# need advice on watering in freezing weather



## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

The water in my barn is out and probably won't be fixed until Spring. I need some ideas on how I'm going to water my horses until then. I do have a water faucet in my back yard I can use but have to run about 200 feet of hose to the water tubs. How can I prevent those hoses from freezing? Are there any economical insulated water hoses that won't freeze so easily? I was looking online but didn't really see any. I really DON"T want to haul multiple buckets of water daily!


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

longhorngal said:


> The water in my barn is out and probably won't be fixed until Spring. I need some ideas on how I'm going to water my horses until then. I do have a water faucet in my back yard I can use but have to run about 200 feet of hose to the water tubs. How can I prevent those hoses from freezing? Are there any economical insulated water hoses that won't freeze so easily? I was looking online but didn't really see any. I really DON"T want to haul multiple buckets of water daily!


 There is most certainly hoses that are heated. But at $130.00... YIKES, and that is for 50 feet~!!!http://www.amazon.com/Pirit-Water-PWL-02-50-Heated-Hose/dp/B002RYGE4S
Now this is what I do I have 150 feet of hose on a "hose reel".... I Fill the tubs, now I may have bigger tanks then you one is 50 gallons and one is 150 gallons, so I fill them only say once a week.
But I keep that hose reel In The House in winter, take it out when I need to fill the tanks and then roll it back up and take the reel in the house.
That maybe one way to do it and way less costly then some kind of heated hose.
Unless this is on a Slope of some kind so the hose can drain naturally when you are done using it.
But i think the hose reel idea is great and I have been doing this now for nearly 12 years in the winter time. Works great for me, just have to buy a nice sized hose reel that is all.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

arabian knight said:


> There is most certainly hoses that are heated. But at $130.00... YIKES, and that is for 50 feet~!!!http://www.amazon.com/Pirit-Water-PWL-02-50-Heated-Hose/dp/B002RYGE4S
> Now this is what I do I have 150 feet of hose on a "hose reel".... I Fill the tubs, now I may have bigger tanks then you one is 50 gallons and one is 150 gallons, so I fill them only say once a week.
> But I keep that hose reel In The House in winter, take it out when I need to fill the tanks and then roll it back up and take the reel in the house.
> That maybe one way to do it and way less costly then some kind of heated hose.
> ...


I second the hose reel and taking it inside. That's what we do too. Keeps it nice and thawed out. A little bit of trouble, but not near as much trouble as hauling water in buckets or trying to thaw out a frozen hose.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

The hose reel sounds great. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Yup, we would bring our hoses inside as well. Our pump went up one winter, we would run the hose from the basement faucet, out the window and to the barn, then go out and bring it in. Boy, that was a loooong winter, lol. You'll be fine long as you store the hose inside.


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## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

Pulling our hose out daily would be one big pain as our barn is over 250 feet from the house---it is not nice to drag that through snow. What I do is fill a very large water trough (holds about a half week of water) that is close to the barn and keep a water heater plugged into it. Then I just scoop out pails of water as I need them. The horses can access the trough directly.


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

We bring ours in the house too. but I know someone who rigged an air compressor to blow out all the water from the hose after each watering.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Tiempo said:


> We bring ours in the house too. but I know someone who *rigged an air compressor to blow out all the water from the hose after each watering.*


Now that's a nifty idea. We tried going along and lifting the hose to drain the water, but it doesn't matter how well you think you've done it.........it's never enough.


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## sidepasser (May 10, 2002)

Buy a frost free hydrant from Home Depot or Tractor Supply and install it. You must take the hose out of the trough when you turn the water off at the hydrant or it will suck all the water out of the trough..(learned that one the hard way) but the hydrant will keep the water out of the hose.

Cost is approximately 45.00 for the hydrant. You should dig down about 2 feet, put in some gravel, then install hydrant on top of gravel. Hydrant works well, I have three of them and no frozen hoses anywhere on the farm.


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## Mare Owner (Feb 20, 2008)

We had to do this before we got a few of the auto-waterers a couple years ago. We just filled things up, and drained the hose. To drain it well, we lifted it up and walked the length of it TWICE. Once was never enough...


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Our barn is about 100 feet from the spigot. We drain the hose carefully a large part of the winter, but when it's really cold we put three 5 gallon buckets of water in the back of the pickup most days and drive them over from the house. Fortunately my husband is willing to empty them for me. Our horse is not kept at home and there is a drainage ditch/canal between the spigot and the barn so it is not practical to put another spigot in. If it were, we'd probably do that.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

bar bar wateres(I think is the brand name) work awsome. They are costly , a little over 400.00 but awful nice. I bought one 5 years ago when we had money, and just now had it installed, No cleaning it, and no freezing. Keeps clean water for the horses all the time.
Needs no electricity...Like I said costly..and I am thankful I got it before we became poor:>) but i would usually go through at least 3 expensive hoses a year. So eventually it will pay for itself.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

I would love to have one of those BarBar waterers, someday...
So far this week we've been unhooking hoses and there is a slope between the house and barn. So far it's working well and we've had freezing weather since we started so hopefully everything will go ok. If not I will buy those hose reel. When we redo the barn water I'm going to ask DH about installing the hydrant sounds like a good idea.


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## commonsense (Jun 1, 2008)

We just put up a waterline made of pvc pipes connected together, down to the cows in the front pasture. All I need is a short length of hose to reach the opening of the pipeline, and the water goes right to the tank. It's much easier to empty a short length of hose than 200', and pvc is pretty inexpensive. The PVC line drops as it reaches the cows, so it self drains.


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## Whip Hussmann (Nov 9, 2005)

Why is the water out in your barn? The cost of some of the ideas that have been presented seem a little pricey. It might be cheaper in the long run to get the water back in your barn.


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## ColumbiaSC. (Nov 25, 2005)

our horses drink in front of our bedroom window,,, I love to watch it. I take the hose I fill the troth with and run it down the hill, I open the 'Y' and let it drain. It is a pain but it is better than a frozen hose. I keep a light on the hose 'bib' to keep it warm, the Y lets me open one side so it can drain.


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## Whip Hussmann (Nov 9, 2005)

I have used the "Y" system before, that is a good idea.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

Whip, we live on an old farm. Really all the pipes need to be redone out there. One busted underground and I guess is not an easy fix according to DH. I know he would fix it for me right away if it was.He just doesn't have time to dig everything up and replace right now. So far the hose on the slope is working well enough. It's kind of inconvenient but it could be worse.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

We had a similar problem when we lived in WI. We pounded in steel fence posts every ten feet and bought ten foot sections of 2" PVC pipe. Then we wired them to the T posts so that they were high at the water end and lower down at the far end (in our case this was down hill easy). But you don't need much of a slope for this to work. If you need to get the water going uphill, this would not work.

The pipes ended at the insualted and heated stock tank. When the tank got low we'd hook up a short section of hose that went from the house to the start of the PVC pipe. We would shove it down several feet so the water would not flow out the back.

Then we would run it and fill the tank, then remove the short section of hose, empty it and bring it inside the house so it would not freeze.

Any water in the PVC would drain out becuase of the slope and it being a 2" pipe. We did not glue any together so we could take it down easily if needed.

We used this pipe for two WI winters and it worked fine, then we finally got the water line run for a heated automatic waterer. 

Cathy


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## ColumbiaSC. (Nov 25, 2005)

Mare Owner tried to tell me!
'To drain it well, we lifted it up and walked the length of it TWICE. Once was never enough'...


well that drain it down hill thing bit me in the tail this morning!,, I missed a loop of hose and it held water,,, grumble bad words here! I guess that is why I should have listened about checking it twice!
I layed out the hose BEFORE I read that post, in my own defence,,,,lol


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## J-jay (Feb 27, 2008)

WE have 7 frost free facuets. A local genteman digs water lines for 40 cents a foot so we have a lot of facuets. I hate carring water buckets.The more black pipe you buy the cheaper it is per foot. Jay in N.C.


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## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

I know this is an old link but timely right now,just wanted to say....be careful with the frost free or frost proof hydrants! I had one that I left a short hose on and it split the faucet part! 
I have 3 ouside now and I never ever leave a hose on if it's cold. 
DH who is a very competent maintenance man also always reminds me to never ever do that because it prevents the air from going back in the hydrant where it's needed to shut the float valve (if I remember that exactly right) but anyways,never leave a hose connected to one!
Chris


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## ds40 (Feb 11, 2009)

Put a small tank near the source of water and lead the horse to water. They can walk, can't they? Dump out tank repeat till spring.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

Burying pvc pipe is a common thing to do. Deep enough below the freeze line.

It's rarely cold enough here for the water to freeze. In one of my houses, I put a small hot water heater in my tack room. It was inexpensive at the time. Don't know what they cost today. 

It had two hoses leading from it, one for hot water and one for cold water and they connected to the hose I used. I did it to bathe my critters. It was not left on all the time, it was on demand. I'd flip it on a half hour before I was going to bathe a critter and turned it off when I was through.

Perhaps something like this can be incorporated for watering.


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## CNCfamily (Sep 13, 2010)

I've been dragging 150 feet of hose from the frost free spigot to the horses, then pull it all back in the tack shed (or the mudroom in the house if it's below zero) so it doesn't freeze. I've got big tanks though, so i only have to do that about once every week or two!

I like the air compressor idea though.....going to have to have the hubby figure out how to rig that up for me when he's home for Christmas!


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

$400 for a BarBarA water isn't so bad. Have you priced Ritchie, Nelson or Mirafounts lately. If I could just get the BBA folks to answer the phone, or call me back, I'd be ordering today.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

For my miniature horse I bought a 16 Gallon Heated Bucket.
Boy does THAT work great~!!!
Only used 35 Watts. And I know for a Fact that standing outside unprotected it is good to at La=east 30 Below Zero, without even have ice around the edges! 
That is how great it is.
For years I used one for my LGD and my mini.
Now that I don;t have the dog I just use the one for my mini, and being 16 gallons only have to fill it like once a week in the winter months.
My little guy does eat snow don't know why but he does even though the water is tepid.


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## Phantomfyre (Jul 1, 2004)

Diana's hard-learned winter hose rules:
1. Always disconnect hoses from spigots when not in use.
2. Always disconnect nozzles or other attachments from hose ends when not in use.
3. To drain the hose, walk it - the whole thing, with both ends disconnected from everything - at least twice, QUICKLY in sub-zero temps. (Note, however, that the faster you go, the more times you have to walk it.) Even if you have a slope, walk it out - overhead, hand over hand. 
4. As you coil the hose, raise it for one last draining.
*5. Leave the hose coiled FLAT on the ground so water can't run to the bottom of coils and freeze into plugs.
*
So long as I always follow my own rules, I don't have to drag hoses into the house. Or replace broken things.


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## jill.costello (Aug 18, 2004)

Y'all are going to love me!.....

I lived in WISCONSIN for 14 years and managed some big barns.....I about broke my shoulders "walking" the 200+ feet of hose 2x per day over my head, every day, until I came up with THIS bright idea......

Toss the end of the hose over a stall wall or rafter or even a 5' fence....then just pull slowly and coil the drained sections as they come over the top!


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## EasyDay (Aug 28, 2004)

I walked that hose, over-the-shoulder, hand-over-hand, more times that I care to remember. UNTIL... I moved the trough to a different location... a place that is downhill from the hose bib. 
Now I can drop the hose near the trough, walk back up and unscrew it from the hose bib (leave it leaning up against wall) and it self-drains every time.

Why, oh, why am I such a slow learner sometimes?


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## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

arabian knight said:


> For my miniature horse I bought a 16 Gallon Heated Bucket.
> Boy does THAT work great~!!!
> Only used 35 Watts. And I know for a Fact that standing outside unprotected it is good to at La=east 30 Below Zero, without even have ice around the edges!
> That is how great it is.
> ...


Are you sure it's only 35 watts?
I have a 16 gallon one and it's 240 or 260 watts.
I'd love to have one that's only 35!
And yes,they are a Godsend!
Chris


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

When DH and I had horses (in MI), I'd fill the tank and remove the hose from the hydrant. The water tank had a de-icer, so I'd coil up the hose and put it in the tank. No more frozen hoses. I also learned to tie a piece of baling twine at the faucet end of the hose, and secure it over the edge of the tank. Didn't have to get my hands wet fishing for the submerged hose.


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## The HiRoller (Dec 5, 2012)

If you have no other option for watering your horses but using a garden hose, then buying heated hoses is very expensive for sure. I know that a fifty foot heated hose can cost around $125. If you have to use hoses in the winter and don't want to have to worry about them freezing you are going to have to make sure you get the residual water out of your hoses. Two hundred feet of hose can be a challenge especially in cold weather. I live in Utah and it gets down to 26 degrees below. I struggled with the very problem you are experiencing. That's what led me to invent The HiRoller. Using this device I can drain fifty feet of hose in about thirty seconds. It's an affordable, fast, easy and effective way to drain hoses. I built my first prototype four years ago used it every winter and have not had a frozen hose since. If you are interested in finding out more about The HiRoller you can visit my website at Home Page or contact me and I will answer any questions you might have. I hope I can help you with your problem. Take care and good luck.

Mike Ybarra


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

We run a long hose; it is at least as long as yours. It's a pain in the butt but it's not too bad. There are only two things you've got to remember. Unscrew the hose every single time you've finished watering and empty the hose after every use. Emptying the hose is easy for me. I just make my DD do it. She's awfully lazy but she does a good enough job. Start at one end and raise the end of the hose up high, head or above. Hold it up for a couple of seconds then do the same thing on down the line until you're at the other end. It's amazing how much water stays in a hose. When you empty out a hose it almost looks like the water is on at the other end of the hose.

There is no need for anything special. You don't need to buy anything at all or use any electricity. Emptying the hose is pretty darned quick.


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

6e said:


> Now that's a nifty idea. We tried going along and lifting the hose to drain the water, but it doesn't matter how well you think you've done it.........it's never enough.


This is what I do all winter. It works but you have to have the technique down. I am running about 100 feet of hose right now, every day. When I'm done, I unscrew it at a couple different places (it's two 25 foot and one 50 foot all connected together), and drain each section separately. 

Usually I start by blowing in the end of the section and forcing most of the water out. Then hold the end up about shoulder height, and *slowly* proceed down the hose, letting the now empty end fall behind you, and keeping the hump in the hose at about shoulder height. I walk along ate a rate of about 1 step/second. Remember that the water has to travel through a confined space and if you go too fast, you get ahead of the water, leaving some of it behind you in the hose as you go.

The other thing I found to be most important is when you get to the end of your hose, haul it up so the end is dangling free of the ground and give a shake. There is *always* water hanging out in the end of the hose, no matter how well you've drained it up to this point, and if you don't do this step, you will end up with ice blocking it up.

I then reconnect my hose sections together (but leave it unconnected from the spigot), and leave them on the ground, ready for the next day. I disconnect and take the spray handle inside. 

Been doing this for several winters, so I know it works, but you have to go through all the steps. I think it's easier to empty shorter sections of hose than one long section, but if you go slowly enough, it will work.

It's definitely worth not having to haul buckets!


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

birchtreefarm said:


> This is what I do all winter. It works but you have to have the technique down. I am running about 100 feet of hose right now, every day. When I'm done, I unscrew it at a couple different places (it's two 25 foot and one 50 foot all connected together), and drain each section separately.
> 
> Usually I start by blowing in the end of the section and forcing most of the water out. Then hold the end up about shoulder height, and *slowly* proceed down the hose, letting the now empty end fall behind you, and keeping the hump in the hose at about shoulder height. I walk along ate a rate of about 1 step/second. Remember that the water has to travel through a confined space and if you go too fast, you get ahead of the water, leaving some of it behind you in the hose as you go.
> 
> ...


I do pretty much the same as you except for disconnecting the hoses. I've found that if I pause a few seconds when I come to a connection to give it extra time to drain that I don't have to go that extra mile. If hubby happens to use the hose in freezing temps. he doesn't do this and they freeze.


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## fols (Nov 5, 2008)

This post is 3 years old. Looks like The HiRoller brought it back to life with his single post. Hmmm - I smell someone trying to sell their product....


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

fols said:


> This post is 3 years old. Looks like The HiRoller brought it back to life with his single post. Hmmm - I smell someone trying to sell their product....


Is there something wrong with that? Looks like it could be quite a handy product for many here that hand drain their hoses on a regular basis in the fall and winter. It is certainly a solution to the problem of freezing and hoses. Also... when I was new I looked through a lot of older posts and didn't really notice they were dated and responded to some of them as I was just enjoying reading up the forum, its not a big deal.


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## fols (Nov 5, 2008)

Just wanted to make people aware. I'd be a bit leery of a first-poster who comes on the site with the intent to sell their product. 
If you buy it, maybe you can give it a product review.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

GrannyCarol said:


> Is there something wrong with that? Looks like it could be quite a handy product for many here that hand drain their hoses on a regular basis in the fall and winter. It is certainly a solution to the problem of freezing and hoses. Also... when I was new I looked through a lot of older posts and didn't really notice they were dated and responded to some of them as I was just enjoying reading up the forum, its not a big deal.


The problem I have with things like this is when people only make posts hawking their product. If they were really interested in our forum they'd keep posting.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

I know this is an old thread but since it's just about that time again around here, I might as well chime in. 

We use the 5 gallon water jugs for water coolers - but the ones that have the handle. We then put them in a rugged wagon and just walk it out to the paddocks or to the stalls. It hardly spills and fills a stall bucket perfectly. Outside, we use 5 gallon rubber buckets since they don't split when it freezes and we need to fill those daily, after dumping the ice out of it from the night before.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

We had a simple set up in Oregon.

Here we just have hoses. 
After I get the wood stove... am eyeing those BarABar, auto waters. Not getting any younger and dragging hose around..... is a pain in more ways than one.


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## Rockinghorserun (Dec 7, 2012)

jill.costello said:


> Y'all are going to love me!.....
> 
> I lived in WISCONSIN for 14 years and managed some big barns.....I about broke my shoulders "walking" the 200+ feet of hose 2x per day over my head, every day, until I came up with THIS bright idea......
> 
> Toss the end of the hose over a stall wall or rafter or even a 5' fence....then just pull slowly and coil the drained sections as they come over the top!


This is the same thing we did 15 yrs ago. We had a wooden fence we would slowly pull the hose over. You could use anything even a truck tailgate or the gooseneck or tongue of trailer. Roll your hose into a big muck bucket and you can take it in the house or tack room. If you leave it outside leave it stretched out just so any little bit of water left won't pool up and make ice cubes.


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## Work horse (Apr 7, 2012)

I have put away the hose for the winter, and I just carry 2 small gas cans (purchased specifically for this purpose!) filled with water from the house, out to the trough every day. I'm going out there to feed anyways, so it's not a big deal. Some days I might bring out 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. When the water gets scuzzy, I let it get low and then bail it out (outside of the paddock to prevent a skating rink!) and use a small wagon to go back and forth from the house with multiple gas cans. This has been working for me, but I only have 2 horses. I might change my mind if I had more horses to water.


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