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Discussion on Winter watering
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Member:
kaarina
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 10:38 am:
Hi all, hope this is the right spot for this (or better in barn management?).
I am figuring out the logistics of keeping my girls home through the winter this year and our big, big issue is water. Until freezing starts, I use a hose from the house (150 feet away) but come October, that starts getting hairy because it starts freezing. And in Dec-Mar our temperatures are regularly -20 or -30 with windchill, even during the warm parts of the day. Is there a solution for getting water out there without installing pipe from the house below the frost line that I'm not thinking of? I have looked at the no-freeze hoses but the cost for 150ft plus electricity required to keep it heated would be prohibitive... and the solar watering troughs wouldn't work inside (plus I still have to fill it somehow).
The setup is a shelter that I'm closing in with a 4th side and dividing into 2 stalls and a storage aisle picture attached). Not insulated, but I will have electricity.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Tamara
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 11:49 am:
Hi Tamara,
We used to live where it was regularly -40 at night. We found the most reliable way to water was using hoses, even though it was a pain to keep the properly drained - and that is key; drain them after each use or you've problems. We didn't heat them, but did have a heater in each trough. Even with heat tapes etc. water pipes froze when it stayed really cold for more than a day or two.
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Member:
kaarina
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 12:14 pm:
Thanks Sara,
How did you drain them? Gravity or air compressor? We had someone suggest shooting air through to clear them. Also did you use regular hoses or flat ones, I wondered if the flat hoses might drain enough as you rolled them up.
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 12:47 pm:
Hi Tamara,
The barn I am currently at does not have a hose to the paddock water trough. So, we fill it with 5 gallons pails that we carry out there (from the barn about 70ft away). We have 4 horses and a heated water trough which we put about 2-5, 5 gallons pails into daily. Not pretty but very reliable.
Lynn
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Member:
lynnland
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 12:51 pm:
oops...just to add that our horses are in the barn at night and drink a whole lot more than that overall.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 1:26 pm:
We used regular hoses, and found that the heavy duty black hoses from somewhere like Home Depot or Lowe's were the best. If any water was left in the black hoses, as soon as the sun hit it, even with freezing temps, the ice would melt. We drained by walking the hoses and holding them over our heads as we walked. Another methods that worked was pulling them over something high, like a heavy tree limb. Imo blowing them wouldn't do as good a job due to the length of the hoses. You do have to make sure all the water is out of the hoses as just a little that freezes will block the water, and thawing is very difficult when it's so cold. You have to be a "hose nazi!" I found, that unless it was going to snow, leaving the hoses laid out worked the best because even on the snow, when the sun hit, it would melt any ice left in the hose. If you don't get sun or it's going to storm, then draining and rolling would be better. Just letting the rolling drain the hose doesn't get all the water out of the hoses in my experience.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 1:27 pm:
Lynn, you must be a lot younger than I am! There's no way I could carry enough water for four horses day after day!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 4:40 pm:
I used to drain hose before we got the auto waterer, then I got smart and just dragged it in the basement when done watering. Like sara said a DrOp will block the hose....don't miss those days!!!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 4:59 pm:
Yikes! Tough duty supplying water!
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Friday, Aug 13, 2010 - 5:01 pm:
Tamara,
The best place to keep a hose unfrozen is smack dab in the center of a nice warm manure pile, if you have one.
I usually do what Diane does. I have my heavy duty (Hot/cold) hose on a roll-up reel, my outside spigots are heat taped. The hose reel stays warm in the basement and we drag it out when we have to water. In the summer we use regular water buckets, but in the winter we use 100 gallon stock tank with a heater.
Rachelle
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Member:
kaarina
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 3:46 pm:
Thanks all. So here is my initial plan based on the feedback - tell me if you think this will work.
I have a heated utility room with a sink faucet that is threaded to hook to a hose. The door of this room opens onto a landing in the garage. My thought is to mount a hose reel up on the landing (about 8 - 10 feet off the ground). When I need to water I can go through a crack in the door (while hubby yells at me to stop wasting heat) and attach to the utility faucet and then run the length of (heavy duty black rubber) hose under the cracked garage door and out to the girls. When I'm done, I wind it up and let gravity empty the water as it winds since the reel is up so much higher than ground level and then detach from the sink.
Thoughts? What am I overlooking?
Thanks!!
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 4:03 pm:
I would think this would work IF you can find a heavy duty reel. We broke all the ones we bought. Those black hoses are heavy if they are very long, and I think you tend to pull on them some when reeling.
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 4:37 pm:
HMMMM does it freeze where you are going to store the hose? FME reeling it doesn't get all the water out. If it was that easy they wouldn't have all these other expensive contraptions to "help" us out. PLUS is the hose is cold, believe me reeling a stiff, heavy hose up or out is NOT fun!
If it stays above freezing it should work, but still reeling a long heavy hose is not easy work
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 5:00 pm:
Tamara,
You can use a regular garden hose as long as you bring it in to a warm place (above freezing). You do not have to put it high to drain it. The hose will drain some as it is getting rolled up and as long as the hose is not left outside in the elements, you should have no problem.
Our reel has wheels on it and is very portable, we un hook and pick it up to bring it in the house, although we could leave it in our utility room, we put it in the basement so its out of the way.
Rachelle
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Member:
kaarina
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 7:36 pm:
I think the reeling alone might not remove the water all by itself (been down that road) but reeling from a high place (like going over the high branch) would have gravity push the water out in the same way walking along and lifting it would? Unfortunately my house is TINY and there isn't anywhere to put that much hose inside, the garage will freeze but it doesn't get the wind. But heavy is a problem too...
Hmmmmmmmm, why did I leave san diego again?
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Member:
juliem
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 8:12 pm:
I think if your air compressor has an attachment that fits into the hose and enough power that it blasts water out the other end, that would work. I've used an air compressor to do that, but not on 150 feet. Still, you can tell if water comes blasting out the end (and keep blowing until none comes out) you might get by with that.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 8:33 pm:
You left San Diego for temps like -20! Foolish lady!
I think with the height factored in the reeling will work if the reel is long enough, but don't come after me with a frozen hose if I'm wrong!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 9:04 pm:
I still think reeling one of those heavy duty hoses when it is cold would be very time consuming and frustrating...then again reeling hoses is not one of my favorite things to do anyway.
I think if you are going to try this a regular garden hose would make the chore a little easier anyway.
Using an air compressor worked very well for me one year. If you are going to keep the horses at home every winter I would put in an auto waterer, it really isn't that expensive or hard...I couldn't go back to hoses ever again... takes that patience thing I don't have much of and is time consuming...when -20 the last thing I want to do is spend more time outside then necessary.
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Member:
kaarina
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - 11:37 pm:
thanks all - I guess its time to go shopping and see what I can find and try before committing to the whole winter at home... if I can't handle it at the end of october I'll know its time to send them off!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Aug 15, 2010 - 8:14 am:
Tamara after you reel it up couldn't you set in somewhere in the house, like Rachelle said one of those reels on wheels is easy to move and wouldn't take up much room. I didn't even reel mine up just dragged it in the basement.
I tried the sun thing Sara mentioned and for the most part it worked, but once in awhile I would get a frozen solid hose that wouldn't thaw, even tho I thought I had gotten every DrOp out. Maybe the thing to do is have 2 hoses...one for just in case, I finally did that and it helped when I accidentally froze one up
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Member:
kaarina
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Posted on Sunday, Aug 15, 2010 - 9:29 pm:
I know, bringing it in does seem like the best possible option. Maybe I can rearrange something... the problems of cramming 2 adults, 2 young children, a 100lb dog and a cat into a single room downstairs... And the basement stairs are basically a ladder, its a deathtrap. Going to have to get creative if I want to do it. Husband took one look at the thread and recommended boarding again this year. He is envisioning pleas to roll up 150 feet of heavy frozen hose for me in -30 already.
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Member:
cheryl
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Posted on Monday, Aug 16, 2010 - 9:22 am:
Tamara - if the water is drained from the hose after each use it doesn't have to be rolled up - We spend most of our winter under 32 degrees - after watering the horses I disconnect the hose from the faucet - lift it up high enough for the water to start draining - then lay it on my shoulder and walk to the other end - I think twice last winter I didn't get the water drained good and it froze - but it thawed in the sun - The biggest problem is snow down your neck and mud on your shoulder
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