Is there anyone who sells a propane tank heater for a smaller (250 gal.) tank? I don't have electricity at one farm. Anything for less than the ~$475 Trojan heater?
http://www.trojanlivestock.com/Heaters.html

Thanks, Paul

I had one that was a homemade gadjet I bought at an auction . It ran on a mix of used motor oil and diesel that dripped onto a rag in a chamber that was below the water . It did work but if some how it got knocked over you really had a mess on your hands.

We have a couple that burn wood. They work pretty well. They are just a big piece of pipe with a chimney welded in. An intake it welded a little lower than the lid, and it sucks air to the bottom. You can't fill it too full though or the water gets too hot.

I saw a guy take a steel drum and put a grate in the middle of it and cut a door in the side. He then put wood on the grate to heat the water in a big stock tank, worked pretty good.

Make your own using a single burner cook stove like they use for the turkey cookers. They are single burner and can be purchased at most sporting good stores. Might need to put it in a small metal barrel to keep the wind from blowing it out. The flame is adjustable. You could also use a small gas griddle camping stove, just need to get the tank off the ground a bit, to get the burner under the tank.

Paul,

I have used the trojan one for several years, yes they are expensive but in the long run much cheaper than the vet bills associated with a horse not drinking enough.

There is also the peace of mind factor, yes you can build your own as mentioned above but I know I would always be wondering if it was really working.

I light mine in the fall and it is not turned off until spring. I have not had it blow out or go out in at least the past 4 years this includes several weeks of -20 at night and a high of 0-5 during the day.

You need a 100 gallon propane tank or larger to run it. The 100 pound cylinders are not enough if it gets very cold. The upside of the larger tank is the propane truck fills it when they fill the house each month, no horsing the cylinders in and out of the pickup.

Good luck,

Todd

Here in western SD we have quite a bit of wind, so I made one years ago, that was a shaft with a windmill type apparatus on top and at the bottom of the shaft was a small propeller like on a boat… this was all simple and easy to make. I mounted the propeller part just above the float to keep it from freezing, only problem I had was the shaft turned inside of a pipe and you had to use diesel fuel or some such to keep it from freezing up and if the cattle drank the water down, all the fuel ran out of the pipe- maybe only a pint, but still…. - they make one now that is solar charged and is just a bubbler like in a fish tank.. I may get one and try it at one of the tanks out in the far reaches..

Another idea a neighbor showed me and I have used, is in big tire water tanks, I place a large cement culvert about 3 feet high in the center to protect the float system and then put small piece of Styrofoam into it to insulate and keep the float from freezing… he would cover his with a tarp and had it fenced off so there was only a small area for drinking, and he had a piece of rubber belting in that to keep the cold air from reaching the waterer, but the water could run under the bottom of the belting,…every thing was covered except for the drinking hole.. said it stayed open way below zero, especially if you have quite a few drinking as the new water coming in is warm and helps to keep it open… hope that helps some of you...