How to Keep You and Your Horses Safe
Keeping your horse hydrated in the winter is essential to their health. Dehydration in horses can carry serious health risks, including impaction colic, shock, and kidney failure. If you live in an area where temperatures drop below freezing, heated water troughs and heated water buckets are key tools in keeping water accessible to your horses in the winter.
However, heated water troughs and water buckets can pose safety risks, too. Anytime you’re combining water and electricity, there’s potential for things to go wrong. These safety tips can help you use these devices appropriately and supply your horses with clean, fresh water this winter.
Always Use a GFCI Outlet
Make sure that you plug any type of water trough heater or heated water bucket only into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet. A GFCI outlet immediately cuts off power if it senses a surge in the electrical current, which could indicate that you or a horse are getting shocked. These outlets can help prevent electrocution.
Upgrade Your Electrical System
If you’ve just bought a horse barn and are going to be using many heated buckets or troughs for the first time this winter, call your electrician and have them out to inspect your barn’s electrical system. Your electrician will not only be able to install any additional GFCI outlets you may need, but can also evaluate your system and confirm whether it can handle the additional electrical draw that these devices will require. You may need to upgrade your electrical system to be able to support these devices throughout the winter.
Ground Water Trough Heaters
Before you install a water trough heater, read the manufacturer instructions. Most manufacturers instruct you to not only use a GFCI outlet, but to also ground the stock tank or water trough, itself. Grounding the tank provides an extra layer of protection in case your GFCI outlet fails, and it could help to prevent a deadly shock to you or your horses.
To ground a water trough, install a grounding rod near your trough. Then, run a copper wire from the grounding rod and drape it into the water trough. The wire needs to be long enough so that it reaches the bottom of your trough.
Avoid Using Extension Cords
Heated water bucket and trough heater manufacturers generally advise against using the devices with an extension cord. If your extension cord isn’t rated for the amps the heater draws, it can overheat and possibly be a fire hazard. (This is the same issue that fire experts warn about when using an extension cord with a device like a space heater.) If at all possible, it’s safest to plug your trough heater directly into a GFCI outlet.
Take some precautions to protect the device’s power cord, too. You may need to run it through a length of PVC pipe to keep curious horses from chewing on it. Anti-chew springs can also protect the cord, though it’s even safer to run the cord in a way so that horses can’t access it at all.
Monitor Water Troughs for Potential Shocks
Brand-new and older trough heaters can malfunction and start to leak current into the water trough. If this occurs, your horse may receive an electrical shock when they go to drink from the trough. Watch your horses carefully throughout the winter and check the trough water levels daily. If the horses stop drinking, it may be because they’re being shocked when they drink out of the trough.
If you suspect that your horses are being shocked, unplug the heater immediately and call an electrician to come evaluate the trough and heater. Never touch the water with your hand to feel for a shock, since it’s possible that it could kill you.
Evaluate All of Your Older Heaters
As your heaters and heated buckets age, they’ll naturally become worn. That wear and tear can start to affect how well the heaters operate, and can potentially lead to safety issues.
Carefully check over your trough heaters and heated buckets each fall before you need them in the winter. Look for signs of damage like worn or loose power cords, cracks in the bucket, and bent or missing prongs in the plug. If you find damage, be sure to replace the heaters and heated buckets.
Plan Ahead for Your Barn Safety This Winter
Your water trough heaters and heated water buckets are just one key element in maximizing your barn safety this winter. At American Stalls, we’re here to help with your other winter barn maintenance and safety needs, whether it’s time to upgrade your barn entry doors or replace worn-out windows with new barn windows. Contact us today at (855) 957-8255 or email us at sales@americanstalls.com to schedule a sales and design consultation or to ask any questions.
