cattle waterers

[grassfarmer]

I'm trying to be thrifty with the power bills this winter and made wooden covers to fit over the waterers at night. Thinking that 9 hours of access to water in a day is enough. Problem is when I take the covers off in the morning the water is very hot - does covering them confuse the thermostats which appear to run OK without the covers? Any suggestions?

[cowman]

Cattle waterers can be very frustrating! Usually either too hot or frozen up.
At one time there was a thermostat you could buy as a wire in that actually adjusted to the water temperature, instead of the one that most have now. I believe "Hurst" was the name of the company that built them? I actually had a Hurst waterer at one time and it worked very well until the thermostat finally clunked out! I think a repacement was around $70 and I thought that was too high so replaced it with a cheap Richie type thermostat like the one found on most waterers.
When we drilled a new well at the corrals a few years ago we went with tanks and hydrants. Insulated the tanks very well and used a couple of old cast iron wood tank heaters. Didn't have to heat the shack over the well as the water is only on demand when the pump comes on and when it is shut off the water drains back down the well.
Doesn't take much to build a fire in the heaters every morning. Seems like an easier way than trying to thaw out a darned waterer when it's 40 below with the wind blowing.

[gopher]

grassfarmer -- I did the exact same thing with my waterer and the water did become to warm. It also caused a large build up of frost on the unit which caused other problems. My waterer has an electrical outlet mounted inside the unit so I filled the cavity half full of fire proof insulation and plugged in a 100 watt light bulb. The heat from the light bulb keeps the waterer from freezing even when the temp drops to -15. I also leave the element plugged in but it only comes on if it's very cold out. I feel this saves power because the bulb uses less power then the element coming on and off so often. Another advantage is the tempurature of the water is more even and the cattle seem to drink more often.

[danm]

I don't know if anyone has had experience with the "UGLY" waterer? It is an old tire off a quary truck. The water comes up from the middle & can water hundreds of cattle if needed. The best thing is no heaters!! I guess you can cover 1/2 of it with plywood in the dead of winter but as long as sun pokes out every couple of days it melts back. Seems like a pretty slick thing any comments?

[grassfarmer]

That sounds interesting but how is it insulated? how cold weather do you get danm? Gopher, I saw someone else that used light bulbs in the small Ritchie waterers - They didn't have heat tapes on the water pipe so when the trough went dry you knew the light bulb had burnt out and the pipe froze. Where did you install the fire retardant material? across the floor or up the sides or both?

[gopher]

grassfarmer - I filled the bottom half with insulation but where the light bulb was set on the insulation I put a piece of tin under the bulb to reflect the heat up against the pan. There should be approx. 6 inches of space between the light and the pan. If the bulb burns out the heat element should kick in because it is always plugged in but only comes on if it's very cold and windy. I don't use heater tape but when installing the waterer we used a 10 in. pvc pipe 8 feet down and the heat rises from below keeping the water pipe frost free. Also living in chinook country is a big plus !! Have a good day -- enjoy your comments