Low energy livestock water tank de-icer

mike95490 · November 2020

Wife (SWMBO) wants to not have to go out daily to carry hot water for "her" sheep.   She wants an electric tank heater, which often run 400w and thermostat at 45F.
being off grid, that's a problem.   Anyone come across any other solutions ?   I've racked my brain for 2 years, and even dog dish deicers have a 40-45F thermostat. I'd be happier with a 35F stat, but maybe their sensors are not precise enough.
My thought so far is a sloping 1" hose, and fill the bucket in the AM from that, instead of hauling a bucket out through the muck .
   No idea too outlandish ( except radioactive waste as a heater )

Dave Angelini · November 2020

The farms and ranches offgrid around here use a small tankless lpg and just turn-on a small pump. There are probably other things out there like an RV tankless lpg. The condensing tankless are 95% efficient but you need some 120V to run the pump and ignition. The RV route may work with 12vdc.

Adding new electric loads in winter offgrid is not good. Winter is when we need to shed electric loads, as you know. I will ask my solar wrench buds. Good Luck.

Aguarancher · November 2020

You might look through these

https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm#Animals

New_Mexico_Will · November 2020

How cold does it get where you live? If you can keep the water moving, like with a small aquarium water pump, you can keep it from freezing down into the 20s.

New_Mexico_Will · November 2020

Or maybe some small scale geothermal? If you circulated the water in a loop of pvc that goes underground and comes back up, that might keep it from freezing. I have a tiny submersible pump that uses very little power. Here's one that's rated at 8 watts:

https://www.amazon.com/Submersible-Protection160GPH-Fountains-Hydroponics-Aquariums/dp/B07KG1RJFM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=fishpond+submersible+pump&qid=1604929568&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFDQ0k0N0hTOEdLU1QmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAxNDI0ODEzQVFUWVdLSElCV0lKJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3MDQ2ODIzS0xBOUQ1NzI2UDRYJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

mike95490 · November 2020

New_Mexico_Will said:

How cold does it get where you live? If you can keep the water moving, like with a small aquarium water pump, you can keep it from freezing down into the 20s.

It was 15F this morning. My solution is to take out 5 gallons of hot water and pour it on top of the ice. But that gets boring after a while.

The big problem seems to be most tank heaters have thermostats in the 40-60F range, which is way too warm for what I need off grid. I found some plastic dog bowls with heaters, but they are only 1.5 gallons, and don't fare well when drunk dry.

Still looking though.

New_Mexico_Will · November 2020

Around here the ranches, who waste NOTHING, use old tractor tires for drinkers. They lay the tire down, run the pipe/float, and fill the tire with concrete, leaving a nice bowl in the middle. The black tire gets warm quickly in the morning sun, and the thermal mass of the warm concrete will prevent freezing through most of the night. It doesn't usually get to 15 here, but close. It's a cheap experiment as you can usually get old tractor tires for free.

New_Mexico_Will · November 2020

Shade balls can help to some extent as well.

mike95490 · November 2020

New_Mexico_Will said:

Shade balls can help to some extent as well.

Are those floating balls like ping pong balls to reduce algae and evaporation from ponds ?

Miller_Ranch · November 2020

I have one of these, works great.

https://westernranchsupply.com/product/trojan-66b-lp-gas-stock-tank-heater/

Dave Angelini · November 2020

That is the one I thought I saw Mr Miller! Nice and simple.

New_Mexico_Will · November 2020

mike95490 said:

New_Mexico_Will said:

Shade balls can help to some extent as well.

Are those floating balls like ping pong balls to reduce algae and evaporation from ponds ?

Yes, they use them extensively in reservoirs also. I would think that black ones would help a bit, but admittedly probably not much.

DanS26 · November 2020

Mike, I know you saw this at the other site but there may be others on this site that would be interested in a completely freeze free livestock watering system that uses no electrical energy........

https://www.horsedrinker.com/

I've used this system for over 10 years without a single operational issue.

Photowhit · November 2020

Not sure where you live or the volume of water you need. I've seen water tanks that are in essence a very deep pipe in the ground with and outer pipe around it at the top with insulation between. This allows the natural ground warmth below the surface to warm the water. The warm water rises and there is a 12" watering area inside of a 16" outer pipe. If you have a serious ranch area, you are likely to know someone with a 16" power auger for their tractor, and if you can go down 6-8' it should allow a pretty good area for warming the water (considering what your frost level is, if this is Alaska... never mind...lol) You would still need to add water or have a very well entrenched water delivery system, but save on electric.

Here's a bigger version;

The Old Faithful - Geothermal Livestock Water Tomcat MFG

The Old Faithful - Geothermal Livestock Water Tomcat MFG

I've seen smaller versions in pictures;

Search "geothermal water warmer for live stock" and look at images and then move to the websites.

Dave Angelini · November 2020

That was really a nice way Photowhit. Mike is up in northern california and I would think the https://www.horsedrinker.com/ would be fine.
So, how much water do the little sheep need?
I have a neighbor with all kinds of critters and he has alarms to wake him up to go shoot at the coyotes and mountain lions. Never dull here !

New_Mexico_Will · November 2020

Wow, that geothermal drinker is awesome. I'm going to sell a lot of those for that company. Figure 5 gallons of water per sheep per day, on average.

Low energy livestock water tank de-icer

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