OT: Water Tank deicer.

[Kelly C]

What are you guys up north here using to keep the ice out of you water tanks?
I am using one of those floating deicers.
So far I figure its costing me about $70 a month to keep the tank deiced.
With only 2 critters using the tank thats pretty costly per cow. I suppose economies of scale figure into it if you have more animals using the water.
Just curious if there are other ways of accomplishing the same task?

 

[Allan in NE]

I use a spud fork and an axe. Doesn't cost anything.

Allan

 

[Kelly C]

I used that method in November and it worked for a little wile. As soon as you get some subzero nights thats out the tank freezes solid.

 

[Kelly C]

Oh, I am pretty amazed about the farm hydrant thats in the barn.They say it does not freeze up and they are right. That thing is bullet proof. Good thing too I thought for sure I would be bucketing water out to the beefers all winter. I just have to take the hoose when I go out to feed.

 

[M Nut]

I use electric, and have 3 of them plugged in. You're right. It is expensive! My neighbor has a small wood burning heater that he uses. He fills it with wood 2-3 times a day from the top. I'm not sure if it is a factory deal or homemade, but either way it works good and is a whole lot cheaper than my electric bill.

 

[IH2444]

Kinda hard when the hose is froze up and cracks when you try and unroll it.

 

[fixerupper]

All of us who go back a few years can still smell the wood burning ones. We had a couple of them and it was my job, because I was a kid, to light it up in the morning. We used cobs, so a small pile of cobs were thrown in and lit with the help of some kerosene. The smoke would want to come out the lid instead of the chimney but letting it burn a couple of minutes and then slamming the lid shut a few times would blow the heat and smoke down through the chamber to start the draft going the right way. After the cobs had turned to coals a couple of bushels of cobs were dumped on top of them and it would smolder away for a good part of the day.

After chores I always had to take a bath to wash away the smoke smell before school. On the way to school, I'd check out the neighbors to see if their tank heaters were still smoking.

Some neighbors had an attachment on their heater that would drip kerosene in the fire, but they were terribly hard to control. They either had boiling water or they had a skiff of ice. Jim

 

[Anonymous-0]

Mine was working good I would plug it in in the morning and unplug In the afternoon. It was one of those floaters, But then...They decided to play soccer with it, found it on the North side of the pasture 600ft from where it should be. Then i used plastic ties and secured it. Then one of them decided it doesnt need a cord, and chewed it off. Thank God it was unplugged. I have been battling it too.

 

[rrlund]

The three tanks that I'm still using,there are so many cattle in those pens they don't have time to freeze. The other one however,I have on of those energy free waterers in there. I plan to put them in the other three pens now that I know how well they work. They are the ones that have a large ball in them,about the size of a basketball. The cattle push the ball down to drink then it floats back up and seals in the heat from the water. There is a 16 inch inside diameter two inch thick foam tub that you bury around the pipe to bring up ground heat. Only problem I've had is if it's near zero with a stiff wind and they don't drink often enough,I'll have to hit the ball and knock it loose.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I use the "axe method"... been purdy busy these last few weeks! (but doesn't cost much) D

 

[730 virgil]

i have submersible electric heater that has a wire basket which sits on bottom of tank i don't know what it costs to use but i don't have the mess of waterer in yard that i can't keep the float set right for it.
darn thing is either running over or not deep enough for cattle to drink from. so i have ice rink in cow yard.
i want to get another submersible heater and tank for next year.

 

[Luke S]

Dang Allan, that is the same method I use, guess I must not be to bright?

 

[Allan in NE]

Me neither,

When it gets about 8" thick, seems to take awhile on two tanks. :>(

Allan

 

[Luke S]

Ya feels pretty good when that ice cold water splashes out on you to!

 

[jose bagge]

I had an earlier post asking about solar, but some guys up way farther north turned me on to "thermal" - using a deep tube in the ground to pull ground heat up to keep it from freezing.

grounds too hard to dig, so that will have to be a summer experiment- right now, we just keep a stick in the tank overnight and use that as a "handle" to pull the whole ice chunk out in the morning.

 

[Kelly C]

Hey thanks for the tips. I also do remember the wood burner that my Grandpa used. I never had to start it but did have to stoke it a few times.

As for what I am using now. I think I may try rotating when its pluged in and not pluged in. Maybe leave it plugged in for the night and unplug durring the day. Or visevirsa.

 

[Dave from MN]

Well, make sure you have the tank wrapped with good insulation, the paper faced stuff that ussually goes in 2x6 walls. Use duct tape or plastic wrap to wrapped over the insulation to make sure the insulation stays puy. Cover 1/2(depending on the size of your tank) with pylwood or even better a peice of wood with that foam insulation sheeting attached to it. Treat that tank just like a water heater. You gotta save the heat you make!

 

[Dave from MN]

Hey Kelly, you should post a few pics of your critters. I rememeber you posting when you were building that containment area for them. These are the ones ya bought at the sales barn in Mora right??

 

[Anonymous-0]

Way down south in Wander Indianer we had a boot shaped thing about 3 feet tall that burned fuel oil. Put a gallon or so in the bottom and toss in a wad of newspaper lit and it would smolder for a good while. Back in the 50's and 60's we'd hit 20 below about every winter and usually with a good stiff breeze. I loved it when the jet heaters came along in the milking parlor.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Kelly, what I do is run the deicer all night when the anmials are in, they will keep the tank open during the day when they are out and drink. I also cover one half of the tank with plywood, and I screw a half sheet of plywood to the fence to help block the wind. Problem with the horses is they usally pull the cover off the tank, chew on it, and drag it around the pasture. I also have to tie the heater cord to the fence, because they have run off with that too! The cows dont bother any of it.

 

[MN Scott]

Dad always took 30 or 55 gallon oil drums and cut the top off. Then you tie them in the tank and fill the tank with water. Build a fire and use the lid you cut off as a draft control. Fill it about half full of wood at night and leave about a 2 inch gap with the lid and your water stays warm 24 hours. Man we cut alot of wood when I was younger. 2 tank heaters and two houses worth.

 

[Texasmark]

I noticed the same thing. I noticed this huge light bill for the shop and called the power company. The guy at the co was a farmer too and asked if I had a tank warmer......er ah.....a what I asked......? Grin

I kindly thanked him for keeping us in electrical power and hung up as soon as I could.

The thermostat cuts on about 40F and it is a 1200W heater so when it is cold it runs constantly. I unplugged it.

Mark

 

[John in Nebraska]

We always burned wood in a barrel but, my Almost Father-in-Law, had a real unique heater. His tanks sat on concrete slabs. Underneath the tank was a slot in the concrete, about 10x10inches all the way across the tank. On the fence side of the slot was a tin chimney. On the other was a little wooden hinged door. After opening the little door, it was heavy and cows feet didn't bother it any, he would pull on a rope inside and slide out a board from the slot. Fastened to the board were 3 of those old oil burning highway smudge pots. If it was real cold he'd light all 3, at zero I think there was steam coming off that water! Took about a gallon of Kerosene a day, at the time about 15cents. Said they were in there when he got the farm.

 

[Lee in Iowa]

For 2 head use the smallest tank you can like 1/3 of a 55 gallon barrel or an empty protein tub cover it up as much you can and use a small 200 watt sinking heater. I have one like this for a for 3 smaller calves and you have to unplug it during the day on warm days or it gets too hot. Lee

 

[Kanuck]

We found after surrounding our 90 gal. stock tank with 2" rigid styro insulation and plywood on the outside we were able to get by with a float type tank heater okay. We had the insulation on all 6 sides with about 12" square opening on the top just big enough for the horses head to stick in. Next we found a 1 hour timer that you could set by the minute. After some experimenting we found we could cut back on the minutes we had the heater on. Found that 15 minutes off followed by 3 minutes on was enough to keep it ice free even during our coldest nights.(we know cold up here) Just kept it cycling on and off day and night. Have a good one eh?

 

[Kelly C]

Sounds like a good idea. Can you help me with what kind of timer it is. I see alot that you can set 3 settings for 24 hr. But one that you can set for a hr then it resets would be good.

 

[Kanuck]

I will check the timer for a name tomorrow and let you know. I might know of where i can get my hands on another one that you can have for the cost of shipping if you cant source one near you. Just so you know, I had the timer run a relay with heavier contacts to handle the current draw of the heater. no big deal.

 

[Kanuck]

Hey Kelly C that time switch i mentioned is made by Tork model 8601. Check em out at www.tork.com You will see the model im talking about under variable cycling timers. email is open if you have any questions. have a good one eh?