Home made Haysteamer advice

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MissMincePie&Brandy

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I'm wanting to steam my horses hay, and would love a Haygain steamer, but at £700, perhaps not right now :eek:

So, I'll be making my own, using a large plastic box with lid that can hold 3/4 of a bale, and a wallpaper steamer. I have some good ideas, but I would like to know what brand/model of wallpaper steamer will be best for the job?
Do I need an extra large or powerful one?

Does anyone have similar homemade ones, and do you have any advice?

How long will I need to steam my hay for?

Also. Is it OK to steam the hay in preparation, several hours before you are actually going to feed it? (ie if I steamed at 8am, is it still fine to feed it at 6pm)

Thank you.
 
how about a plastic rubbish bin with a tight lid, fill it with hay in a net, boil the kettle, pour it over et voila, after 10 mins steamed hay.
 
I have had a few goes at this, but my problem was always to fiind a container large enough to take hay for 2. A dustbin just isn't big enough. Since the steamer is like boiling a kettle or 20 minutes, you do have to think about electricity.

During an earlier thread someone worked out how much the electricity cost, which wasn't huge, but it is still something to be borne in mind.

So anyone any suggestions about where to find a container with a lid big enough to take from 3/4 to a whole bale of hay?
 
Earlex steamer, 2.75KW and a grit bin, length of copper pipe to go in bottom of bin in a loop, drill holes in pipe, this ensures that the steam gets to all of the hay. This takes 5 nets of about 6kg each.
 
I have made one using a wheelie bin (not the normal household size but the 360 litre one) and I can get two big nets side by side inside.

The cheapest place I found on the interweb to get bins from was here: http://www.yellowshield.co.uk/360-litre-wheelie-bin.html?options=cart

I also thought that maybe one of these garden storage boxes would work?
http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...=1|category_root|Garden+and+Outdoors|16849255

I steam my nets for just over an hour (that is how long my steamer lasts for!) and works well. I also bought a cheap timer that I plug the steamer into so that it turns on before I get to the yard and is ready to feed when I bring the horses in, you just need to make sure you leave water in it!!
 
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i have a stumpy water butt with a lid, i fixed the tap inside and sealed it so when i tipped the water out it didnt crack the bin like the last one did! it holds a good half a bale and cost ten pounds at the garden center, i boil 2 kettles and leave it while i muck out etc, then feed, it smells lovely and my pony hasnt coughed at all
 
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