[SuckerForHorses]

Suckerforhorses -can the grounding wire drape over (and touch) the edge of the rubbermaid tank?

Yes, no problems with that.

Our tank is up against a building, whose face is part of the "paddock". I have the tank flush to the wall, and because its a 150 gallon tank, they don't bother reaching to the back of it/to the wall to where the outlet is. The outlet is an outdoor GFCI type outlet.

Directly behind the tank, is the ground rod so its not out where the horses can of course cause damage to themselves with it, as horses will always do!

Wire clamped to ground rod, then, up over the side of the tank (I bent it to "squeeze" the side of the tank so it doesn't move around) and then the end right into the water, and is long enough so the wire goes to the bottom of the tank (so I don't risk the water level getting lower than the wire).

I have the wire going in more to the side, just so the wire isn't touching the heating element itself. I'm not sure that it would matter, but thats the way I chose to keep them separate.

[SuckerForHorses]

I'm not sure the "type" of wire that we used, that's not my department but the SO's but the wire itself is about the diameter of a pencil at least. So, it's not like skinny electric fence wire, but thicker.

I'm not sure if it matters, someone more knowledgable about grounding could probably answer that. I think the diameter has to do with the wire's capability of "sucking up the juice" out of the water.

I'm not very techical about the terms...

[Mozart]

Is your water staying warm just by being inside the insulated box, and you are not using a heater? If so - any chance you'd be willing to share pictures?!

No, I am still using a heater. I am on the Canadian prairie, right now it is -28 Celsius outside (warmest day all week as a matter of fact.....) If I did not use a heater the water would be a big chunk of ice in about an hour. My hope with the cover was to keep the heater from working too hard and it has worked really well. I will try to take some pics this weekend, when I am outside in the daylight!

[Mozart]

Yes, no problems with that.

Our tank is up against a building, whose face is part of the "paddock". I have the tank flush to the wall, and because its a 150 gallon tank, they don't bother reaching to the back of it/to the wall to where the outlet is. The outlet is an outdoor GFCI type outlet.

Directly behind the tank, is the ground rod so its not out where the horses can of course cause damage to themselves with it, as horses will always do!

Wire clamped to ground rod, then, up over the side of the tank (I bent it to "squeeze" the side of the tank so it doesn't move around) and then the end right into the water, and is long enough so the wire goes to the bottom of the tank (so I don't risk the water level getting lower than the wire).

I have the wire going in more to the side, just so the wire isn't touching the heating element itself. I'm not sure that it would matter, but thats the way I chose to keep them separate.

I have never grounded it like this and so far never had a problem but I will definitely remember this if I ever do. I'm sure my luck will run out eventually. I actually have a ground rod for my electric fence fairly close to my water tank, I think I could connect a wire to that ground rod. Thanks for the info.

[SuckerForHorses]

I'm not so sure they should share a ground rod...what if your fencer puts juice back into the ground rod, which travels up the wire into your water??? I think you should use its own ground rod & wire for the water tub.

[Mozart]

Hmm.
Doesn't the electricity "want" to go into the ground? I will ask my fence builder...he knows all!

[Candle]

My DH just ran a short extension cord from the barn to the tank and stuck his diesel engine block heater onto the outside of the metal tank that's wedged up against the fence corner, so no chewers hopefully. We'll see if that works.

[SuckerForHorses]

Hmm.
Doesn't the electricity "want" to go into the ground? I will ask my fence builder...he knows all!

Yes, but if you have a wire from your tank water attached to the ground rod that is also attached to your fencer ground, you are creating a path for any voltage from your fencer to just hit the rod, and then travel up the wire that you also have going into your tank.

[SuckerForHorses]

And if that electricity travels into your water, you're going to have horses getting shocked from the fencer electricity

[OTTBcooper]

No, your horse isn't drinking from it because there is likely stray voltage in the water, and she's getting shocked. See my post above to explain how to fix this.

Ahhh thank you! I switched to the 16g heated tub and same thing, only now she goes for the water and snaps back like she is actually being shocked. Im going to ground it tomorrow like you suggested. What size wire would you recommend?

[hosspuller]

Ahhh thank you! I switched to the 16g heated tub and same thing, only now she goes for the water and snaps back like she is actually being shocked. Im going to ground it tomorrow like you suggested. What size wire would you recommend?

Are you using grounded extension cords? Do all of the cords have original factory connectors (both male or female ) Does the heater cord have a 3 element plug?

The reason for these questions is all electrical circuits have a hot leg , neutral and ground. If any of these gets switched, the ground wire stops being ground and becomes a path for electric shock.

If the answer to any of the ? is no ... this could be a possibility. Outlet could also be wired incorrectly.

[OTTBcooper]

Are you using grounded extension cords? Do all of the cords have original factory connectors (both male or female ) Does the heater cord have a 3 element plug?

The reason for these questions is all electrical circuits have a hot leg , neutral and ground. If any of these gets switched, the ground wire stops being ground and becomes a path for electric shock.

If the answer to any of the ? is no ... this could be a possibility. Outlet could also be wired incorrectly.

Yes to grounded extension cords, all have original factory connectors, and all have 3-prong plugs. I am thinking that the darn outlet was wired incorrectly (we've come across a few others that were done incorrectly since we purchased the house 6 months ago). Is my best bet using the grounded rod and grounding wire in the trough or trying to fix the outlet?

Also.... if I have two tubs, can I run two wires from the grounding rod, one to each water trough or will that defeat the purpose?

[SuckerForHorses]

Is my best bet using the grounded rod and grounding wire in the trough or trying to fix the outlet?

Also.... if I have two tubs, can I run two wires from the grounding rod, one to each water trough or will that defeat the purpose?

I would have the outlet checked by an electrician and fixed if possible, and use the grounding rod.

I believe 1 rod per tank (not sharing them) would be the best way to go. As I mentioned above, if you have both wires connected to one rod, I think what will happen if you have say only 1 tank emitting stray voltage to the ground rod, is that the voltage can travel back out the other wire and into the water of your second tank. I'm not an electrician, but it seems like that would be a logical possible thing that could happen.

[trubandloki]

My opinion is while you have an electrician out there to fix your not grounded outlets ask them about the need for the grounding rod at the tank, etc.

[OTTBcooper]

SuckerForHorses and trubandloki - thanks to both! Will have electrician out and go from there.... might not even need the heaters by the time we get it fixed, hah

[balakai]

We are having trouble with ours, too. One of my horses will drink, the other two act like they are getting shocked. We had everything checked out by an "electrician", but he never suggested grounding the trough. One of our friends is an industrial electrician, and he told us about grounding the trough.

[OTTBcooper]

We are having trouble with ours, too. One of my horses will drink, the other two act like they are getting shocked. We had everything checked out by an "electrician", but he never suggested grounding the trough. One of our friends is an industrial electrician, and he told us about grounding the trough.

Ditto. Had our outlet and then all downstairs outlets checked by an electrician. He even checked the extension cord, and the connection of the extension cord to the house and to the bucket. Nothing wrong with anything but horses still being shocked. I will probably have to do the grounding rod idea :-/ what a pain

[SuckerForHorses]

Ditto. Had our outlet and then all downstairs outlets checked by an electrician. He even checked the extension cord, and the connection of the extension cord to the house and to the bucket. Nothing wrong with anything but horses still being shocked. I will probably have to do the grounding rod idea :-/ what a pain

We also went through a bunch of electrical troubleshooting, and out electrician didn't mention anything about grounding my tank/water. I found the grounding instructions...wait for it....on the instructions that came with the heater...

[OTTBcooper]

We also went through a bunch of electrical troubleshooting, and out electrician didn't mention anything about grounding my tank/water. I found the grounding instructions...wait for it....on the instructions that came with the heater...

Hah, now there's an idea! I don't think my heated tubs came with instructions but I'm definitely going to look it up online.