Bspauld

Member
A friend has a electric water heater for her livestock tank (plastic) and it has some electricity in it so they wont drink. I am sure this topic has been covered many times, but I dont remember seeing what to do, How do I test it and how do I fix it? Thanks for any help
 

I'm sure the electricians will be along soon to tell you the correct terms, but she has a bare wire ir bad ground someplace. Finding it will be the trick. If she has a submersible pump is a well I'd check for problems there first. I didn't have enough torque arrestors in mine and got a shock at the pool 200 yards from the barn!
 
We had the same problem with electric tank heaters; best just to throw them away when they develop a short.

I used to watch the cows; if they were standing around staring at the water tank I knew that they had gotten a shock. I did put a ground wire down into the water and attached it to a ground rod so the cattle could drink without getting a shock but that didn't correct the problem of the water heater having a short somewhere.
 
check for ground on heater. take tester set the tester for voltage. go to water tank and put one probe in to water other in to the ground beside the water tank. if it shows any voltage you have a ground problem and the cows are getting shocks! just like an electric fence!
 
Long ago, I had a friend with an old style vending water cooler, the one that had metal slats to slide the bottle out (anyone remember them). Anyway he kept his beer in it and had a problem with someone drinking it.

Problem solved, he grounded it thru the water :) He kept a pair of heavy rubber gloves hidden close to it. (Yep, I knew where the gloves were) :)
 
Personally, I'd throw the unit away and buy a new one. It isn't worth the effort and it sure isn't worth shocking the cows.

I have mine on a GFCI protected outlet so I don't think that it would be possible for the problem to develop.

Tom in TN
 
Get a new caged heater for plastic tanks and put in one of those ground fault circuit interrupt plugs on the circuit to the tank.
 
Thanks for all the reply's. Right now shes using a pail for water, tomorrow I plan on going to test it out, you all are a big help
 
Sorta the same thing.....I Had an acquarium once.

I was told to keep the water temp. at 70 deg., room temp. for my fish. Especially in the Winter months.

I bought a "high end" water heater assembly that simply plugged into a 2 prong outlet. Each time the water needed some heat, the heater would come on and cause all kinds of static on the radio and TV.

Eventually the fish all died. And I unhooked the heater. No more static noise.

Moral to the story: a small trace of electricity can realy do-in the cows.

HTH
 
(quoted from post at 08:20:23 11/19/14) A friend has a electric water heater for her livestock tank (plastic) and it has some electricity in it so they wont drink. I am sure this topic has been covered many times, but I dont remember seeing what to do, How do I test it and how do I fix it? Thanks for any help

As others have said. a GFCI and replace the heater.
 
Turn the plug over,the wires are running white to black instead of white to white. May not be your trouble but it was a common problem before three wire plugs.
 
We cant work on it tomorrow, Shes taking her husband in for tests tomorrow. And hope he passes all the tests
 

That often works BUT still neutral could have some voltage to ground.

Better find the problem.


Dusty
 
(quoted from post at 16:33:37 11/19/14)
(quoted from post at 08:20:23 11/19/14) A friend has a electric water heater for her livestock tank (plastic) and it has some electricity in it so they wont drink. I am sure this topic has been covered many times, but I dont remember seeing what to do, How do I test it and how do I fix it? Thanks for any help

As others have said. a GFCI and replace the heater.

A GFCI will probably trip as soon as the heater is plugged in, if not then, then as soon as a cow took a drink.
A GFCI is not fix but a means of preventing deaths among the living, no matter how many legs.

Dusty
 
Need to make sure that heater is grounded. Check the wiring going to the tank. Add a ground to the heater and as a safety precaution, I'd drive an iron pin in the ground near the tank, and run a bare copper line into the water. You can connected to a big iron weight to keep it submerged. That will equalize the voltage difference between the ground by the tank and the water in the tank.
 

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