Plugged in water heater

persimmoncf

persimmoncf

Persimmon Creek Farm
Is there a possibility that horses can sense electricity thru water...cause when first horse came to drink it wouldnt. Everytime lips hit water the horse would jolt backwards and snort. I touched the water and didnt feel a thing. The second field I plugged in was actually while a horse was drinking, and man the second I plugged in the cord the horse flew backwards and was petrified of the trough. Our 1/2 blind pony came up and drank with no problem so then the other horse came back and just pawled at the trough for 10 min, but didnt drink and walked away.

This is strange!!!

I do have a bucket heater and sometimes when I stick my hand in the water to feel the temp it sends electrical pulses/waves up my wrist.

Anybody had any problems with this??
 
jwilley

jwilley

Walker
I had to call my husband on this because this did happen to us last year. Do you have an electric fence? Our problem was that the electric fence needed a longer, better ground and you always need to keep the ground post area wet so that the circuit is complete. Now our water trough was very close to the ground post area not for sure if this is your problem or not. He said the current just looks for the closest item to run through if it's not properly grounded.
 
mingiz

mingiz

Horse Poor
Yes Get rid of them....
They can sense it. I had one of the red floating type in mine and one Feb. we had a thunder storm and lightning hit by my house like closer than I thought. I started noticeing my gelding pawing at the stock tank and never thought no more about it. Well the next day the temps came up 70 and I looked at the stock tank and it had steam coming off of it. I went and unplugged it and the whole bottom was blown out. and it was hot. After I took it out the tank and water smelled like electrical burn. I bleached it and then filled it and the horse would not drink out of it. He would go as far as the point were his whiskers hit the water and would throw his head up. So I ended up cupping some and giving to him and slowly got down to the tank and then he still didn't want to stick his head in the tank. So I drank out of the tank and then he figured if I didn't move it was ok...then he drank...
If you feel a pulse in your hand then yes get rid of it. I haven't had any problems since I still use the red floating type. Plus I have the heated buckets and I've never had a problem with them. The floaters are good but if the horses pull them out and step on them or kick em they may break the seal on the bottom. I use a emersible one now. I would be hesitant to keep them...The bucket cut the cord off and atleast you an still use it..


I have board fence were the tank is no electric fence at all
 
persimmoncf

persimmoncf

Persimmon Creek Farm
I have ALL board fence and no electric. The troughs feel FINE to me. I cant feel any pulse or anything from them. I have 2 - 70 gal and 1 - 100 gal. and they feel fine to me. They have the "thru the sidewall heater coil" in the bottom type. If I cant feel anything...do they?
 
persimmoncf

persimmoncf

Persimmon Creek Farm
Im going to the barn now. Im gonna plug them back in and watch to see who drinks and who is Scared.
 
Mikeinsmd

Mikeinsmd

New Member
persimmoncf said:
I have ALL board fence and no electric. The troughs feel FINE to me. I cant feel any pulse or anything from them. I have 2 - 70 gal and 1 - 100 gal. and they feel fine to me. They have the "thru the sidewall heater coil" in the bottom type. If I cant feel anything...do they?
Click to expand...
Yes. If the heater is not properly grounded, current can flow through the water. You can't feel it because you are insulated from the ground through your shoes. The animals are in direct contact with the ground and can feel the current.

Get rid of it now. Only a matter of time before you "experience" what the animal did.
 
W

White Buddah

Guest
jwilley said:
I had to call my husband on this because this did happen to us last year. Do you have an electric fence? Our problem was that the electric fence needed a longer, better ground and you always need to keep the ground post area wet so that the circuit is complete. Now our water trough was very close to the ground post area not for sure if this is your problem or not. He said the current just looks for the closest item to run through if it's not properly grounded.
Click to expand...
If the rod in the earth is long enough and the resistance is proper, you do not need to keep it moist. The reason you would have to keep it moist is because the resistance is too high to begin with. You either need a longer ground rod or add one to the existing rod. Anything less than 5 ohms is great. 5-10 is just fine.
 
mingiz

mingiz

Horse Poor
Mikeinsmd said:
Yes. If the heater is not properly grounded, current can flow through the water. You can't feel it because you are insulated from the ground through your shoes. The animals are in direct contact with the ground and can feel the current.

Get rid of it now. Only a matter of time before you "experience" what the animal did.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:
 
S

snicole1976

Guest
I always heard that electrocution was good for your horses and that it should happen more often? :shrug:
 
persimmoncf

persimmoncf

Persimmon Creek Farm
so far hubby beleives it to be the extension cord used to reach outlet. Gonna get another one:smoochy:thanks for all you guys help!!
 
Jeff

Jeff

Stop Staring!!!!!
I think it's possible. I remember when I was younger I was helping my uncle do some digging around his house. It was cold and the soil was damp. While having my hands in the dirt I could feel a surge. Very small and weak but could feel it none the less. Just enough to make me uncomfortable.

Nobody else could feel this. My uncle knew I would not make this up so he called a neighbor who was an electrician. Come to find out something in the house had a short in it and was running to ground.

So since I was a bit more sensitive to it than they were maybe one or more of your horses are sensitive to it as well.
 
persimmoncf

persimmoncf

Persimmon Creek Farm
After inspecting the extension cord the ground prong was no loner intact. Oh well trash now. Thanks guys...problem solved:buddies:
 
happyappygirl

happyappygirl

Rocky Mountain High!!
The people who built the house we have, also had a few horses, and when the water heater in the rubbermaid tub wasn't working up to par, and allowed the water to freeze, the kid used a shovel to break the ice. The shovel bent the prongs back, and caused the water to be electrified. One horse was able to glean water from the snow, the other colicked and died, before anyone noticed they weren't drinking from the tub and stuck their hand into it. :shocking:

Can you say....RITCHIE WATERERS??? We love them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top