Need to run electric for NINE water trough heaters

[GPintheMitten]

Drizler, thanks that idea is an interesting one.

JimRB, thanks for the suggestion. The frost free hydrants and ground fault protected outlets will be in the lanes between horse pastures but they will be protected, especially the outlets from weather and wayward horses.

Daybreak, the current troughs are about a 100 gallon each. Thanks for the tip about insulated troughs. I'll check them out.

 

[nc redneck]

Not a expert but my daughter has had horses for years. A lot of new barns use a water trough where a ball seals off outside air. Horse must push ball down to drink, they appear to be insulated.
Second thought. Many RVs use a device to run 3 AC units off of 50 amps. They rotate demand. Not sure if this would work but a RV AC draws around 20 amps on start up.
Good Luck.

One thing I am sure off. Horses are a Money Pit. Makes a boat look like the highest return investment a man can make.
Scott

 

[TravisD]

Seems to me that assuming these things are on thermostats, it's going to take the same amount of energy in the end regardless - bringing water to a specific temperature using an electric element, and losing that heat to the air is pretty much pure math problem. Therefore, the challenge really comes into efficiencies of the fixed installation costs. If it were me, I'd be looking at what else I can use that work and material for. Do you need lights out near there? If so, you might consider some sort of small exterior use sub-panel that you could use to feed something other than just the heater.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Don't need lights out in the pastures . Later we will need lights and some heat in a bathroom in the future barn. The future barn will get a subpanel from the main at the new service drop.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Got it done, well almost done. Everything is backfilled, water is running but electric is not hooked up to any panel.

We ended up renting a RT 40 Ditch witch to open up 48" trenches, about 2000 feet.

Put down 200 lb rated 1.5" HDPE with huge brass fittings, seven Woods hydrants. We buried conduit and pulled #6 awg wire. I put in one 8 x 8 x 6 PVC box to splice wires and one 6 x 6 x 6 box and several 4 X 4 X 4 boxes. Then transition to #12 wire and regular duplex boxes for gfci outlets.

The wires are brought from the existing barn but not terminated yet. We have talked to local power Co to either bring in another service drop or change the service to 400 amp and split it into two 200 amp distribution panels.

This was a huge project. We had a hard rain after trenching and 2 trenches caved partially before we could get the pipe down. Cleaned the cave ins out with my Kubota B2620 with BH65 backhoe along with some manual post hole digger.

Here's a few pics.

 

[dave1949]

I see everyone got good and muddy. :laughing: Sorry the rain came at the wrong time, it has a habit of doing that.

 

[boggen]

sounds like you had it pretty easy! *chuckles* *been that done that*

take sanding paper to the pvc pipe you have around the hydrants, and rough it up a little bit (put little scratches in the pipe) and, then give a few shots of spray paint. it going to look a little ugly maybe a few runs of paint here or there. but it should help keep the pvc pipe from breaking / cracking down the line. granted it is only there i am assuming as a barrier from weather and possibly live stock hitting it. but cheap easy insurance that might get you a few more years out of the pvc pipe.

remember they are only frost free hydrants, when they are in the off position. *ughs* it wasn't me i swear, i just remember, learning from another person...

 

[GPintheMitten]

Thanks. Ryan, I'll recommend the paint job to my sil. The PVC around the hydrant was to contain great stuff insulation for some additional margin in cold weather but it does offer some physical protection.

Understood about not leaving the hydrants on.

 

[drizler]

Thanks. Ryan, I'll recommend the paint job to my sil. The PVC around the hydrant was to contain great stuff insulation for some additional margin in cold weather but it does offer some physical protection.

Understood about not leaving the hydrants on.

Be sure those hydrants are actually off too. That big long rod operating a seal 5' away has to be just right or the thing will leak and if it leaks it will freeze. The one I got from Tractor Supply, no doubt China's finest does that and I have to shut it off for the winter.
I see everybody mentioning the "energy saving" heaters. You know what energy saving really means right? 1250 vs 1500 watts, thats it. My daughter got one a couple years back. It shuts off at 44 F . All in all I don't really see any impact on the electric bill and heats a 100 gallon Rubbermaid tank very well that is left outside. I would think the Rubbermaid heater would work fine too and you wouldn't have to buy a plastic pipe plug and screw it in from the inside. Remember well. If you don't keep the water out of that threaded area and it freezes hard it will probably crack. I never found anything that would fix it either. Lesson learned.
We have 6 of em operating off the one trough. It usually lasts 2 to 3 days though when it;'s steaming in the cold times they stand around and drink it like tea.

 

[farmer2009]

I see you have it almost finished before I found the thread. Looks good. One thing I seen that I do is use a heated garden hose. Gemplers has them. They are expensive but work. My first one lasted 3 years and decided to quit during last winters polar vortex. For 100 gallon tanks we use 1000 watt heaters for 150-200 gallon tanks we use 1500 watt heaters.