Solar power to heat water pails

[addysdaddy]

Morning all... I currently have 3 plug in electric heated water pails for the horse barn. These pails run 24/7 over the winter and pretty much double my electric bill... >:( I have wired solar panels to run lights water pump etc in my horse trailer so solar/12 volt isn't to hard to figure out... What i'm looking for is has anyone seen water buckets that are set up for 12 volt connection or does anyone know of a way to easily convert regular buckets to solar/12 volt... I want to put a panel on the roof of the barn and power 2 x 12 volt batteries which I would then wire to the water pails... Any ideas appreciated....  :P

[sprucebunny]

It takes lots of electricity to run heaters so 12 volt heaters are very hard to find. Also, since heat takes so much juice, it will be hard to find an inverter ( 12 volt to 120 volt) that is both small enough to afford and big enough for the job.

How about putting the buckets on a timer ? I saw a timer recently that would come on twice a day. Maybe you could find something that came on every 4 hours ???

[Radar67]

Maybe consider using a solar water heater using coils and natural convection to keep the water above freezing.

[ST Ranch]

just wondering how big your water pails are and what type?  I have a number of heated pails and troughs for horses.  The most efficient are the double walled plastic pails  - 5 gallon with a 130 watt element.  Second is a plastic doulbe walled 20 gallon pail with 250 watt element.  Poorest is the old open 100 tank with 1500 watt heater.  My Richie auto waterer has 300 watt elements, but also needs heat tape and uses more juice.

I recommend the double wall plastic pail, Farmhall brand I believe, about 40 bucks to buy.  I also wrap my pail with an additional 1/2 inch layer of foam [backpack matress pad material] to add insulation.
Tom

[John Mc]

I hope your pails have a built in thermostat, so they are not truly running 24/7.  If not, for less than $15 you can get a "Thermo Cube" thermostatically controlled outlet. It just plugs in to your existing outlet, and you plug the heater in to that. Most of the ones I've seen turn on when the ambient temperature drops to 35˚F, and off when it rises to 45˚, but I'm told that other temperature ranges are available.  It's not as good as a thermostat that actually measures the temperature in the bucket, but it beats having something on continuously, and it's cheap.

My neighbor with horses also built an insulated container to put his big water tank in.

[shinnlinger]

I have seen creative things like balls that float in the water, to fish bubblers, to light bulbs, to black buckets in the sun etc etc, but I was going to suggest the thermostatic plugs also.  I believe they are called cubes and I special ordered mine at my local hadware store.  They make at least two flavors.  One that turns on at 32 and another that turns on at 20 for diesels.   Now a fish pump might keep it from freezing down to 20 and then the heater could kick in.   Would save you some $ as a little blower motor draws a lot less than a heating element.   

[shinnlinger]

http://www.thermocube.com

[Ljohnsaw]

We used horse-heat to keep the ice from forming :D  They can generate a lot of heat!  When we designed and built our barn, I insulated it well.  When the weather was really cold, we closed the doors (including their turn-out doors) and rarely had water freeze (overnight temp ~25° F).  When we had the 10°F snap for a week, that was another story.

[shinnlinger]

A pile of crap seems to throw heat pretty well too...

[addysdaddy]

Thermocube... Sounds like just what I need until I figure out the whole solar power thing... Thanx for the link. The buckets are supposed to have thermostats in them but have never seen them shut off once plugged in.