Frozen water troughs

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Hells Bells

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Hi all!

It's been a very long time since I logged on here! Hope everyone that I used to chat to is well and had a lovely christmas/new year.

Just a quickie (question that is!)...water freezing in troughs... a hammer usually does it, but does anyone have any bright spark ideas as to how to avoid it freezing in the first place?

Thanks :)
 
I use a pond heater in mine. You need mains electric.

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You can insulate it with hay & straw, and even make a cover of the same in a bag so its less work if horses in overnight. I prefer using a shovel though, cos once broken I use it to get the few big clumps of ice out so it doesn't refreeze as quickly.
 
leaving a football in the water? never done it so i dont know if it would work so it may well just freeze in place but i suppose you could then take it out and you would have a hole :)
 
I plumbed in an over flow pipe to one of mine today with a length of alkathene water pipe to the ditch so it keeps running. OK as we don't pay water rates here. When I want to stop the flow, I just tie the pipe up. Cost £5 for the fittings, plus a few feet of waste water pipe which I had in my scrap heap.
 
Not sure how to stop it freezing in first place but I used to use a plastic colander to fish out the lumps of ice after I'd broken it up - saved getting soggy cold gloves. Keep meaning to buy one for my new yard.
 
I put a tennis ball in ours - it doesn't stop it freezing completely but the ice clings to the ball instead of the sides of the trough so the horses can still drink, and its easier to break up in the morning!
 
Hells Bells said:
Hi all!

It's been a very long time since I logged on here! Hope everyone that I used to chat to is well and had a lovely christmas/new year.

Just a quickie (question that is!)...water freezing in troughs... a hammer usually does it, but does anyone have any bright spark ideas as to how to avoid it freezing in the first place?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...
The usual suggestion is to float something in it such as a football of a partially filled plastic bottle.
 
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