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Water Tank Heaters

S

sic 'em reds

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Aug 22, 2006
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WA
Never really messed with water heaters, so here's a question for anybody that knows or uses them. I bought a submersible one to put in a metal tank.

Do I really need to sink a ground rod and connect a copper wire to the the ground rod and the tank?

I wired the cord so it can't get into the heating element so it doesn't burn through the cord.
 
I wondered the same thing, when the Mrs. says I doubt you need it. You can always wait & see if you find some dead ones around the tank some morning, and then you can put it in. I hate that kind of logic. :?
 
I agree Shortgrass. I suppose that's why they put it in the instructions to sink a ground rod.

Guess I better be safe than sorry. Plus, it beats breaking ice!!! Or killing the replacement heifers I worked so hard at keeping healthy and happy for the last 9 months.
 
I would much rather put in a $10.00 ground rod I don't need than bury cattle, dogs, children or myself.

Sometimes a new employee will wonder why I place such a prioity on safety but with age comes close calls and we should not rely on the grace of God or some worker on an assembly line to keep us sare. PLEASE GROUND!!!!
 
We use water tank heaters. Does anone know a good way to keep nosey heifers from pulling them out and dropping them on the ground :???: ?
 
My tanks are set so that cattle on both sides of the corral can get to the water. I use zip-ties to attach a pvc pipe, about five foot, this way it is at the top of the corral and about six to ten inches in the water. Then the electrical cord is run ontop of the corral. Now another question, do you think that if I attach a ground wire to the metal corral panel, will that work or do I need to set a ground rod. All of the metal post are set in concrete.
 
sic 'em reds said:
Never really messed with water heaters, so here's a question for anybody that knows or uses them. I bought a submersible one to put in a metal tank.

Do I really need to sink a ground rod and connect a copper wire to the the ground rod and the tank?

I wired the cord so it can't get into the heating element so it doesn't burn through the cord.
Click to expand...
If it's a 3 wire cord including a cold ground in the gang, I wouldn't worry about the ground personally. It never hurts though. Just drive a ground rod and connect a naked piece of copper to it, drop the other end in the water. If the heifers pull the ground rod out, JB weld the copper wire to the top or inside of the tank.
 
I just went to an adjustable overflow system this year. We were able to seperate the farm use electricity at the place we feed. Running 1 tank heater and keeping the tractors plugged in cost about $120/month. Pumpig water is less expensive than heating and it keeps the water supply to the tank as a nonmanagement issue...

We have a Basalt layer that eliminates being able to run a buried insulated line to the tank with something like a Mirafount waterer....

I have the overflow line running out to the irrigation ditches. It is old well pipe not PVC........So far I have been able to run the overflow to where we don't get water 3 feet past the exit of the overlow pipe. Ok, it has only been two days LOL, but I had visions of a lake out there....

As far as the tractors, we are going to put the heaters pon a timer so it will start heating the block about 20 minutes before we get there reather than continuous....

The first night I set this up, I was told I had to be home by 2 PM for turkey dinner. I went back and the float was not high enough to get water to the overflow. The water was starting to crust over with ice......I had to reach into the tank to adjust the float and it was dang cold......

I checked later and it was pretty good, but the tank was filling closer to the top than I really cared for. So I reached back in to adjust the float. It was surprisingly warm.......

PPRM
 
I have my feed tractor on a timer and it is set to start 2 hours before I normally feed and stay on for three hours total - - - then if I'm a little early or late it still starts great and saves a lot of power ( money )

On the tank heaters I now have all ritchie fountains but for several years I used tanks with heaters. As I'm very cheap I made lids for my tanks out of lumber cut to fit with about a 1/4" gap all around. I tried plywood but it would not last long. I cut several softball sized holes in the lid and a hole large enough for the heater in the middle. It is amasing how little the heater runs with the lid on. I also built wooden boxes around the outside of the tank and filled the gap with expandible foam.

This had an unexpected bennifit in the summer as alge stopped growing and the water stayed much cooler. I feel the cattle drank more year round and by using scrap materials it was very cost effective.

As for the ground - - a good copper wire to the corral would be a great help but as cheap as Ground fault interupters are now I hope you use one as well. The only problem with them is some are so sensitive if you get any cracking at all in the insulation on the heater they might keep triping.
 

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