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Conference noted::equitation

Title:	Equine Notes Conference
Notice:	Topics List=4, Horses 4Sale/Wanted=150, Equip 4Sale/Wanted=151
Moderator:	MTADMS::COBURNIO

Created:	Tue Feb 11 1986
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2080
Total number of notes:	22383

1805.0. "Any experience with Thermal water buckets?" by COMET::SANDVIK () Thu Sep 16 1993 01:36

    
    Does anyone have any experience with the thermal water buckets that are
    advertised in most of the horse magazines? The bucket is suppose to 
    keep the water ice free in 0 degrees for hours?
    
    			KS

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1805.1	We have two -	BRAT::FULTZ	DONNA FULTZ	`Thu Sep 16 1993 09:47`	27
	We own two.. They really do work.. When the water does freeze it in little slivers of ice.. Design problems the bucket that is in the thermous container doesn't have handle to put it out with so you have use your hands on the sides of the buckets to pull up. Our horses don't like pushing down on the top of the bucket - it has a round piece of styrafome (sp) on top that we remove I have not had any problems with breakage - I only use them in the winter though.. The price is kinda high around 49.00 but, I have had mine for about 5 years It looks like a giant thermous.. Donna
1805.2	They're only OK	MSBCS::A_HARRIS		`Thu Sep 23 1993 13:12`	26
	I have them too. They work well to a point, but when it gets really cold overnight they do freeze, and then it's a problem. It's hard to get the plastic bucket liner out of the insulated holder (which is bolted to your wall.) It's especially hard if the horse didn't drink much water and the bucket is heavy. It's awkward to lift a bucket with your arms outstretched. And sometimes the liner freezes stuck on the holder. The foam floats do break very easily when the bucket has frozen over. Luckily, the company only charges $2 to replace them. If the bucket freezes over and the horse has drunk a good amount of the water, you could pour in boiling water to unstick the float and get the water to a decent temperature that won't freeze again so quickly. We probably wouldn't have had these problems if our barn wasn't so cold. We never shut the back doors (so the horses could go in and out at will.) Our horses never minded pushing down the float to get the water. All in all, it's only an OK solution. There were times last winter when I though it would have been easier to just remove a regular bucket, replace it with a fresh one, and put the frozen one in the garage to thaw. -Andrea- A mischievious horse can lift an empty liner out of the holder with his teeth and throw it around his stall.
1805.3	Works fine for llamas	DEVMKO::BROWN_J	I llove my llamas!	`Mon Oct 04 1993 13:15`	22
	We use the thermal buckets and are very satisifed with them. What we do is fill them up with hot water at night and then top them off with hot water the next morning (to replace what they drank between fillings). If it wasn't too cold we found that it would stay unfrozen if we just kept topping it off with hot water; if it was very cold then we had to pretty much empty out the bucket and fill it completely with hot water. We did have a problem with the styrofoam inserts when we let the water go too long and it started to freeze -- the llamas found that they could sort of nibble on insert and chew pieces off. The manufacturer suggested cutting out same-size circles of plywood to replace the styrofoam, they said it would work as well and the animals couldn't chew it. With animals that chew and are curious like llamas we were very uncomfortable with putting something electrically heated in the barn, this has given us piece of mind and them a steady supply of water. JanB