Ideas for Thawing Out Waterers

[farmers_son]

It was minus 37 last night. Sure enough we had a waterer froze up this morning. The wire right at the heat element burned off during the night and things were pretty well froze up by this morning.

We use a turkey deep fryer to provide lots of hot water right out where we need it, works great. What else works?

[grassfarmer]

You could try calling your ABP buddies - they seem to emit plenty of hot air any time they open their mouths ;o)

Seriously though I made some cheap alterations to our waterers this winter that are saving us freezing headaches as well as some money. I placed 1" rigid insulation sheets around the outside of the waterers and then built a wooden box around that with salvaged 1.5" x 6" boards. I screwed a 14" length of 3" angle iron on each corner of the wooden box sticking up about 4" above the trough. Then made a lid of the same materials and it fits snug inside the angle irons. I close the lids at around 4pm and open them at 9 or 10am once I've fed the animals. It must save us a lot of electricity and isn't a big chore on a daily basis. We only have calves, bulls etc accessing the corral waterers so these few hours a day give plenty opportunity to drink.
Cows are managing just fine with snow or frost free nosepumps.

[perfecho]

Hair dryers just place inside the waterer and left on for a few hours is easy... cattle show blowers if it is frozen inside the riser. Hot water in the bowl if it freezes at the float for 10 minutes (Keep the cattle away.)
This year, I had a waterer fill totally with water due to a leak in a hose. I had a hair dryer going inside because it had frozen earlier, and although the dryer was covered with water, the power source which was marretted (and taped) and went back down the riser to the next waterer ,was covered in water,;no breaker blew, I didn't get a shock when I opened the metal lid and the cattle were licking the bowl with no consequence. Unbelievable and dam lucky.

[kato]

An interior car heater works well too. When we sold our old car, I kept the heater, and we've found lots of uses for it. It also keeps a wooden cabinet warm for us when we're vaccinating calves in the winter.

The turkey fryer is a good idea. Does that mean we could write one off on the income tax under small tools? LOL

[tweaker101]

I agree we use interior car warmers to thaw out frozen waters and also a tiger torch..just have to move fast. This past summer we re worked some of our water bowls and installed a 14" culvert underneath and ran the supply hose in that I was thinking that some ground heat would rise up?, and also installed internal heat tapes inside the supply line. I went one step further and installed 1.5" of p2000 insulation on the inside of the water bowl. All was okay last night was -37.

[newguy]

This year had no problem because I lined inside with insulation board and banked outside.. Last year and year before I would have frozen bowls all the time and had the unthaw system down to a t.. Leave driers in the house . I went out with 2 pails of hot water from the house . Put 1 in the bowl. I would take out a plastic flower watering container with a long narrow spout. Not with the sprinkler just a curved spout. Put water in container and pour on pipe that is froze.. The spout is good for directing water where needed. Moving hot water will thaw much faster than any other kind of heat. It may take 5 gallons of water but if the top is thawed usually it starts up before the pail is empty.. You should be able to unthaw any pipe and be back in house in 15 minutes,..

[topper]

I haven't had any waterbowl freezes for a few years(touch wood) but I used to have a hose that went over the exhaust pipe on my half ton and I would feed it down the hole. Then I would put some hot water in the bowl and cover it up with a small tarp and then sit in the idling truck and listen to a few tunes and wa-la. Worked quick and no burning hoses off.

[Kathy]

Have any of you used the special heat tape on the water lines going into your waterers? This heat tape is plugged in at the waterer, and is wrapped snuggly around the pipe. It only turns on where the temperature is low. IE: the whole tape doesn't have to be heating all the time, just parts of it heat - where and when needed. It is more of a preventative measure and should be used in new installations (if you have a power source).

For stubborn underground freezes, my hubby rigged an old propane tank with a special valve and hose. He puts some water in the tank and heated it with a propane tigger torch. The steam pressure builds up inside (yes, this is kinda dangerous)... but then he can fish the small hose down into the frozen line (underground) and clear the ice.

[per]

Just install a pressure relief valve and voila it is safe. Hard air line like on a tractor trailer make a great discharge hose to go in the pipe. A shroud around the outside speeds the heating process. Great tool and it keeps you warm while you work.

[smcgrath76]

We rely on hot water and a space heater, occasionally resorting to propane torches, wood fires, etc. We do not use waterers anymore, just tires with cement bottoms and steel pipe risers and one fibreglass trough that came for free when we used a product called LOOMIX on feeder calves. I hate waterers and since we have moved to tire troughs we have had minimal problems.

We found a new product this fall called a Freeland FreeFlo Valve and it is genius. It sits under the water and works simply on water pressure and the weight of the water, so no floats or parts that cows or horses can bug with. Because it is way under the water it also does not freeze.

We also have some old steel tank heaters (the kind that are wood burning and sit right in the tank) that we can use in an emergency and see a lot of duty if it gets too cold to start a tractor. We set them up under the tractor and light a fire or get a torch running in them.

[newguy]

No need to unhook any pipes or take out a torch just some well directed hot water on outside of pipe will out thaw anything. When it follows pipe down all it has to do is get a pin hole started and the pressure does the rest.. I have unthawed 2 feet of frozen pipe in minutes. Never unhooked a thing.