Farmer Engineering

IaGary · Jan 15, 2009

I have this supposed energy free water about 1/2 mile from any electric source. It is not suppose to need any heat if cattle drink regularly out of it.

Well my cows drink once a day all at once. So the valve likes to freeze if it gets below 10 degrees or so.

I came up with this to heat and it works.

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A snowmoblie grip heater with a thermostat from a electric waterer, powered by a battery, charged by a 12v solar panel.

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They battery sets behind the waterer and the heater is wire tied to the valve.
After 3 mornings of zero temps I push the ball down dip out a little water and in comes the fresh water without having to unthaw the lid, removing it and dumping hot water on the valve.
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thurlow · Jan 15, 2009

Great!!!!!!!

rrlund · Jan 15, 2009

Mine's been giving me fits the last couple of days. Not necessarily from the cold though.I had the float set so the water level was perfect. The balls were sealing without getting water too near the top,so they weren't freezing to the lid. We had a pipe leaking about 60 feet from it and had to dig that up and fix it Monday.Tuesday,it was filling a little bit too high. I opened it up,shut the water off down below,took the valve apart and cleaned some dirt and rust out that had gotten in when we fixed the pipe. Yesterday was even worse. It had overfilled again,balls were frozen. Got it going. Checked after dinner and the cows were drinking water off the ground way over by the gate! I thought for sure we'd disturbed the pipe and it was coming up through the ground. But,the water was coming right out from under the concrete pad under the darned thing. The valve was stuck wide open. Had to open it up,get the rod down in the hole and shut it off again. Had a metal shaving embedded in the nylon valve. Not the weather to be messing with this stuff.

Farmer Engineering

IaGary

Well-known Member

thurlow

Well-known Member

rrlund

Well-known Member

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