Posts tagged water

More on Heated Water Buckets

Ryan Rice contacted me with some good information about the electrical aspect of heated water buckets:

“I’ve just read your article on heated buckets for horses in a barn. While I understand the concern about safety and fire hazards, there’s no reason to be worried and not use one. A 5 gallon heated bucket only uses 130 watts, while a 16 gallon bucket still only uses 260 watts. If you get a heating element for a 100 gallon Rubbermaid water bucket you might get up to around 1500 watts, but most people don’t use 100 gallon buckets inside the barn. So, if you have a 15 amp circuit, which is the smallest you could have, the maximum continuous watts would be 1440. As long as properly rated extension cords are used–preferably none–and for extra safety, a GFI outlet, you can keep your horse drinking water all winter.

Dave Vigness’ Heated Water Bucket Project

Although the season for using heated water buckets is just about over, Dave Vigness has a good summer project for you talented, mechanically savvy folks to tackle. Here’s his story:

Whispering Creek Rescue got started in somewhat of a backwards way. We initially contacted a rescue north of us to inquire about a horse, but then the kids got a little older and lost interest and we didn’t go any farther.

A while later we received a call from that rescue inquiring about our need for a horse as they had just rescued almost a hundred horses and didn’t have a place for them all. After a bit of conversation we volunteered our acreage for grazing for a few months. In exchange for allowing grazing for eighteen horses we were allowed to keep two of the rescues. Our first two boys were a yearling and an older abused gelding that has taken us three years to be able to get close enough to even groom.

Continue reading Dave Vigness’ Heated Water Bucket Project