wood heat for a cattle tank?

[griz1955]

i remember as a kid my grandpa had some sort of a wood furnace that he put in his cattle tank to keep it open in the winter,does anyone here have any idea where to get something like this or does any of you have any other ideas that would work, thanks

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

maybe something like this?

The Snorkel® and Scuba® Stoves

 

[lfnh]

If the stock tanks can be moved, you could auger a couple or more holes 3-4 feet
below frost depth and slip well casing or pvc into the holes and move tank back
over the holes so bottom of tank is in contact with pipe. Bearm the bottom skirt of the tank with sand/dirt to seal it. Worked for long horns that trashed anything else in E. Oregon.

Have also seen submerged aerators (bubblers) used for horse stock tanks. But cattle and electric anything is a wreck waiting to happen, ime.

fwiw

 

[rancher2]

i remember as a kid my grandpa had some sort of a wood furnace that he put in his cattle tank to keep it open in the winter,does anyone here have any idea where to get something like this or does any of you have any other ideas that would work, thanks

I know there are companys that make them but they are light and rust out. I have made them out of 100 pound propane tanks. Don't have any pictures as I sold mind when I sold my cattle and equipment. If you do a search you will get some ideas how to build them. We used them for 30 years to keep the tanks free of ice in the winter.

 

[griz1955]

thanks

thanks for the ideas. last month was a hundred bucks for heating two cattle tanks wife ain't happy have to do something different

 

[Dalmatian90]

thanks for the ideas. last month was a hundred bucks for heating two cattle tanks wife ain't happy have to do something different

Sell horses. Put in koi pond for your outdoor pets.

I like the geothermal suggestion, I've seen designs for that on extension-service type websites before. Put in the labor once and be done with it, v. every year stockpiling and covering wood by the water tank, every morning loading and starting a new fire in it (since I doubt those units can do a 12 hour burn, never mind a 24 hour burn), etc. You're not trying to keep a shop or home or hot tub warm, just keep the water from freezing.

 

[jcappe]

I dont remember the setup exactly but my uncle used a metal drum and wood to keep the tank open. It would not keep the whole thing open but enough that the cattle could get a drink. If I remember correctly he basically had a 55 gallon metal drum cut off and had it anchored to the edge of the tank. He would fill it with firewood and it was good to go. It had to be stoked quite abit but it worked.

 

[bundysgn]

if you have electric where your water tub is. just put in a richey water fountion in. it has a built in heater that you can set the tempture in. i use 2 in my barn for beef cattle. i just lovem.:smile:

 

[valekbrothers]

CowBoyHotTubs Home Page

Hre is a place you can order them online......... I wasn't able to open the pricing page, but you can contact them for prices.

 

[Outlander]

What are you watering? Feeder cattle tend to drink throughout the day and night making it much easier to keep a waterer open and flowing well. Cows tend to drink in groups, they will all come to water at the same time once or twice a day and the waterer has to remain open with no fresh and warmer water coming into it, making it much more difficult to keep it open.

We used to have "Cowboy" brand tank heaters. They were cast iron and we could burn wood or coal in them. Heat them up good and watch the draft and they would keep an 8' tank open for 30 hours in the coldest of weather. When we could no longer get grates for them we tried the 55 gal barrel thing but they wouldn't last through a winter without burning out.

I put in some Mirafount energy free waterers. Installed them per instructions and installed them in fencelines where feeders and cows could both drink from them. If it was going to be bitter cold for more than a few days, I put a piece of straw in the drain plug so it would drip a bit to keep water flowing. When the weather got warmer, lows in 0 to 10 and highs in 20's, I removed the straw. It has been 20 years since I did this and they are still working good.

Word of caution, don't use the cheaper waterers, they will freeze up.

 

[sesmith]

i remember as a kid my grandpa had some sort of a wood furnace that he put in his cattle tank to keep it open in the winter,does anyone here have any idea where to get something like this or does any of you have any other ideas that would work, thanks

Not wood, but there are some good solar and insulated ideas here:

Solar Water Heating Projects and Plans

The trick is to make it tough enough for cattle.

 

[jrezba]

my dad always just uses a steal barrel put s a heavy wieght in the bottom then ties it in with some wire works great

 

[bejay]

might look into some new waterers like the ritchie thifty king doesnt even need heated in alot of areas, and the other models that do is atleast thermostaticly controlled so it shouldnt cost much to run them, im sure there is other brands thats similiar.
the problem with just a regular stock tank is no insulation, plus open top but drilling the holes in the ground plus adding some circulation might work maybe, remember the wind powered paddles you could get for your ponds to keep a small section from freezing up they never worked that great because alot of the time there wasnt any wind.

 

[KD57]

I remember only a couple of times it got cold enough here that the tanks (ponds) froze over solid. We cut a hole out with the chainsaw, and set a drum of diesel in it, and lighted it. Worked fine. I got tired of busting ice, and the cows just standing there looking at me while it froze back over.

 

[griz1955]

thanks

thanks for all of the ideas, no hay burners just feeder cattle

 

[tmroper]

I know this is an old post but I was bored and done with chores for a bit so I figured i would post something in case you still needed some help on the subject.

The suggestions you have gotten have all been great ones and should work for you. We ranch in montana and this is what we use.

1. As mentioned it really helps if you can get some insulation around the tank. Dirt, concrete

2. We use the snorkel heaters but we run so many stinking head we would go broke buying them. There is nothing to building them and no hard and fast set rules. You can pretty much use your own ingenuity and scrap pile we never buy new materials for them and the end product pretty much depends on the scrap pile. Pretty much what ours look like is one horizontal steel pipe which lays along the bottom w/ a vertical on each end. we just stick the wood/coal in the top of the stovepipe and some newspaper and lighter up.

3. If you have a spring you can develop we pipe the water to the tank and from the tank overflow back to the creek. this is my favorite but hard to find a spring in this area. Just size your pipe small so you are always getting a small constant flow.

4. What the Texas fella mention is another method we use. We fill a barrel w/ rocks and stick it in the tank. pour some diesel in and ignite. the rocks hold the heat longer. I am sure if a fella wanted to he could make the barrel into a top loading stove and use wood if he wanted.

Hope this helps you out it has been -25 last several mornings and I am working on the house pipes today go figure.

 

[TheLazyBFarm]

US surplus immersion heater, $50 or so: US Military Immersion Heaters

Here's another idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X49FrHZ4Kc&feature=player_embedded

Good luck.