate it...new things make mine leery and if "old & comfortable" a location of water still exists, then that is where they drink from.
And it could smell or have a different taste from what manufacturers put on metal so it looks shiny and clean...scrub the thing and rinse, rinse and more rinse.
And electric fence near the water is a no-no...
Horses are more sensitive than most to current and if they sense it they will not be near it.

Good luck.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Going to try to answer everyone's questions- and grateful for so much feedback already. Trying to group my responses thematically below.



SteadyOn said:


> Can you leave it out unplugged until they get used to it? And maybe float some chunks of apple in there so they have incentive to check it out?


 This seems like an easy first step so can try that today.

_Newness_


AnitaAnne said:


> What I would do is move the existing water buckets closer to the new ones. Don't know how far away they are, but maybe move them 5 feet or so closer each day until they are next to each other.


So this new bucket is actually right in the spot where the their favorite/most used bucket was- I moved that one just a horse length away from the new because I needed the new one to be closer to the outlet with the plug. The original favorite one was almost empty this morning while the new was completely full.



Dustbunny said:


> Might the new tub have a new-plastic smell they don't like? I would think the heat would only increase it.





carshon said:


> As a word of warning heated tubs will get the fish tank smell pretty fast so you have to dump and refill quite often.


This seems plausible- all the other tubs were brand new when I moved the horses home this summer, and they never avoided the other ones even when they had that "new bucket smell." But with the heating element, I suppose it could make them smell/taste different.

_Placement near electric fence_


rambo99 said:


> Are the tubs near an electric fence? I've had horse's that have been shocked by fence when water tank was right next to hot fence. Then they are leery of water tank,because they think water tank bit them. Just a thought.





Boo Walker said:


> In your picture, is that an electric fence. The horse may be getting the ear tips shocked when trying to drink. With dry static weather and fuzzy winter hair they can get a tingle by even being very close to the fence - the current will make a little jump.





horselovinguy said:


> And electric fence near the water is a no-no...
> Horses are more sensitive than most to current and if they sense it they will not be near it.


Oops...out of convenience (laziness??) all the tubs are on the fenceline as I dump from my buckets to fill every morning (6 buckets fill 1 tub). So ALL the tubs they are drinking out of are the same placement away from the fence (just in different parts of the field).



horselovinguy said:


> OK so where is the actual water supply?
> If you have the horses drinking from tubs you are filling someplace...
> Get a float valve and on-demand it refills will give the horses a unending supply of water won't it?
> Or can you not keep that from freezing?


There's a frost free hydrant (it's to the left of the picture with the overturned white bucket). I manually fill the tubs using those white buckets. No option for auto-refill, I am the "auto" :wink: Even the hoses that promise to not freeze won't work in our winter weather. 



AnitaAnne said:


> How exciting to have electric and heated buckets!!! Like a dream come true


 Isn't that the truth! I feel sooooo lucky. I just want them to feel lucky too and actually use it!! :wink:


I'm interested that no one said more about the water in the heated tub shocking them. The voltage readings didn't stand out to anyone? I guess I can check that by unplugging and seeing what happens. That's really the only thing that seems different about this tub vs the other ones- same material.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Try moving it away from the fence. I had horses getting shocked from a non-electric tank placed a few inches from an electric fence. Moved it over by the pipe panel section and they were fine with it.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

egrogan said:


> There's a frost free hydrant (it's to the left of the picture with the overturned white bucket). I manually fill the tubs using those white buckets. No option for auto-refill, I am the "auto" :wink: Even the hoses that promise to not freeze won't work in our winter weather.
> 
> I'm interested that no one said more about the water in the heated tub shocking them. The voltage readings didn't stand out to anyone? I guess I can check that by unplugging and seeing what happens. That's really the only thing that seems different about this tub vs the other ones- same material.


Something like this would work to ease your burden of fill/carry/dump so many buckets..
_https://www.statelinetack.com/item/...clid=ADL-a9fc9e84-e008-4015-9c51-393babe810c0_

Hmmm.... 
I read a article on thehorse.com about electrical current bouncing off of water top...wonder if this could be a problem and your horses are reacting to it by walking away from that new trough..
I have no idea of that small a current could do this...just know they are very sensitive to current and if they wear shoes it is compounded in strength.
:runninghorse2:...


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

Stick a finger in the ground...then another hand in the bucket...First time I tried using heated buckets, the bucket was too close to my grounding rods apparently and causing the water to be electrified...Or like others said maybe too close to the fence and their ears are touching?


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Good news, I made some of your suggested changes last night and the water line had moved by this morning! :happydance:

I unplugged the tub, dumped it, rinsed it, and refilled it. I moved it out a little from the fence, but do have some limits to how far I can move it out because unfortunately they only give you so much cord to work with, and the outlet is just on the other side of the fence line. They seemed to drink out of that one as well as the original tub about 10 feet away from it. So that's all good news!

I did notice that there was a little steam coming off the water when I plugged it back in, which surprised me because it's supposed to be thermostatic and only come on when the temp is right around freezing or below (it was 40*F) so not sure what to make of that. The water didn't feel _hot_, but was definitely lukewarm. So we'll see what happens now.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

YAY!!! You will LOVELOVELOVE those heated buckets!!!! There reaches a point in all our lives that we have more than paid our dues breaking ice and humping warm water from the house --- we are all entitled to some humble horse-housekeeping perk, like heated water containers, lollol

I have a plethora of five gallon and 18 gallon heated buckets. They are not all calibrated the same, therefore do come on at slightly different temperatures from each other and some keep the water a little warmer than others.

Yes, there are 18 gallon heated tubs for not too much more money than the five fo gallon heated buckets

I bought mine at Tractor Supply BUT I had to drive 40 miles to the city Tractor Supply which is bigger than the two local (and supposedly Ag) Tractor Supplies to get them. Try and figure that Tractor Supply illogic-logic out,mlol


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

SilverMaple said:


> Try moving it away from the fence. I had horses getting shocked from a non-electric tank placed a few inches from an electric fence. Moved it over by the pipe panel section and they were fine with it.


Boy is that a great piece of information. That should be a sticky under horse health

I don't have any electric fence so that would never occur to me:|:|


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Well bummer.
:sad:

Had horses up in the barn for farrier this afternoon. Turned them back out, and two out of three headed right to the new tub-stuck their nose in for a drink, and immediately jumped backwards in surprise. 

So it’s not a question of whether or not they’re getting shocked-they are.

My question is now, how do I figure out why, and what to do about it?


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

PS-they did then go right for the hanging bucket in the shed, and that worked fine. So it seems it’s not the whole electrical system, but this one tub in its current location.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Inside, they are on dry ground - outside, they are probably on damp ground these days, which won't help the situation, as the horses then become "earth" to whatever small current is in the water. It doesn't have to be much to be offputting to their sensitive noses. I'm no electrician, but you might try earthing the tub - perhaps running a little copper wire along the inside wall of the water bucket, right to the bottom, curving it around the lip and running it down, into the ground, on a steel peg - and making sure the earth peg point stays nice and wet. That way, the electricity should earth through the wire instead of through your horses. Water is an electrolyte solution (because of the dissolved salts etc), and will carry current this way - and the tub is plastic, which is an insulator, which will prevent the charge from dissipating.

To get them to trust the water tub again, make it a treat bin for a while - hmmm, carrots etc. Then try again with the water, and do the thing suggested above of sticking one hand in the tub, then touching the ground with the other, to see if there is any shock - before and after earthing the tub, so you can see for yourself...

PS: But earth it well away from the electric fence...


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Take the bucket you saw them jump back from and bring it In the house.

Fill it half full of water so it's easy to empty. Plug it in.

I asked DH to be sure ---- the volt meter should NOT budge, it should be at zero. If it shows current in the bucket, the bucket's heater is bad right out of the box. That can can happen with lots of things -- we get something home and it won't work --- with us it's mostly truck and car motor parts, lol

When one of my tub heaters went bad, several years back, the reading was so minimal it barely qualified as a reading --- except to the horse whose nose it poked

We put a new heater in the tank and life was good again


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

What @walkinthewalk said about the heater being faulty or the ground in your outlet could be bad too. If you plug the heater into another outlet and get zero voltage on the meter then it's probably your outlet. Could be as simple as the screw to the ground wire not being tight enough inside there or a completely bad outlet. If it's a GFI outlet it should be switching off though.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

walkinthewalk said:


> Take the bucket you saw them jump back from and bring it In the house.
> 
> Fill it half full of water so it's easy to empty. Plug it in.
> 
> ...



Thanks! I have been in Boston this week for work but had my lovely husband unplug it and bring it in. I will do this test when I get home tomorrow and see where we are.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

JCnGrace said:


> What @*walkinthewalk* said about the heater being faulty or the ground in your outlet could be bad too. If you plug the heater into another outlet and get zero voltage on the meter then it's probably your outlet. Could be as simple as the screw to the ground wire not being tight enough inside there or a completely bad outlet. If it's a GFI outlet it should be switching off though.



Right, it is GFI, and it is brand new so hoping not bad. The electric fence also plugs in there, and I know that's on.


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## apachetears6 (Jun 7, 2018)

egrogan said:


> It's that time of year again...the time when we spend most of our waking hours plotting and scheming and begging water to remain in its liquid, not solid, form! This morning it was 27*F/-3*C when I woke up.
> 
> BUT I have been so excited because it's as if I hit the lottery- last week, I was able to have electric run out to my field. This allowed me to add heated water buckets inside my run-in sheds, and gave me a GFI outlet that would allow me to plug in one of those electric heated water tubs in the field.
> 
> ...



I go through this every winter, it doesn't get freezing water 24/7 during winter here so it is only for the days it does I use a floating heater which for about a week spooks the horses every season. Something they sense, feel or hear affects them that I cannot sense, feel or hear after the other buckets and tubs freeze solid they finally drink from them.
I actually had one horse who would take the floating heater out with her teeth!
Maybe sitting it on a rubber pad?


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## apachetears6 (Jun 7, 2018)

egrogan said:


> Right, it is GFI, and it is brand new so hoping not bad. The electric fence also plugs in there, and I know that's on.



It is probably the electric fence, my Mare pushes her feed tub against the electric fence then won't eat from it until I move it.
I bet it gives off just enough stray charge to affect them put up a barrier between the bucket and the electric fence.


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## Seckwill4 (May 5, 2014)

Last year my horse, and another where I board, we’re bothered by steam coming off the water. It was about 8 degrees outside and the water must have been too warm. They were acting skittish and actually striking at the tub. I filled a bucket and they both drank from that. BO Replaced the heater with a new one.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Oh I like the idea of putting the bucket on a rubber mat!

This has a built in heater, not a float heater, so I will have to switch out whole bucket if there’s a problem with IT vs the placement of it. 

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

If you're going to put the bucket on a rubber mat, make sure it is big enough for the horse to have to stand on it with all four hooves when drinking. The problem with current-type electric shocks is the horse acting as earth, which it will do if it is standing on bare moist earth. Standing the bucket itself on a rubber mat won't stop it from getting electrical charge presumably from the heater and potentially producing shocks to any animal drinking from it that is in contact with earth. 

If current electricity is the problem, it would be simpler to earth the tub itself so that charge is dissipated. Then the charge could go to earth through a route other than a horse.

Interesting analogy: We have an electric blanket. When one of us is in bed and the other out of bed and standing on the earth and touching the person on the electric blanket, where our skin touches there is a buzzing feeling. This does not happen when both of us are off the ground and on the bed.


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

My question is how in the world do you have such a small water bucket without your horses dumping it over for fun every single day?! Well, right now if they are getting shocked, we know why! lol I can't have any small water vessels, and even our smaller tub of 30-50 gallons has to be wedged into a corner or up on a pallet to prevent them easily grabbing and tossing it or even just playing in it and spilling it everywhere until they can grab it and flip it.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

SueC said:


> If you're going to put the bucket on a rubber mat, make sure it is big enough for the horse to have to stand on it with all four hooves when drinking. The problem with current-type electric shocks is the horse acting as earth, which it will do if it is standing on bare moist earth. Standing the bucket itself on a rubber mat won't stop it from getting electrical charge presumably from the heater and potentially producing shocks to any animal drinking from it that is in contact with earth.
> 
> If current electricity is the problem, it would be simpler to earth the tub itself so that charge is dissipated. Then the charge could go to earth through a route other than a horse.


 Got it- thanks @SueC! We are going to experiment with a couple of possible solutions this weekend and will see what we can get to work. Although, we are supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow tomorrow so that may put a wrinkle in our plans!!!! :blueunicorn:




GracielaGata said:


> My question is how in the world do you have such a small water bucket without your horses dumping it over for fun every single day?! Well, right now if they are getting shocked, we know why! lol I can't have any small water vessels, and even our smaller tub of 30-50 gallons has to be wedged into a corner or up on a pallet to prevent them easily grabbing and tossing it or even just playing in it and spilling it everywhere until they can grab it and flip it.


Haha, they surprisingly do pretty much leave them alone. The first couple of days that our newest horse, Maggie, was here, she definitely thought it was a big toy, but I guess once she realized the other two didn't mess around with them, she stopped.






Difference in having mares vs. geldings maybe? :wink:


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## SwissMiss (Aug 1, 2014)

> Although, we are supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow tomorrow so that may put a wrinkle in our plans!!!!


SNOW??????? 

I have another (utterly unhelpful, I know :wink suggestion to solve your water bucket problem: Just move back down south :rofl: Freezing water buckets won't be on your chore list :biggrin:


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

egrogan said:


> Haha, they surprisingly do pretty much leave them alone. The first couple of days that our newest horse, Maggie, was here, she definitely thought it was a big toy, but I guess once she realized the other two didn't mess around with them, she stopped.
> 
> Difference in having mares vs. geldings maybe? :wink:


Maybe! It is my mare who gets into it worse than the 2 geldings. She is usually the one to chew it if it can be chewed. Trail cam? Yep, we got a shot with full view of all her back teeth not to count the damage she did to the framing of the camera. Go figure. lol


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

SwissMiss said:


> SNOW???????
> 
> I have another (utterly unhelpful, I know :wink suggestion to solve your water bucket problem: Just move back down south :rofl: Freezing water buckets won't be on your chore list :biggrin:


Hahaha, if I suggested that one to my lovely husband he may just pick that option!! :wink:


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

**UPDATE**

Thanks everyone for all the very helpful suggestions about how to solve our bucket problem. I'm happy to report it looks like the DIY grounding advice worked! 

Because we really couldn't change the location of the bucket given the outlet placement along the fence, we went with the grounding approach. We added an 8-foot copper ground rod with a heavy gauge piece of copper wire floating in the bucket and wrapped around the ground rod. 









The horses were very interested in what we were doing and came up to check it out right away. They sniffed at it and no one seemed to have any ill effects from dipping their nose in. This morning the water line had changed so they seem to be willing to drink from it again.

This is a huge relief as we are looking at record low temperatures setting in later this week. 

THANK YOU all again for sharing your advice and experiences. I love Horse Forum for problem solving! :clap:


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

egrogan said:


> **UPDATE**
> 
> Thanks everyone for all the very helpful suggestions about how to solve our bucket problem. I'm happy to report it looks like the DIY grounding advice worked!
> 
> ...


:thumbsup: Glad to hear grounding it worked,my water trough is grounded the same way. Fixed a not drinking out of the trough issue last winter. My gelding likes to play with the copper wire that goes into the tank,he thinks it's there for his entertainment.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

That is great news!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

All that snow is not such great news:shock::shock:


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

This seems like a fitting final update- it was *-1*F/-18*C *to start Thanksgiving morning. As I finished feeding, I watched one of my girls take a nice long drink from the bucket, and certainly felt thankful for a frost-free hydrant, electric plug-ins and happy, healthy horses this year! :loveshower:


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## george the mule (Dec 7, 2014)

egrogan, 0.4kv is 400 volts. Your AC line is 110 volts. 0.4mV maybe? Or find a working voltmeter, and be sure you are measuring correctly. You need to have the meter set to AC Volts, or on some of 'em, the little ~ symbol. (A sine wave: symbol for Alternating Current) Then you need to have one probe tip on a good ground. The very best place is the ground pin on the outlet; the half-round hole at either the top, or bottom. You can try sticking the tip into wet dirt, but this is less certain. Drop the other probe into the water. Any reading other than 0v is cause for worry, _however_, some of the digital meters will "bounce" around a little bit around the zero point, so a reading of 0.4mV (milliVolts; .0004 volts) wouldn't be surprising. A reading of 400 volts from a 110 volt supply is rather unlikely. Um, I test our heated automatic waterers by gingerly dabbling a finger into the water . . .
All of that said, those heated plastic buckets are quite safe. Unless they are damaged, a crack or hole in the plastic interior, there is simply no way they are gonna conduct electricity to their contents. The "shocking" water tank is almost always gonna be one with an exposed heating element; the part that looks like an electric range "burner". ('Cause that's just about what it is.) The floating, or fully submersible stock tank heaters are that way. Given a new/undamaged plastic bucket, I wouldn't worry about it.
And additionally, if you are on a properly installed GFI circuit breaker, it should catch any problem and trip well before you or your critters can actually feel it. Why you use 'em, then, ain' it? 
Just keep the heated buckets clean and filled; when it gets cold enough to really freeze the unheated ones, your animals will go to the heated ones. They are just being horses_faced_with_something_new. "You gonna try it?" "Nope; looks scary to me." "Did AlphaButt drink from it?" "No, and I ain't a gonna either."

edit to add: See? :-D


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

egrogan said:


> This seems like a fitting final update- it was *-1*F/-18*C *to start Thanksgiving morning. As I finished feeding, I watched one of my girls take a nice long drink from the bucket, and certainly felt thankful for a frost-free hydrant, electric plug-ins and happy, healthy horses this year! :loveshower:



Glad the grounding water tubs is working and horse's are drinking well. Looks like you have plenty of snow there, more than we do. We are a bit warmer today at 20 degrees F this morning. 

Happy Thanksgiving have a wonderful day! :loveshower:


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## RegalCharm (Jul 24, 2008)

egrogan said:


> :



Looking at the picture of the wire going to the GFI it looks like there are 3 wires going into the weather proof receptacle ..
Did you cut the plug in end off of the wire going to the water tub and wire on an L shaped plug? Or did you just hard wire it to the GFI receptacle terminal screws?


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

george the mule said:


> All of that said, those heated plastic buckets are quite safe. Unless they are damaged, a crack or hole in the plastic interior, there is simply no way they are gonna conduct electricity to their contents. The "shocking" water tank is almost always gonna be one with an exposed heating element; the part that looks like an electric range "burner".


We just picked up a bucket just like egrogan's and it's not like the blue ones my sister has that have a double bottom with the heater separated from the water; this bucket has what looks like a drain-plug heater in it, exposed to the water. So I'd assume it could have some leakage.

We aren't seeing shocked behavior, but are having issues with the heater NEVER turning off (except in the initial out-of-water test). The water temp reached 63 degrees the first night, when the outside temps are just a bit below freezing (upper 20s?), and attaching a kill-a-watt told us the thermostat NEVER turned the heater off all night. A call to the company told us this was normal, they turn off at 45ish when it's 10 or 10 below (don't remember which) but will be warmer (52-62) when it's warmer outside. Huh? That's not the way thermostats are supposed to work.

Then we put an insulating blanket around it the next night and again the heater never turned off and water reached 73 degrees while outside temps were in the mid-20s. 

Has anyone else with Farm Innovators heated buckets checked their water temperature? Do we have a dud or do they really work this way?


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## george the mule (Dec 7, 2014)

avjudge said:


> Has anyone else with Farm Innovators heated buckets checked their water temperature? Do we have a dud or do they really work this way?


Hmmmm. Yea, now that I think about it, the heated buckets I've seen were all blue. Definitely a double-wall bottom. If it has a heating element screwed (or worse) molded into the plastic bucket, with the heater sticking thru, that is an "exposed" element, and it could certainly cause a shock.

As much, or probably even more so, I'd worry about the temperature. For one thing, horses prefer cold water. I think I'd be taking it back to where it came from. If for no other reason than that it is gonna be expensive to run if it never shuts off. Find one of the double wall ones, or invest in a 35gal stock tank and put a tank-mounted heater in the bung at the bottom. These work well, and rarely give any problems.

And this brings to mind someones comment about "steaming" water. The temperature control in my automatic waterers is set to 40˚F, and that's about where the water temperature stays, I've checked. I've never seen these steaming, even with temperatures well below zero. I wonder if hot water was what was making egrogans horses shy away from it


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

george the mule said:


> Hmmmm. Yea, now that I think about it, the heated buckets I've seen were all blue. Definitely a double-wall bottom. . . As much, or probably even more so, I'd worry about the temperature. For one thing, horses prefer cold water. I think I'd be taking it back to where it came from.


My sister had an extra, and now I have a blue double-bottom bucket! :thumbsup: She thought it was a dud and bought a second before realizing the problem was the extension cord. No one sells that brand near us, but the farm supply store near her does. 

We tested it on the back porch overnight, and it kept the water in the 40s while it was in the teens outside. So did the green Farm Innovators one, but that was because we had it on a timer, 1 hr on-3 hrs off (and repeat).

One thing in favor of the Farm Innovators brand is that the heating element does appear to screw in, and is supposed to be replaceable. But if they can't make a thermostat that works, replacement is irrelevant.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

My horses were also "I would rather colic from dehydration than drink out of your newfangled weirdo death-dealing water tubs" but when their regular tub froze solid and it was zero outside they began to sing a different tune. Even Pippa. 

Today wasn't it balmy? Forty degrees! Felt like the Bahamas after that week of zero. Then tonight we get sleet!


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

@avjudge, I haven't monitored the temp in mine but I have definitely noticed that even with a consistent outdoor temp, sometimes it feels lukewarm, sometimes it feels cool, sometimes it's steaming, sometimes not. Mine seem to be drinking fine from it at this point, so I'm going with it.


The small stall buckets have the enclosed heating element sealed in the bottom, but the tub has the exposed heating element like you described. I have anecdotally noticed the same variation in water temp in the stall buckets, so I'm not sure the thermostat is great in any of their products. But right now, if they have liquid water and they're drinking, I'm happy!


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

Yes, the most important thing is clear drinkable water! 

Our family was traumatized by the loss of one of our horses in winter 1996 to colic during the winter - it was bad enough for my sister and me who weren't living at home, but my mom had to go through the entire day with the horse dying and no vet who could/would come. It was my mom's and sister's horse, so I'm the least affected, and we've never known if it was brought on by insufficient (frozen) water, but neither of us are going to take any chances. 

(This also induced me to make sure I had a truck and trailer BEFORE getting a horse - I moved last year to my parents' home, and things have only gotten worse on the vet front - there were 2 large-animal vets "only" just under an hour away then, and now the closest is an hour and a quarter.)

@*Avna* - yes, balmy! In front of the south wall of the house the snow softened up. I actually washed a bunch of exterior windows! I'd been putting off installing the last few storms (old-fashioned wooden sashes mounted with 4 screws) thinking we HAD to get some weather warm enough to wash, but after last week I was about to give up & seal in the dirt for the winter.


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