"Water Bucket Cozy" to prevent buckets freezing over. Anyone tried these?

[Lieslot]

Anyone tried this product? Should keep waterbucket from freezing.
I think I'll give them a go.
http://www.wildangelcozy.com/

[southhillstables]

I love the idea, especially since there is no electric fire hazard. Let me know how it works!

[KnRponies]

Haven't tried the cozy, but I have one of these insulated buckets.

http://www.behlencountry.com/products/stall_watering_equipment

I bought it when my older horse had a bad impaction when the temps dropped like they just did here in NJ. It has a float on top and according to the barn manager, it does not freeze when all the other buckets do. I do put warm water in it to start and it definitely keeps it warmer. It also keeps the water cool in the summer, and I take the float off then.

******Try this link******
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/%28mahhwnambbftrr45hvljky55%29/productdetails.aspx?sku=998010115&source=GoogleBase

[Yip]

Ponies, I can't open that link. It just never loads. Do you have another of the same product? Or the name of the bucket so I can search?

Those cozies look great. I am tempted for nights when the horses are stalled. Usually I just blanket them and leave them in the corral because the trough has a heater and I know there will always be useable water. One sure would like to come in though...

Yip

[Madi]

I wish there was something for troughs. Besides heaters.

[FLeckenAwesome]

Hmmm... Please keep us posted!!

I had to laugh at their ad though!! The before and after pictures... The before is wire fence, falling down, twisted bucket, and the after is nice pristine white board fence.... hee hee.. Like those ads for skin care cream or weight loss where the before pic is no make up, bad hair do, and frowny, and the after is nice clothes, nice hair, and a smile. Hee hee..

But yeah... would be nice to find something that would work!!!

[Yip]

I had to giggle at that too! Hey, marketing is marketing....

Yip

[Lieslot]

Well, I've put my order in for a few of these. I hope to get them soon and will keep you posted.

As mentioned safer then electrical wire in the barn. My outdoor troughs are heated, but I don't want electrical heated buckets in the barn.

[allpurpose]

I'm curious about the pain of removing the cozy for scrubbing and emptying buckets, then having to put it back on. I also have a "curious nibbler" - anything new within reach gets thoroughly explored with nibbles, pulls and licks - and I wonder how long it would last with my guy!

Please do a product comment once you've used it a bit!

[maunder]

I've just ordered some.... worth a try. Hopefully worth the expense... phew.

I have to pull most of my water from an icy creek this time of year (no electric or water in barn) and I hope these cozies will help. I do bring warmed water down from the house to add to the creek water so I'm hoping goats and horses will be happier.

I sure will be. This morning I had to hammer out two inches of ice out of buckets.

[CDE Driver]

I wonder if you could tuck a few of those hand warmer packets between the bucket and the cozy? The hand warmers are supposed to last for eight hours.

[feetofclay1678]

Ooh, I am interested to know how those cozies work out. Please do a product review those of you who have ordered ones! Anxiously awaiting results especially since the new barn where my guy is does not have an outlet anywhere remotely near to my guys stall to plug in his heated bucket.

[minnie]

I'm guessing it would take my guy about 5 minutes to have it all unvelcrowed and strewn around the stall.

[BestHorses]

I'm guessing it would take my guy about 5 minutes to have it all unvelcrowed and strewn around the stall.

Exactly! Those wouldn't stand a chance in my barn.

[buck22]

Yes, I just bought some 3 weeks ago (delivery was fast!) and just put them into use in the last few days.... they do work... here's my take on them:

they are well made. The bucket slides into the bottom portion easily and snugging it up is a breeze. I have 2 different styled flat back 5gals and the cozy fits each style just fine. putting the cozy topper on, however, is more challenging... not hard, but I found it annoying, though other than making it permanently attached, I really can't imagine how they could improve the design.

the cozy does work, *if* you put the top on. It was 22° overnight the other night, 26° at 8am. My rubbermaid stock tank had a solid 2" of ice on top. I had 2 5gal buckets in cozys hanging in the run in (only protection was from direct wind) and they barely had the thinnest layer of ice on them. They did work.

BUT, my horses only drank half the water in them. The topper's drinking hole is fairly small. Both buckets were drunk down to nearly the same depth, about as far as they could stick their heads in before touching their eyes. My horses drank as much as they could, there was appx 2gal left over. Being that you need to fill those buckets literally to the brim to get 5gal (which I don't do as the risk of spilling over), the 5gal buckets only provided 2.5 gal of drinkable water.

My other complaint is that the covers appear to be water repellent but not water proof. In testing them out with the horses, both buckets did get knocked around, water sloshed, and the bottoms got wet (you have to be quite careful and tuck the edge of the cozy up under the rim of the bucket, otherwise water sloshed over the rim will seep down). The cozys held the wet in the stuffing in the bottom like a diaper. I hung them on a post to dry for 2 days before using them again for the big freeze, and was careful not to allow them to get played with or wet again. I don't know if they'd hold their insulating properties if they were wet/frozen.

In the end, I got my trusty coleman cooler out for a back up water trough. It works just about as well as the angel cozys, but provides 20gal of drinkable water, rather than 2.5gal.

The cozys are well made and I *would* be very interested in one for a 100gal stock tank, though drainage for cleaning would be a big concern/priority for me, I would be curious to see how its addressed in the design.

I'm half thinking about making my own stock tank cozy actually.

Good product though.

[pintopiaffe]

In the end, I got my trusty coleman cooler out for a back up water trough. It works just about as well as the angel cozys, but provides 20gal of drinkable water, rather than 2.5gal.


Oh... this might work, especially if I put it inside the bathtub... if it does freeze--how do you get the ice out without cracking the cooler?

And if you make your own trough cozies (cozys?) let us know. I suspect there's a market... ;)

[jn4jenny]

I've heard that the Coleman chest coolers work great, as does a muck bucket stuffed with old straw and/or hay and buckets nestled into the straw/hay.

I bet you could rig up a "cozy" for a stock tank with some cheap, or old, horse blankets with polyfill.

ETA makes me wonder what I could do with the Rubbermaid insulated, round cooler that I have downstairs. Could it be jerry-rigged into an insulated water bucket to mount in a stall? Hmmm. Maybe one of these days when I'm feeling handy...

[manyspots]

I also want to hear about using coolers as water buckets!!!!

[Daydream Believer]

I've heard that the Coleman chest coolers work great, as does a muck bucket stuffed with old straw and/or hay and buckets nestled into the straw/hay.

I bet you could rig up a "cozy" for a stock tank with some cheap, or old, horse blankets with polyfill.

When I lived in Northern New York and had no way to use a bucket heater, I used a coleman cooler for a bucket. I'd sit it in the corner of the stall out of the way. You can go to Lowe's and buy some foam house insulation (rigid foam like styrofoam) and cut a piece for the top of the cooler (a bit smaller in size so it floats freely). The horse will learn to push it down to drink.

I kept water open this way into the subzeros for hours but generally by morning if it was that cold, it would be lightly frozen. In zero and above, it would not freeze at all. If it does freeze, use warm water to loosen it up or you can shatter the foam float.

I also did 30 gallon trash cans with water heater blankets and bubble wrap and cut floats for them too. They did very well also and stayed open well into the single digits outside.

[Equibrit]

The cozy thing looks like horse entertainment to me and wouldn't last 5 minutes around here ! All you need do is build a box that allows you to put your bucket in there with about 2" space around it, which you fill with expanding hard foam like this http://www.jgreer.com/boat-foam.htm that you allow to set up around your bucket.

[buck22]

Oh... this might work, especially if I put it inside the bathtub... if it does freeze--how do you get the ice out without cracking the cooler?
last year, even on some 11° mornings, the ice was so thin you could brush it off the sides with your gloved hand.

[LoriO]

never thought about using a cooler for the water..may have to try that.

Another good use for a cooler is to store your buckets of soaking beet pulp :winkgrin: I have one in the feed room and made a nice nest of hay inside the cooler. Buckets go in there and so far have not frozen yet with all the cold we have gotten here in New England.

[Dressage&Rhinestones]

Just had to have a little giggle at this..
It's forecasted to get down to -37C tonight, water bucket cozies aren't keeping buckets un-frozen here!
They sound like a great idea for warmer climates that still have a freezing problem. To help waterproof them, you could put a garbage bag over the bucket before the cozy - just make sure the horse's can't get a hold of it.

[Bezysmom]

I bet you could rig up a "cozy" for a stock tank with some cheap, or old, horse blankets with polyfill.


A few winters ago, when it got really cold (around here that would be temps at freezing or slightly below during the day)I got insulation with paper on both sides at HD. I wrapped that around the 100 gal tank and then wrapped black plastic around that. I think I draped the plastic over the top of the insulation so there was plastic on both sides. I still had a heater in the tank, but the electric meter slowed down considerably. The horses never bothered the insulation and rain didn't seem to bother it either.

[buck22]

had a lightbulb moment this morning.

on the rare days I cannot feed, the BO feeds for me. I like my horses to have a soupy breakfast of r/s/r beet pulp, but I roughboard and have no heat or electricity and am always afraid it'll be frozen come morning. I have in the past rigged up a cooler, blankets, etc, and its worked, but its a hassle.

The cozys will be a perfect solution if they do work, so they can have a large wet breakfast and not a beetpulpcicle :) . I can mix their entire breakfast so the BO can dump n' go efficiently and get on with her morning routine.

its supposed to be in the low 20's tonite, I'll see if the plan works come morning!

[ThoroughbredFancy]

My horse would eat that.

[ryansgirl]

They look interesting... but a cheaper method that I find that works is to wrap a 5-gallon bucket w/ lots of bubble wrap and duct tape and then put that inside a much bucket filled with hay - acts as an insulator. My two are typically out 24/7 w/ a heated tub but on the rare occasion they come in (when there is a nasty snow/sleet storm) I use this method and it does work (I am too paranoid to plug in anything when they are in stalls). I will fill the buckets w/ about half hot water and then some cold water and there is no ice come morning even when temps hit the single digits or below :yes:.

[Roomfor2]

They are on back order.