freeze proof hose ideas?

[Sylverfly]

I have chickens and a whole host of other animals here and all the watering devices are over one hundred feet from the source of water. Normally this is not an issue I just haul buckets in the winter and use a garden hose in the warmer months. But I've been having heart problems and was told not to be hauling water for a while (no heavy lifting) so I've been having friends and family help out for a few days. I feel like a pain in the butt and hate watching them have to do this for me, so I'm looking for ideas on how to use a hose in below freezing weather here. I know there are heated plug in hoses but they cost a fortune for the length I'll need and I don't know how I'd plug them in, I don't have an outlet on the well or pump house so I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be. I've heard of using compressed air, I'm not sure how easy that would be with a long length of hose and needing to use it at least 2 times a day every day. I don't know if there's any heat tapes or insulating stuff you can put on a hose. If anyone has any ideas or adaption contraptions they use I'm all ears. Thanks.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Other than TOTALLY draining the hose each time it's used, there is no way to prevent freezing UNLESS you can roll/unroll the hose each time, and store it in a warm place when not in use

 

[chfite]

In the same manner that water supply pipes are protected from freezing, you could bury your hose leaving a loop of enough hose to use in a recess in the ground. You could open the recess, retrieve the hose, fill the water bowls, replace the hose and cover. It might be easier to simply bury a run of PVC pipe terminating in a hose connector.

It would need to be buried below the frost line for your locale.

Chris

 

[pawtraitart]

I have chickens and a whole host of other animals here and all the watering devices are over one hundred feet from the source of water. Normally this is not an issue I just haul buckets in the winter and use a garden hose in the warmer months. But I've been having heart problems and was told not to be hauling water for a while (no heavy lifting) so I've been having friends and family help out for a few days. I feel like a pain in the butt and hate watching them have to do this for me, so I'm looking for ideas on how to use a hose in below freezing weather here. I know there are heated plug in hoses but they cost a fortune for the length I'll need and I don't know how I'd plug them in, I don't have an outlet on the well or pump house so I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be. I've heard of using compressed air, I'm not sure how easy that would be with a long length of hose and needing to use it at least 2 times a day every day. I don't know if there's any heat tapes or insulating stuff you can put on a hose. If anyone has any ideas or adaption contraptions they use I'm all ears. Thanks.

What I do is coil my hoses up in a garbage can that has a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter attached to the inside of the lid. It's like a light bulb but it's ceramic, not glass that can shatter. I know what you mean about dragging hoses. Ugh!

http://www.petco.com/product/5003/Zoo-Med-Repticare-Ceramic-Infrared-Heat-Emitters.aspx

 

[drummergrl]

How do you power and attach it under the lid? Thanks for the tip!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: You could use most any type of light fixture to hold it.
The simplest way would be to just use a "work light" and not worry about it being attached at all

 

[Ullie]

What I do is coil my hoses up in a garbage can that has a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter attached to the inside of the lid. It's like a light bulb but it's ceramic, not glass that can shatter. I know what you mean about dragging hoses. Ugh!

http://www.petco.com/product/5003/Zoo-Med-Repticare-Ceramic-Infrared-Heat-Emitters.aspx

Great idea,

do you have any photos of how you hooked up the ceramic heat emitter to the inside of the lid?

Right now I use a 100' hose that I run up through the barn rafter so I can drain it effectively. Every year I look at the heated hoses, this year they were on sale 50' for $119.00.

Thanks again.